We present the design, expected performance, and current status of the wide field near-infrared camera (OAOWFC) now being developed at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, NAOJ, NINS. OAOWFC is a near-infrared survey telescope whose effective aperture is 91cm. It works at Y, J, H, and Ks bands and is dedicated to the survey of long period variable stars in the Galactic plane. The field of view is 0.95 X 0.95 deg2 which is covered by one HAWAII-2 RG detector of 2048 X 2048 pixels with the pixel size of 18.5 μm X 18.5 μm, that results in the sampling pitch of 1.6 arcsec/pixel. OAOWFC can sweep the area of 840 deg2 every 3 weeks, attaining a limiting magnitude of 13 in Ks band. It allows us to observe long period variables embedded in the Galactic plane where interstellar extinction is severe in optical.

We have constructed a near-infrared imaging camera which is attached to the prime focus of 105cm Schmidt telescope at Kiso Observatory. The camera is equipped with a 1040×1040 PtSi CSD array developed by Mitsubishi Electric Co. The combination of Kiso Schmidt and the array gives a wide field of view of 18.4'×18.4' with a reasonable spatial resolution of 1.06' /pixel. The system performances of the camera have been evaluated through laboratory and observational tests. Low noise, good cosmetics(no defect pixels), and good stability of the camera system show an excellent performance for astronomical use.