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arxiv: 1409.4780 · v2 · submitted 2014-09-16 · 🌌 astro-ph.IM

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The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA): Design, Technical Overview and Performance

Alistair McPherson, Andrew Born, Brian Stobie, Bryan Little, David Henry, David Terrett, Eli Atad-Ettedgui, Gavin Dalton, Guy Woodhouse, Jim Emerson, John Murray, Kim Ward, Malcolm Stewart, Martin Caldwell, Martin Whalley, Naidu Bezawada, Paul Clark, Paul Jeffers, Richard Bennett, Simon Craig, Steven Beard, Will Sutherland

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classification 🌌 astro-ph.IM
keywords cameradesigntelescopevistaoverviewsurveysystemactive
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The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) is the 4-metre wide-field survey telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, equipped with the world's largest near-infrared imaging camera (VISTA IR Camera, VIRCAM), with 1.65 degree diameter field of view, and 67 Mpixels giving 0.6 square degrees active pixel area, operating at wavelengths 0.8 - 2.3 microns. We provide a short history of the project, and an overview of the technical details of the full system including the optical design, mirrors, telescope structure, IR camera, active optics, enclosure and software. The system includes several innovative design features such as the f/1 primary mirror, the dichroic cold-baffle camera design and the sophisticated wavefront sensing system delivering closed-loop 5-axis alignment of the secondary mirror. We conclude with a summary of the delivered performance, and a short overview of the six ESO public surveys in progress on VISTA.

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