A near-infrared photometer for the 1-m telescope of Vainu Bappu Observatory

Abstract

A near-infrared photometer based on an InGaAs PIN photodiode and the filter set recommended by Infrared Working Group (IRWG) have been designed and built. It is mounted on the 1-m Carl–Zeiss telescope at the Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO) in Kavalur, India. The main science goal is to observe bright sources (< 5 magnitude) in the iZ, iJ and iH photometric bands. A discussion of the instrument and on-telescope performance during first-light tests are presented in this paper.