AstraLux - the Calar Alto 2.2-m telescope Lucky Imaging camera

TL;DR

AstraLux is a Lucky Imaging camera for the Calar Alto 2.2-m telescope that achieves near-diffraction limited imaging by selecting the best short exposures, using commercially available components for cost-effective construction.

Contribution

The paper introduces AstraLux, a Lucky Imaging instrument utilizing high-speed CCDs and a simple design to deliver high-resolution images efficiently and affordably.

Findings

Achieves near-diffraction limited imaging in SDSS i' and z' filters.

Uses only 1-10% of the best frames for high-quality images.

Constructed with commercially available components for rapid deployment.

Abstract

AstraLux is a Lucky Imaging camera for the Calar Alto 2.2-m telescope, based on an electron-multiplying high speed CCD. By selecting only the best 1-10% of several thousand short exposure frames, AstraLux provides nearly diffraction limited imaging capabilities in the SDSS i' and z' filters over a field of view of 24x24 arcseconds. By choosing commercially available components wherever possible, the instrument could be built in short time and at comparably low cost. We briefly present the instrument design, the data reduction pipeline, and summarise the performance and characteristics