WIYN High Resolution Infrared Camera (WHIRC)

Available for observing in 2010A

PI: Margaret Meixner, Space Telescope Science Institute
Project Scientist: Ed Churchwell, University of Wisconsin
WIYN Observatory Liaison: Heidi Schweiker
KPNO WHIRC Instrument Scientist: Dick Joyce

WHIRC commissioning activities began in July 2007 and were completed in November 2008, when it was accepted by WIYN as a general-use instrument. WHIRC is a near-IR (0.9-2.5 micron) camera for the WIYN 3.5m telescope residing on the WIYN Tip-Tilt Module (WTTM) port. During semester 2010A, WHIRC is being supported in direct imaging mode without active WTTM correction.  Observing with WTTM correction is also being supported in 2010A, depending on the availability of WIYN support personnel familiar with WTTM operation.  WHIRC has frequently demonstrated seeing limited performance of approximately 0.5-0.6" FWHM, and as good as 0.3" on exceptional nights. With the full tip-tilt first-order AO corrections possible with WTTM, WHIRC should typically deliver images with approximately 0.3" FWHM and near-diffraction-limited images (0.20") in the K_s band on exceptional nights. The optical design uses a Raytheon 2048×2048 HgCdTe VIRGO array with a fixed pixel scale of 0.1" (20 µm pixels). The field of view (3.3'×3.3') covers most of the WTTM corrected field. WHIRC has two filter wheels providing three broadband filters (J, H, K_s), and an assortment of 10 narrow band filters.

More detailed information on the instrument and current performance can be found here.

WHIRC filter complement

Figure 1 WHIRC on the WIYN WTTM port.

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.