VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a 4-m class wide-field survey telescope equipped with a 16-detector VIRGO infrared camera, located at ESO's Cerro Paranal Observatory in Chile. CASU was responsible for processing all data obtained with VISTA, producing calibrated images and catalogues for the major ESO public surveys.
VISTA is a 4-m class wide-field survey telescope equipped with an IR camera located at ESO's Cerro Paranal Observatory in Chile. It is one of the most capable IR imaging survey instruments in the world. The IR camera is composed of 16 Raytheon VIRGO 2048×2048 20-micron pixel array detectors, with a pixel scale of 0.34″ (f/3.25) and a field of view per exposure of 0.59 square degrees.
Each detector is divided into 16 channels of 128×2048 pixels. The detectors are spaced at 90% and 42.5% of the detector width. Six exposures (known as pawprints) are required to survey a contiguous area (tile) of 1.5 square degrees.
VISTA has eight filter housings including the broadband set ZYJHKs and a narrow band filter at 1.185 µm. Although the nightly data volume is quite variable, the average is expected to be about 250 GB with peaks of more than 600 GB.
Instrument Characteristics
| Detectors | 16 Raytheon VIRGO (HgCdTe on CdZnTe, 2048×2048 pixels) |
|---|---|
| Pixel Scale | 0.34″/pixel |
| Field of View | 1.5° × 1° (6 pawprints per tile) |
| Data Volume | ~250 GB/night (peaks >600 GB) |
| Filter Set | Z Y J H Ks NB1.18µm |
Data Processing
CASU was responsible for the processing of all data obtained with VISTA. The VIRCAM data reduction pipeline produced calibrated images and source catalogues distributed through the ESO Science Archive and the VISTA Science Archive (VSA) at the Wide-Field Astronomy Unit (WFAU) in Edinburgh.
