A UV-visible prime focus camera for the Keck telescopes

Abstract

Many areas of astronomical research rely on deep blue wide-field imaging. Mauna Kea enjoys the very best UV transparency from the ground and the Keck telescopes with 10 meter f/1.75 primaries are well suited to a prime focus camera with a large angular field. Swinburne University leads a proposal to provide a camera (KWFI, for Keck Wide Field Imager) that is optimized in the UV but works well to 1μm wavelength. Keck has interchangeable top end modules, of which one is now unused and easily capable of housing the required corrector lens and detector enclosure. This paper concentrates on details of the KWFI optical design.