The double Prime Focus camera for the Large Binocular Telescope

摘要

The Prime Focus for the Large Binocular Telescope are a couple of Prime Focus stations each equipped with four 4kx2k CCDs and a six lenses corrector with an aspheric surface and the first lens as large as roughly 800mm in diameter. These cameras will cover almost half degree of Field of View on 8m-class telescopes with unprecedented velocity of F/1.4. The two units are optimized for the Red and Blue portions of the visible wavelength and additionally an extension to J and H bands is foreseen. An overview of the project, including the optomechanics, the cryogenics, the electronics, and the software is given along with a preliminary account of lessons learned and on how much the second unit, the Red one, the schedule of which is shifted with respect to the Blue one by several months, will take advantage from the experience gained in the Blue unit assembly and integration.