Mid-Infrared imaging is vital for the study of a wide variety of astronomical phenomena, including evolved stars, exoplanets, and dust enshrouded processes such as star formation in galaxies. However, infrared detectors have traditionally been expensive and it is difficult to achieve the sensitivity needed to see beyond the overwhelming mid-infrared background. Here we describe the upgrade and commissioning of a simple prototype, low-cost 10 μ m imaging instrument. The system was built using commercially available components including an uncooled microbolometer focal plane array and chopping system. The system was deployed for a week on the 1.52 m Carlos Sanchez Telescope and used to observe several very bright mid-infrared sources with catalogue fluxes down to \(\sim 600\) Jy. We report a sensitivity improvement of \(\sim 4\) mag over our previous unchopped observations, in line with our earlier predictions.

中红外成像对于研究各种天文现象至关重要，包括演化的恒星，系外行星和尘埃包裹的过程，例如星系中恒星的形成。然而，传统上红外探测器价格昂贵，并且难以获得超出压倒性的中红外背景所需的灵敏度。在这里，我们描述了升级和一个简单的原型，低成本10的调试μ米成像仪器。该系统是使用市售组件构建的，包括未冷却的微辐射热计焦平面阵列和斩波系统。该系统在1.52 m的Carlos Sanchez望远镜上部署了一周，用于观察几个非常明亮的中红外光源，其目录通量低至\（\ sim 600 \）y 我们报告了\（\ sim 4 \） mag的灵敏度比我们之前的未删减观测值有所提高，这与我们先前的预测相符。