Arcetri Technical Reports 3/1994
The Commissioning of the Arcetri Near-Infrared Camera ARNICA:
II. Broadband Astronomical Performance
L. Hunt(1), R. Maiolino(2), G. Moriondo(2) and L. Testi(2)
(1) CNR-CAISMI, Firenze
(2) Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita' di Firenze
Abstract
This report is the second of a series that describes the quantitative data analysis and the results obtained with ARNICA at the TIRGO during the commissioning of the camera (November 1992 -- June 1993), and subsequent observing campaigns at the WHT and the TIRGO. In this report, optical performance during commissioning is evaluated in terms of distortion, spurious reflections ("ghosting"), and spatial variation of the point spread function. We assess the astronomical performance of the camera on the basis of instrumental throughput, sensitivity, and spatial variation of the photometric response. Finally, we present a review of the observing projects currently underway with ARNICA, together with pictorial illustrations of the capabilities of the camera.
