NICS (acronym for Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer) is the near-infrared cooled camera-spectrometer that has been developed by the Arcetri Infrared Group at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, in collaboration with the CAISMI-CNR for the TNG (the Italian National Telescope Galileo at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain). As NICS is in its scientific commissioning phase, we report its observing capabilities in the near-infrared bands at the TNG, along with the measured performance and the limiting magnitudes. We also describe some technical details of the project, such as cryogenics, mechanics, and the system which executes data acquisition and control, along with the related software.
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0109201,
title = {The TNG Near Infrared Camera Spectrometer},
author = {C. Baffa and G. Comoretto and S. Gennari and F. Lisi and E. Oliva and V. Biliotti and A. Checcucci and V. Gavrioussev and E. Giani and F. Ghinassi and L. K. Hunt and R. Maiolino and F. Mannuci and G. Marcucci and M. Sozzi and P. Stefanini and L. Testi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0109201},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 5 figures, compiled with A&A macros. A&A in press