The design of the WHT allows great flexibility in instrumentation as this
telescope allows fast and easy switching between the Cassegrain and Nasmyth
foci. For this reason, and to take advantage of the large light collecting
power of this telescope, operation and developmental efforts focus on the
WHT. Also visiting instruments, i.e. instruments built and used by external
groups for their own use, are welcome at the WHT and have attracted a great
deal of attention. The INT is equipped with only one instrument, the Wide
Field Camera. A broad functional division in instrumentation capability between
the WHT and INT is as follows:
William Herschel Telescope |
Optical pectroscopy and spectro-polarimetry over a wide range of resolving
powers |
|
Imaging polarimetry |
|
IR spectroscopy |
|
Multi-object spectroscopy |
|
Areal spectroscopy |
|
Optical and infrared imaging |
|
High spatial resolution imaging |
|
Coronography |
Isaac Newton Telescope |
CCD imaging |
The following table summarises the common-user instruments which were available
during 2004 and 2005:
Focus |
Instrument |
Detector |
|
William Herschel Telescope |
|
Cassegrain |
ISIS double spectrograph |
EEV and Marconi CCDs |
|
Auxiliary port camera (AUX) |
Tektronix CCD |
|
IR imager and spectrograph (LIRIS) |
Rockwell HgCdTe array |
Nasmyth |
Adaptive optics instrumentation: |
|
NAOMI / INGRID / OSCA |
Rockwell HgCdTe array |
|
NAOMI / OASIS |
MIT/LL CCD |
Prime |
Prime Focus imaging Camera (PFIP) |
2 × EEV CCD |
|
Autofib Fibre Positioner (AF2) and WYFFOS spectrograph |
2 × EEV CCD |
|
Isaac Newton Telescope |
|
Prime |
Wide Field Camera (WFC) |
4 × EEV CCDs |