| Issue |
EAS Publications Series
Volume 14, 2005
Dome C Astronomy and Astrophysics Meeting
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 337 - 342 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/eas:2005054 | |
| Published online | 05 January 2006 | |
M. Giard, F. Casoli and F. Paletou (eds)
EAS Publications Series, 14 (2005) 337-342
AMICA: the Antarctic Mid-Infrared CAmera for the IRAIT telescope
1
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania Teramo, via Maggini, 64100 Teramo, Italy
2
Universitá degli Studi di Perugia, Piazza dell'Universitá 1, 06100 Perugia, Italy
3
INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino, via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
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