WIRCam - Performance Summary
(the basics to prepare an observing proposal)
Geometry
Number of detectors 4 = 2 x 2
Detector size (pixel) 2040 x 2040 active pixels (2048 x 2048 with reference pixels)
Pixel scale @ center of the field (arcsec / pixel) 0.306 (sampling is 0.15 with microdithering)
Camera field of view 21.5 arcminute
Camera rotation No rotation - Alignment from run to run: ~1 degree
Camera orientation Aligned with North-South/East-West axis
Image quality degradation from center to edges Hardly any perceptible
Field distortion <0.8% in the corners
Median seeing at center 0.65 arcsec (expected, at K)
Mosaic cosmetic quality (% of dead pixels) A few bad corners
Gaps between CCDs (arcsec) 45
Photometry
Magnitude system AB
Broad-band filters Y, J, H, Ks
Average Detector quantum efficiency over filter (%) Unknown, 75, 75, 85 (preliminary)
Zero points (e- / sec) at 1 airmass (AB system) First measurements: 25.06, 25.87, 26.37, 26.28 (+/-0.1)
Airmass term 0.02, 0.05, 0.03, 0.05 (expected)
Color term To be measured. Expected to be small.
Color (Instrumental to UKIRT Mauna Kea system) (UKIRT mag.)
Y-J J-H J-H H-Ks
Median sky brightness 17.4?, 16.7, 15.4, 15.4 (mag AB / arcsec^2)
Sky brightness airmass dependency (offset) Estimates are: 20, 40, 180, 170 (e- / airmass / sec)
Point source MagAB SNR=10 Grey 1hr 0.8" Opt ap.
Field galaxy MagAB SNR=10 Grey 1hr 0.8" 2.2"ap.
Conversion from AB to Vega magnitude system -0.66, -0.96, -1.40, -1.99
Instrumental magnitude equation m ~ Zp[e-/sec] - 2.5log(Gain[e-/ADU]) - k(airmass - 1)
OR m ~ Zp[ADU/sec] - k(airmass - 1) (Elixir data)
Narrow band filters Low OH- (1.061 & 1.187), CH4 (On & Off), H2 (v=1-0 S(1)), K continuum, Br gamma
Camera
Exposure overhead 10 seconds are charged
Read noise 30 e-
Electronic gain (e- / ADU) 3.8 e-/adu
Dark current Negligible (~0.05 e-/sec)
Digital encoding (bit) 16
Digital range 65536
Pixel saturation (ADU) ~35000
Linearity range within 1%,5%,10% (ADU) about 5000, 20000, 40000
Residual image after saturation 2 detectors (N-E & S-W) more affected
Crosstalk between channels "Edge" crosstalk: 50 adu amplitude
Telescope & instrument EMI noise Negligible
Pixel full well 120000 electrons
Raw fringe amplitude no obvious fringe seen
FITS file
Raw file format Multi Extension FITS (main header + 4 extensions (1 per detector), each usually containing a cube)
Number of amplifiers per detector 32
Observing
Immunity to bright stars scattered light Very good
Typical exposure time 20-40 seconds
Minimum exposure time 5 seconds
Shutter accuracy Perfect (electronic shutter)
Uniformity of exposure over the mosaic Perfect
Filter exchange time 15 seconds
Small (60 arcsec or less ) dither 7 seconds
Cosmic rays rate (events / detector / minute) Unknown
Observing mode Exclusively Queued Service Observing (QSO)
Data pre-processing `I'iwi at CFHT: the IDL Interpretor of the WIRCam Images.