The QUEST Large Area CCD Camera

Charlie Baltay; David Rabinowitz; Peter Andrews; Anne Bauer; Nancy Ellman; William Emmet; Rebecca Hudson; Thomas Hurteau; Jonathan Jerke; Rochelle Lauer; Julia Silge; Andrew Szymkowiak; Brice Adams; Mark Gebhard; James Musser; Michael Doyle; Harold Petrie; Roger Smith; Robert Thicksten; John Geary

doi:10.1086/523899

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The QUEST Large Area CCD Camera

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Abstract

We have designed, constructed and put into operation a very large area CCD camera that covers the field of view of the 1.2 m Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The camera consists of 112 CCDs arranged in a mosaic of four rows with 28 CCDs each. The CCDs are 600 x 2400 pixel Sarnoff thinned, back illuminated devices with 13 um x 13 um pixels. The camera covers an area of 4.6 deg x 3.6 deg on the sky with an active area of 9.6 square degrees. This camera has been installed at the prime focus of the telescope, commissioned, and scientific quality observations on the Palomar-QUEST Variability Sky Survey were started in September of 2003. The design considerations, construction features, and performance parameters of this camera are described in this paper.

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Charlie Baltay, David Rabinowitz, Peter Andrews, Anne Bauer, Nancy Ellman, William Emmet, Rebecca Hudson, Thomas Hurteau, Jonathan Jerke, Rochelle Lauer, Julia Silge, Andrew Szymkowiak, Brice Adams, Mark Gebhard, James Musser, Michael Doyle, Harold Petrie, Roger Smith, Robert Thicksten, John Geary. 2007-02-21. The QUEST Large Area CCD Camera. https://doi.org/10.1086/523899

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