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WFI: Wide Field Imager
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General
[ WFI moon]The Wide Field Imager (WFI) is a focal reducer-type camera which is permanently mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla. With field of view of 34'x33', Nyquist sampled by 0.238'' pixels exceeding any other ESO instrument by a factor of 2. It offers excellent sensitivity from 350 nm to the near IR, with more than 40 filters simultaneously available, many of them specifically selected to support the determination of photometric redshifts of distant objects.

Instrument scientists: Blair Conn & Oliver Schuetz

News
* 28 July 2006 Aquarids mpeg movie with the La Silla All Sky Camera. (28 Jul 2006)
* New WFI Exposure Time Calculator with all available WFI filters in it. (27 Jul 2006)
WFI featured in APOD. (13 Feb 2006)
* History of changes to 2.2-m configuration (05 Jan 2006)
WFI Contamination event 19 August 2005.
* New WFI handbook (01 May 2005)
Please mail to ls-wfi for comments, suggestions and to report errors and inaccurate statements in the web pages and manuals.

Important: Updated info for proposal preparation and submission.

Publications based on WFI data should cite: Baade, D.; Meisenheimer, K.; Iwert, O.; et al. 1999, The Messenger 95, 15 .

Instrument Features
WFI characteristics in a nutshell
Instrument Layout
WFI filters and their characteristics (tar.gz file)
Image Quality (seeing statistics)
Image statistics (old but useful info)

Observing Tools
WFI Exposure Time Calculator
ESO User Support Services and Tools (Catalogues, Software, etc)
Landolt Standard Fields online
2.2m Environmental Monitor

Instrument Performance
QC0: WFI CCD page
QC1: Quality control and trending of dome/sky flats
BADPIXEL masks
* Fringing pattern in the Ic/Iwp_ESO#845 filter
Photometric Zero Points: equations; nightly monitoring.
Baffle history, Mirror reflectivity history.

Internal
Service Observing: Manual, Handover web form, ZP monitoring, ToO handling, Old manual.
Operation guides, Empty fields for flats.
Check lists: WFI Service Observing Checklist.

General Observing
Templates: Acquisition, Science, Calibration, Overheads, quick reference.
FAQ
Data Reduction: EIS pipeline software, how to handle ESO WFI data with IRAF
Archive Retrieval for WFI data
Documentation User Manuals, in depth reports for WFI

Service Mode Observations
WFI Phase II Instructions
WFI Standard Calibration Plan for Service Mode Observations
Tips and Tricks for Service Mode Observations

Visitor Mode Observations
Telescope Balance
Backup request should be filled together with suppor astro. See backup policy.
VA computer account on the w2p2off machine
Observing logsheets: Normal spacing / Double spacing
Weather Constraints
Observatory wide Target of opportunity policy.

Send comments to ls-wfi
Last update: Jan 4, 2007 (OS,FSE) 
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