Detector Characteristics
The detector is an Andor iKon-L936 2048 x 2048 CCD, with 13.5-micron pixels. Its 0.1665 arcsec/pixel plate scale gives a field of view of 5.68 x 5.68 arcminutes. The Andor detector is currently the only detector available for direct imaging on the Nickel telescope. See Andor CCD specifications for QE and other characteristics. Readnoise and gain (measured by Andor technicians June 2026) for each binning and readout mode is listed below.| Binning | Readout Speed | Gain (e-/DN) |
Readnoise (e-) | Readout Time (m:ss) |
Approx. Bias (DN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| x1 | slow | 0.91 | 2.70 | 88 | 300 |
| x1 | fast | 0.92 | 6.09 | 5 | 300 |
| x2 | slow | 0.91 | 2.70 | 23 | 300 |
| x2 | fast | 0.92 | 6.09 | 1.5 | 300 |
| x4 | slow | 0.91 | 2.70 | 6.5 | 300 |
| x4 | fast | 0.92 | 6.09 | 0.6 | 300 |
Bias level of the CCD should be 300 DN for all read modes and binning settings.
The CCD has two overscan regions, 20 pixels on the left side, and 20 pixels on the right side. The right side (high column numbers) is the recommended overscan region to use. If you chose to readout a subregion of the detector, it probably will not include the overscan pixels.
| Binning | Window (WINDOW) | Shape | DATASEC | BIASSEC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x1 | full | 2088x2048 | [20:2067,1:2048] | [2075:2088,1:2048] |
| 2x2 | full | 1044x1024 | [11:1033,1:1024] | [1038:1044,1:1024] |
| 4x4 | full | 522x512 | [6:516,1:512] | [520:522,1:512] |
Support Astronomers (sa@ucolick.org) Last modified: Sun Nov 1 16:32:33 PST 2026