AN INFRARED CAMERA FOR THE PALOMAR-OBSERVATORY 60-INCH TELESCOPE

A near-infrared 0.8-2.5 mu m imaging camera for use at the f/8.75 Cass egrain focus of the Palomar 60-inch telescope is described. The simple and economical design of this camera is readily adaptable to other te lescopes. It features diffraction-limited reimaging optics, high optic al throughput (39% at H), and effective K-band background suppression. The camera utilizes an all-reflective, all-spherical optical design t hat is a variant of-the Offner 1:1 reimager. The readout electronics a re straightforward, reliable and have low noise, while the data-acquis ition system is robust in its utilization of a real-time UNIX operatin g system on a PC. The electronics and data-acquisition system are desc ribed in detail. Various aspects of the performance are given, along w ith initial results which show that the performance goals of the camer a are fully realized.