Two Offner-based IR camera optical designs

Tracing results for two designs based on the Offner reimager are given: a practical 256×256 NICMOS-3 IR/CCD I-K camera designed for use on a f/13.5 1-m telescope yielding a 154×154 field, and a hypothetical 1024×1024 pixel nextgeneration IR camera for a f/7.5 2.5-m telescope yielding a 244×244 field. Both designs produce near-diffration limited results.     

LonGSp: A near infra-red spectrometer

We present a new cooled grating near infra-red spectrometer designed to acquire spectra at the TIRGO telescope in the 0.9÷2.5m region with a resolving power of 300÷4000, equipped with a Rockwell NICMOS 3 detector.     

First experiences with ARNICA,the Arcetri observatory imaging camera

ARNICA (ARcetri Near Infrared CAmera) is the imaging camera for the near infrared bands between 1.0 and 2.5 m that Arcetri Observatory has designed and built as a common use instrument for the TIRGO telescope (1.5 m diameter, f/20) located at Gornergrat (Switzerland). The scale is 1 per pixel, with sky coverage of more than 4×4 on the NICMOS 3 (256×256 pixels, 40 m side) detector array. The optical path is compact enough to be enclosed in a25.4 cm diameter dewar; the working temperature of detector and optics is 76 K. We give an estimate of performance, in terms of sensitivity with an assigned observing time, along with some preliminary considerations on photometric accuracy.