In this example, we wish to perform a short wavelength CVF scan of a comet, reaching a S/N greater than 3 for a surface brightness of 2 mJy/''. Here the background is estimated from the zodiacal light model at the ecliptic pole, scaled by a factor of 5.
We will not use the full sampling of the CVF but instead perform an integration every two positions. Thus the parameters for this observation are the wavelength interval, here from 2.6 to 5.2 m, and the increment, in units of CVF steps, between each filter position, 2. We used the 6'' lens, and after a small number of trials, selected an integration time of 6 s.
The results of this computation are shown on figure . Here the upper curve refers to the S/N achieved at 5.2 m, and the lower one to the S/N at 2.6 m. One sees that our observation can reasonably be done in 4000 s (plus 180 s for pointing).