Italian Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT)

• Main Authors: TOSTI, Gino, BUSSO, Maurizio Maria, P. Maffei, S. Pascolini, L. Valenziano, M. Fiorucci, L. Corcione, M. Ferrari Toniolo, P. Persi
• Other Authors: Tosti, Gino, P., Maffei, S., Pascolini, L., Valenziano, M., Fiorucci, L., Corcione, Busso, Maurizio Maria, M., Ferrari Toniolo, P., Persi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: IR-astronomy; antarctic observatory; IR-telescope; project IRAIT; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11391/998203; http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997A%26AT.13.67T

The Antarctic continent offers ideal atmospheric conditions to carry out observations at infrared wavelengths > 5 m, a task which is other wise possible only from space with rare and short-lived infrared satellites. In this paper we report the main characteristics of the Italian Robotic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT) which will be installed on the Antarctic Plateau. The telescope will be a f/20 Cassegrain with a 0.8-m parabolic primary mirror and an oscillating secondary mirror. It will be equipped with an IR-camera based on a Si:As or Si:Sb arrav of 128 × 128 pixels operating in the spectral range 8 - 27 m (Si:As) or 8 - 40 m (Si:Sb).