PLATO Simulator: Realistic simulations of expected observations

Abstract

PLATO Simulator is an end-to-end simulation software tool designed for the performance of realistic simulations of the expected observations of the PLATO mission but easily adaptable to similar types of missions. It models and simulates photometric time-series of CCD images by including models of the CCD and its electronics, the telescope optics, the stellar field, the jitter movements of the spacecraft, and all important natural noise sources.