We report a preliminary study of the main focal plane instrument for the IRAIT telescope, currently being built at INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Teramo. The basic requirements are those of a remotely-controlled camera aimed to perform 10- and 20-μm photometry from Dome-C in the standard bandpasses N and Q. Starting from the site properties and the science goals, the main components of AMICA (Antarctic Mid-Infrared CAmera) are described: a Si:As BIB array detector, sensitive in the range 2-28 μm; a fully reflective optical design; a cryostat modified in order to work at the extreme environmental conditions of the antarctic plateau; a cryocooler maintaining the operating temperature of 4.2 K without external intervention; an automatized and flexible control electronics. AMICA is designed to fully exploit the unique mid-infrared observing conditions at Dome-C. © EAS, EDP Sciences 2005.
AMICA: The Antarctic Mid-infrared Camera for the IRAIT telescope
PELUSI, DANILO;DI VARANO, Igor;
2005-01-01
Abstract
We report a preliminary study of the main focal plane instrument for the IRAIT telescope, currently being built at INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Teramo. The basic requirements are those of a remotely-controlled camera aimed to perform 10- and 20-μm photometry from Dome-C in the standard bandpasses N and Q. Starting from the site properties and the science goals, the main components of AMICA (Antarctic Mid-Infrared CAmera) are described: a Si:As BIB array detector, sensitive in the range 2-28 μm; a fully reflective optical design; a cryostat modified in order to work at the extreme environmental conditions of the antarctic plateau; a cryocooler maintaining the operating temperature of 4.2 K without external intervention; an automatized and flexible control electronics. AMICA is designed to fully exploit the unique mid-infrared observing conditions at Dome-C. © EAS, EDP Sciences 2005.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
