ISPI SEES FIRST LIGHT!




First light has been obtained with ISPI (eye-spy), the Infrared Side Port Imager at the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope. ISPI has one of the largest field-of-views currently available for IR camera's: 11 x 11 arcmin.


One of the first images obtained with ISPI, taken on Tuesday September 24, 2002, is an image of globular cluster 47 Tucanae, which beautifully demonstrates the instrument's large field-of-view.





This is a low-resolution version of an raw image -- no sky subtraction, flat fielding or any other data processing has been performed on this data yet. A full resolution version (4.4MB!) of this picture can also be downloaded.




ISPI is a facility infrared imager, and will be permanently mounted on the Blanco Cassegrain side-port serving a broad range of science programs through the following capabilities:

ISPI provides state-of-the-art wide field imaging in the southern skies for US astronomers while high angular resolution imaging and spectroscopy are shifted to the SOAR telescope (science operations to begin in late 2003A) and the International Gemini Project southern 8m telescope, Gemini South. ISPI is one component of a fixed instrument complement for future Blanco operations; the others are Prime Focus MOSAIC for optical imaging, and Hydra for multi-object optical spectroscopy. This fixed complement will lower operations costs on the Blanco as CTIO meets its commitments for SOAR commissioning and Gemini operations support.

For more information on ISPI, please visit our web pages: http://www.ctio.noao.edu/instruments/ir_instruments/ispi/






Applying for Time:



For semester 2003A broad-band J, H, Ks filters will be available.

A narrow-band filter complement is planned but none have been procured as yet.
We would be pleased to work with prospective users who wish to provide narrow-band filters for their programs.

Predicted ISPI performance on the Blanco 4-meter:

Band Background Flux
(electrons/sec)		 Integrated Flux
(electrons/sec)		 point source detection limit
5 sigma in
  per sq arcsec per pixel for m=15 star 60 sec 1 hr
J 2700 330 7000 20.5 22.5
H 15900 1940 7200 19.5 21.5
Ks 36200 4440 4700 18.6 20.5




Alternatively, the Exposure Time Calculator can be used to estimate exposure times and S/N to be expected. Set Imager to ISPI and use a 2 pixel radius for the seeing, assuming a 0.6 arcsec seeing.




If you have questions about ISPI you may send email to rprobst@noao.edu, nvdbliek@noao.edu, or rblum@noao.edu.

27 September 2002 [nvdb]