The Acquisition Camera System for SOXS at NTT

TL;DR

This paper describes the design, functionalities, and preliminary performance of the Acquisition Camera System for SOXS, a versatile spectrograph for the ESO-NTT telescope capable of optical and NIR observations.

Contribution

It presents the optical and mechanical design of the Acquisition Camera System and evaluates its initial optical quality, throughput, and photometric capabilities.

Findings

Optical quality meets design specifications.

Throughput and magnitude limits are suitable for target acquisition.

Photometric performance supports scientific observations.

Abstract

SOXS (Son of X-Shooter) will be the new medium resolution (R$\sim$4500 for a 1 arcsec slit), high-efficiency, wide band spectrograph for the ESO-NTT telescope on La Silla. It will be able to cover simultaneously optical and NIR bands (350-2000nm) using two different arms and a pre-slit Common Path feeding system. SOXS will provide an unique facility to follow up any kind of transient event with the best possible response time in addition to high efficiency and availability. Furthermore, a Calibration Unit and an Acquisition Camera System with all the necessary relay optics will be connected to the Common Path sub-system. The Acquisition Camera, working in optical regime, will be primarily focused on target acquisition and secondary guiding, but will also provide an imaging mode for scientific photometry. In this work we give an overview of the Acquisition Camera System for SOXS with all the different functionalities. The optical and mechanical design of the system are also presented together with the preliminary performances in terms of optical quality, throughput, magnitude limits and photometric properties.