FLITECAM: a 1-5 micron camera and spectrometer for SOFIA

FLITECAM is a 1-5 micron infrared camera for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). A 1024 ×1024 InSb ALADDIN III detector and large refractive optics provide a field of view of almost 8 arc minutes in diameter with a scale of just under 0.5 arc seconds per pixel. The instrument is cooled by a double liquid helium and liquid nitrogen cryostat. Using a collimated beam of about 26 mm diameter, a low resolution spectroscopic mode is also available using direct-ruled KRS5 grisms and fixed slits of either 1" or 2" width and 60" length to yield resolving powers of R~1700 and 900 respectively. FLITECAM has been partially commissioned at the 3-m Shane telescope of Lick Observatory where the f/17 optics of this telescope provides almost the same plate scale as SOFIA. Astronomical observing requests (scripts) and a real-time data reduction pipeline (DRP) for dithered image patterns have been demonstrated. The performance of the instrument during ground-based trials is illustrated.