VATT Instrumentation and Computers
Current instruments and computing equipment available at the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope are:
- VATT CCD Imager - Vatt4k
- - A replacement STA0500A back illuminated 4K CCD, ITL serial number 8301, was installed March 2017, and updated 26 January 2018.
- - It is similar to the September 2007 one, including its QE.
- - Pixels: 4096x4096, 15x15 microns
- - Gain:1.9 e/DN
- - Full well: ADC limited (65k DN) = ~120,000 electrons unbinned
- - Noise: ~3.9 electrons
- - Photon Transfer Curve
- - Gain Curve
- - FOV: 12.5 arcmin square
- pixel scale: 0.188 arcsec/pixel
- wavelength range: 300 - 1000 nm, peak 96% at 450 nm - - Preamplifiers added October 2008 inside the dewar. These give faster readout and lower noise.
- Galway Ultra Fast Imager - GUFI
- - This L3CCD system, based on an Andor iXon back-illuminated CCD camera, gives a readout time of only 2ms, extremely high time resolutions of up to 400 images a second (subframed), and very low light level sensitivity.
- - Field of view on VATT, 3 arcmin with current focal reducer.
- - On loan from NUI Galway, currently until June 2011.
- - Consult Richard Boyle for technical details, and see the NUI Galway "Brown Dwarfs and Substellar Objects" group.
- VATT CCD Spectrograph - VATTSpec
- - This optical region spectrograph has AR coated refractive optics, with a beam size at its camera of 125 mm, giving ...
- - slit length: 30 arcsec
- - wavelength range: 360 - 950 nm
- - spectral coverage: 100 nm at 0.1 nm resolution
- - spectral resolutions: 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 nm with 1 arcsec wide slit
- - detector: back illuminated, low noise CCD STA0520A, with very nice cosmetics.
- ITL Serial Number 8228
2688x512 pixels, 15x15 microns - Detector operating temperature -110C
- Gain: 1.3 e/DN with setting 10; 2.6 e/DN with setting 5
- Full well, both gains: ADC limited (65k DN) = 85,000 or 170,000 electrons
- Noise: 3.4 electrons (3.2 in overscan region)
- QE Curve
- efficiency: determined by Mark Wagner for telescope plus spectrograph - - further details are under the Instructions for use of the VATT Spectrograph.
- - bandpass filters available: S8612 (red blocking); GG-400, GG-475, OG-550 (cut-offs to the blue in nm).
- Offset and slit-viewing guide box with CCD guide camera
- - provides interface to derotator for all the above instruments.
- - effective back focal distance, from guide box to focal surface, is 2.000".
- - contains two filter wheels, each holding four 3.48" square filters. Adapters to accommodate 2" and 3" square filters are available.
- - UBVRI, uvby, Vilnius, Sloan, ECAS, and Order Blocking filters are currently provided.
- - integrating sphere with continuum and calibration lamps.
