Abstract

The Argus Array will be the first large optical telescope able to observe the entire accessible sky simultaneously. Each Argus exposure covers 8,000 square degrees with a sampling of 1.4"/pixel, achieved by multiplexing 900 small-aperture telescopes with 55 GPix of ultra-low-noise CMOS detectors capable of sub-second cadences. This enormous field of view allows the Array to achieve deep imaging by integrating on every part of the sky for 6-10 hours each night. Over five years, the Array will build a publicly-available, two-color, million-epoch movie of the sky, giving the astronomical community the unprecedented ability to follow the evolution of every deep (22nd magnitude in one hour) time-variable source across the sky simultaneously. The system will be able to follow-up wide-area multiwavelength triggers orders of magnitude faster than current tiling astronomical surveys, obtain pre-explosion imaging for all nighttime transient events, monitor 100 million stars for planet-induced microlensing events, occultations, flares and other variability, search 100,000 white dwarfs for transiting planets and debris, detect occultations of solar system objects across the sky, and perform dozens of other surveys with data that will be made public on extremely rapid timescales. I will present the Array's science cases, unique design, and our planned path towards first light in 2027.