KASINICS: KASI Near-Infrared Camera System Sang-Mok Cha *a,b , Ho Jin a , In-Soo Yuk a , Sungho Lee a , Uk-Won Nam a , Bongkon Moon a , Seungwon Mock a , Jeong-Yeol Han a , Dea-Hee Lee a , Jang-Hyun Park a , Jae-Mann Kyeong a , Soojong Pak c , Geon-Hee Kim d , Chun-Hwey Kim b a Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon 305-348, Rep. of Korea b Chungbuk National University, Chungbuk 361-763, Rep. of Korea. c Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi 446-701, Rep. of Korea d Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Daejeon 305-348, Rep. of Korea ABSTRACT The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is building the KASI Near Infrared Camera System (KASINICS) for the 61-cm telescope at the Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory (SOAO) in Korea. With KASINICS we will mostly do time monitoring observations, e.g., thermal variations of Jovian planet atmospheres, variable stars, and blazars. We use a 512 x 512 InSb array (Aladdin III Quadrant, Raytheon Co.) for L-band observations as well as J, H, and Ks-bands. The field-of-view of the array is 6 x 6 arcmin with 0.7 arcsec/pixel. Since the SOAO 61- cm telescope was originally designed for visible band observations, we adopt an Offner relay optical system with a Lyot stop to eliminate thermal background emission from the telescope structures. In order to minimize weight and volume, and to overcome thermal contraction problems, we optimize the mechanical design of the camera using the finite- element-method (FEM) analysis. Most of the camera parts including the mirrors are manufactured from the same melt of aluminum alloy to ensure homologous contraction from room temperature to 70 K. We also developed a new control electronics system for the InSb array (see the other paper by Cho et al. in this proceedings). KASINICS is now under the performance test and planned to be in operation at the end of 2006. Keywords: Infrared, IR camera, IR Instrumentation, Astronomical Instrumentation 1. INTRODUCTION The Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute (KASI) has been developing the KASI Near Infrared Camera System, KASINICS for observations in near infrared (NIR) wavelengths of J, H, Ks, and L-bands. KASINICS will be mounted on the 61-cm telescope of the Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory (SOAO) in the Republic of Korea. We plan to use KASINICS for monitoring time-variabilities of Jovian planet atmospheres, variable stars, blazars, etc. The expected limiting magnitudes are 18.1 m J , 17.2 m H , 17.5 m Ks , and 12.4 m L for point sources, with the signal to noise ratio of 10 and the integration time of 100 seconds (Moon et al. 2004). 1 We have completed manufacturing all the mechanical parts and the electronic controller of KASINICS, and the testing results of the assembled system are successful. In this paper we introduce the design, manufacturing, and testing results of KASINICS. 2. INSTRUMENT OVERVIEW KASINICS consists of a cooler, an electronic controller, and a cryostat. In the cryostat, a cold box includes optics system, a filter box, detector housing, and two cold heads of the GM cryocooler. Fig. 1 shows the configuration and beam path of KASINICS. The cold box is cooled down to 80 K and the detector box including the IR sensor is maintained at 30 ± 0.2 K by a heater control. * chasm@kasi.re.kr, jinho@kasi.re.kr; phone 82 42 865-2025; fax 82 42 861-5610 Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy, edited by Ian S. McLean, Masanori Iye, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6269, 62694W, (2006) · 0277-786X/06/$15 · doi: 10.1117/12.669903 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6269 62694W-1