The William Herschel Telescope
Prime Focus Camera
WHT Prime Focus Camera
This incredible picture of the Horsehead Nebula in Orion was taken by Simon Tulloch of the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes at La Palma. This is one of a sequence of "first-light" images taken with the new William Herschel Telescope Prime Focus Camera. The image is a 10-second monochrome exposure. The PFC consists of a pair of CCD detectors mounted in the same focal plane (a cheaper and easier way to achieve large field size). The image below is of M42, the Orion Nebula. All image processing by Nik Szymanek.
M33
Another stunning RGB image taken with the WHT PFC. Image processing by Nik Szymanek..
WHT - PFC specifications
Image size 4096 x 4100 13.5um square pixels
Central gap between CCDs 40 pixels
Devices : EEV4280 thinned backside illuminated CCDs
Noise : 3-4 electrons RMS
Readout Speed : 74s ( can be reduced to 54s with readnoise of 6e)
Dark Current : Unmeasurable at -120C
Quantum Efficiency : 67% at 380nm, 81% at 400nm, 76% at 650nm, 13% at 950nm
Full well capacity > 170,000 electrons
The camera was built by Simon Tulloch at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh.