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.

Date Published: 15 July 2008
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7019, Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II, 70191H (15 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.789774

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7019:
Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II
Alan Bridger; Nicole M. Radziwill, Editor(s)