Installation and first light of the BOOTES-IR near-IR camera

R. Cunniffe; A. J. Castro-Tirado; P. Kubánek; M. Jelínek; S. Vítek; J. Gorosabel; A. de Ugarte Postigo; A. Riva; F. Zerbi; A. Claret; C. Sánchez-Fernández

doi:10.1117/12.789774

15 July 2008 Installation and first light of the BOOTES-IR near-IR camera

R. Cunniffe, A. J. Castro-Tirado, P. Kubánek, M. Jelínek, S. Vítek, J. Gorosabel, A. de Ugarte Postigo, A. Riva, F. Zerbi, A. Claret, C. Sánchez-Fernández

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7019, Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II; 70191H (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789774
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2008, Marseille, France

Abstract

BIRCAM is a near-infrared (0.8-2.5um) cryogenic camera based on a 1Kx1K HgCdTe array. It was designed for - and is now mounted at - one of the Nasmyth foci of the fast-slewing 0.6 m BOOTES-IR telescope at the Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN) in Spain. The primary science mission is prompt Gamma Ray-Burst afterglow research, with an implied demand for extremely time-efficient operation. We describe the challenges of installing a heavy camera on a small high-speed telescope, of integrating the dithering mechanism, the filterwheel, and the array itself into a high-efficiency instrument, the design of the software to meet the requirements.

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R. Cunniffe, A. J. Castro-Tirado, P. Kubánek, M. Jelínek, S. Vítek, J. Gorosabel, A. de Ugarte Postigo, A. Riva, F. Zerbi, A. Claret, and C. Sánchez-Fernández "Installation and first light of the BOOTES-IR near-IR camera", Proc. SPIE 7019, Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II, 70191H (15 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.789774

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