The NOAO CCD Mosaic cameras are wide field imagers having 8192 x 8192 pixels. At the KPNO 4-m, where the pixels are 0.26" on the sky, this provides a field of view of 36 arcmin on a side. At the WIYN 0.9-m, where the pixels are 0.43" on the sky, the field of view is 59 arcmin on a side.
Each unbinned exposure with the camera requires
Pictures are 135 Mbytes each. A typical night of ~70 pictures produces about 10 Gbytes. Be aware that processing this data, even just reading it, is a major task for many computing systems. We recommend using a DDS-4 or DLT tape; however, we provide Exabyte 820 (8505XL compatible) drives for those who do not have DDS-4s or DLTs. Provide enough time to tape your data each night. With the Exabytes, an image takes ~1min20sec to tape using tan, so 70 pictures will take nearly 2 hours even without a verification pass. We also offer DDS-4 DAT, DVD and CD/RW at both telescopes.
The Mosaic cameras require large (5.75 inch) filters to avoid vignetting. We can provide an adapter for 4 inch filters, but using them makes poor use of the Mosaic's wide-field.
This manual was originally intended for an observer planning to use either of the NOAO CCD Mosaic imagers. It is not intended to serve as a hardware or software reference document describing the inner working of the Mosaics, although some details at that level are present to help the observer plan observing strategies. Also, we assume that the observer is already familiar with CCD cameras, observations, and reducing data. The current versionis Mosaic-1 centric, i.e. focused on the Mosaic camera available at KPNO.
Two very brief summary pages are at the front of this manual. If you've read this far, and don't plan to read any further, be sure you understand those 2 pages.
Development of the Mosaic systems is a continuing process, although only very minor adjustments are being made at this time. Throughout the lifetime of the instruments, filters will be added, old ones replaced, and software enhanced. This manual represents the status as of the date on the cover page. We expect to revise the manual occasionally to include information gained during engineering runs, as well as to reflect new filters.
This manual also appears as an HTML document on the NOAO WWW pages (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/manuals). It can be downloaded as a PDF file via anonymous FTP to ftp.noao.edu, cd kpno/manuals, binary, get mosaic_man.pdf. We welcome suggestions for improving this manual.
Other useful information regarding the use of the Mosaics, CCDs, and observing and reduction software can be found at:
NOAO Mosaic Camera web pages (http://www.noao.edu/noao/mosaic)
Direct Imaging Manual (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/manuals/dim/dim.html)
NOAO/KPNO Mosaic Web Page (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/mosaic/mosaic.html)
NOAO/CTIO Mosaic Web Pages (http://www.noao.edu/ctio/mosaic)
WIYN 0.9-m User's Manual (http://www.noao.edu/0.9m/manual.html)
Buell
Jannuzi's Reduction Guide
(http://www.noao.edu/noao/noaodeep/ReductionOpt/frames.html)
Various Publications (SPIE, ADASS, ?)
Mosaic Data Handling System (Valdes 1998, SPIE 3355, 497) (http://www.noao.edu/noao/meetings/spie98/mdhs.ps)
CCD Detector upgrade for NOAO's 8192 x 8192 Mosaic (Wolfe 1998, SPIE 3355, 487) (http://www.noao.edu/noao/meetings/spie98/wolfe.html)
What is better than an 8K x 8K Mosaic? (Muller 1998, SPIE 3355, 577) (http://www.noao.edu/noao/meetings/spie98/muller.ps)
A New
Wide Field Corrector for the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m (Jacoby 1998, SPIE 3355, 721) (http://www.noao.edu/noao/meetings/spie98/jacoby.ps)