<title>Calibration and performance of the infrared array camera (IRAC)</title>

Abstract

The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments in the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 microns. Two adjacent 5.12 X 5.12 arcmin fields of view in the SIRTF focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 microns; 4.5 and 8 microns). All four detectors arrays in the camera are 256 X 256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. We describe here the results of the instrument functionality and calibration tests completed at Goddard Space Flight Center, and provide estimates of the in-flight sensitivity and performance of IRAC in SIRTF.