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Detector size

For certain types of experiment, it may be important to note that the IPCS is a much larger detector than any of the CCDs currently available on the INT. For spectroscopic observations, the INT IPCS provides 2044 pixels along the dispersion direction, each about 15 m in size. The GEC CCD provides 578 pixels along the dispersion direction, each 22m in size. This means that for a fixed wavelength resolution, the IPCS provides almost 2.5 times the wavelength coverage. The usefulness of this multiplex advantage depends very much on the type of experiment being performed. For an experiment where wavelength coverage is important, it might mean that the IPCS is the preferred detector, even though the integration time to reach the desired signal to noise ratio in each resolution element is 2-3 times longer. A new generation of CCDs with to pixels is becoming available for astronomical observations and we hope to offer it on the INT from 1990.