Galileo Institute For Astronomy (IFA) Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) System

A fully portable self-contained charge-coupled device system has been constructed for shared use with the Galileo Project Imaging Team. The detector currently incorporated in the system is a Texas Instruments (TI) 500x500 three-phase CCD that has been thinned to operate in the backside illuminated mode. The detector and camera mainframe electronics were provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). We constructed the support electron-ics and control interfaces necessary to operate the mainframe. We also integrated the data system, which is built around a DeAnza Visacom VC-5000 Image Processor with an imbedded LSI-ll minicomputer. The capability to do image processing in real-time at the telescope has proved to be extremely valuable. The overall system read noise has been measured at 25 electrons. Full-well capacity is 40,000 electrons. Some results from laboratory tests and initial observing runs at the Mauna Kea 2.2-m telescope are presented.