From: Saul Perlmutter (saul@lbl.gov)
Date: Thu Oct 31 2002 - 09:23:45 PST
attached mail follows:
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| NICMOS
| STScI Analysis Newsletter
| NICMOS STAN
| October 2002
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Visit the NICMOS web site http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/
"New in the Last 45 Days" for all new information about
NICMOS.
CONTENTS (Optional):
- HST Cycle 12 Call for Proposals
- New NICMOS Instrument Handbook
- post-NCS NICMOS Calibration Reference Files
- post-NCS NICMOS Focus and Coma
- The 2002 HST Calibration Workshop
- NICMOS preprints
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http://www.stsci.edu/spd/cycle12/announce.html
HST Cycle 12 Call for Proposals
NASA and The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) are
pleased to announce the Cycle 12 Call for Proposals for
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Observations and funding for
Archival Research and Theoretical Research programs.
Participation in this program is open to all categories of
organizations, both domestic and foreign, including
educational institutions, profit and nonprofit
organizations, NASA Centers, and other Government agencies.
This solicitation will be open from October 16, 2002
through January 24, 2003 8:00pm EST, and proposals may be
submitted throughout this period. Results of the selection
will be announced in April 2003.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/
New NICMOS Instrument Handbook
The post-NCS updated NICMOS Instrument Handbook for
Cycle 12 has been completed and released. The new
Instrument Handbook is available on the NICMOS
home web page.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/calibration/reffiles
post-NCS NICMOS Calibration Reference Files
Flat field observations have been obtained with all
filters. The high S/N calibration reference files have
been delivered to the Calibration Data Base System (CDBS)
for use by the OPUS pipeline, On-The-Fly-Reprocessing
(OTFR), and retrieval from the Archive. A list of the
reference files can be found on the NICMOS web page.
In addition, new post-NCS Bad Pixel Masks are available and
have been delivered to CDBS. The mask files are available
on the NICMOS home web page.
New temperature dependent dark coefficients have been
delivered to CDBS for use by the OPUS pipeline and calnica.
These temperature coefficients are specific to post-NCS
data obtained at 77.1 K. Users running calnica at their
respective home institutions need to retrieve these
coefficient files, one for each NICMOS camera (*_tdd.fits),
and load them into the local nref directory.
New linearity files have been delivered to CDBS for use by
the OPUS pipeline and calnica. These files contain the
pre-NCS correction coefficients, but decreased saturation
values [node2]. These files are available for NICMOS
users on the NICMOS web page. We expect to have
post-NCS linearity files available in the near future.
The photometric keywords in the science headers contain
pre-NCS Cycle 7 and 7N values. The SM3B calibration program
8986 completed the end of July 2002 and the data are being
analyzed. Two calibration targets, P330-E and G191B2B, were
observed. Target P330-E (Solar Analog) was observed with
all Camera 1, 2, and 3 filters. Target G191B2B (WD) was
observed with a selection of filters from each camera to
tie the NICMOS calibration to the HST white dwarf standard.
Preliminary results indicate an increased value in the
photometric keywords, consistent with the observed increase
in DQE of the NICMOS detectors. Analysis of the photometric
calibration data is underway. At present, Cycle 11 NICMOS
data retrieved from the archive are calibrated using the
old, out-of-date Cycle 7 PHOTTAB reference file. Therefore,
the photometric calibration keywords in the image header
(PHOTFNU, PHOTFLAM) are not accurate. NICMOS users should
watch for updates on photometry on the STScI NICMOS web
pages and in this newsletter.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/performance/focus/
post-ncs_focus_update.html
post-NCS NICMOS Focus and Coma
Changes in the optimal positions of the of the Pupil
Alignment Mechanism (PAM) for NIC1 and NIC2 were
implemented on May 9, 2002. No adjustment for the NIC3
focus was performed. The NIC3 focus is still beyond the
movement of the NIC3 PAM. However, the NIC3 focus has moved
in the positive direction, bringing it nearly in-focus
and thus providing far better scientific quality than in
Cycle 7. In addition, no adjustment in focus was
implemented for NICMOS coronagraphy. Continuing focus
monitoring has revealed the focus measurements in all
three cameras to remain stable and consistent.
A preliminary adjustment to the NIC1 and NIC2 PAM tilt to
remove some small coma, that was introduced since
January 1999, was implemented on May 9, 2002. A final NIC1
adjustment for scientific operation was uplinked on May 16,
2002, and it successfully eliminated coma in NIC1. No
further adjustment is necessary for NIC1. A slight
adjustment to the NIC2 PAM tilt to remove coma was
implemented on September 29, 2002. This adjustment was
successful, eliminating coma in NIC2. No tilt adjustment
has been performed for NIC3.
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http://www.stsci.edu/
The 2002 HST Calibration Workshop
The 2002 HST Calibration Workshop was held at STScI on
October 17-18, 2002. Each HST Instrument Group had a
session devoted to their particular instrument. NICMOS
talks were presented by Daniela Calzetti (NICMOS Status),
Torsten Boeker (Detector Properties), Mark Dickinson
(Photometry), Rodger Thompson (NICMOS Spectroscopy), and
Glenn Schneider (NICMOS Coronagraphy), and nine NICMOS
related posters were also presented.. A separate NICMOS
splinter session was chaired by Wolfram Freudling. Topics
covered in the splinter session were "AO and NICMOS",
the WF3 infrared channel, and NICMOS polarimetry.
Contributions to the 2002 HST Calibration Workshop
proceedings are due December 1, 2002. Invited speakers
can submit a manuscript up to 10 pages and those presenting
a poster paper can submit a 4 page manuscript. NICMOS
papers will be posted on the NICMOS home web page once they
are available.
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| Additional general section(s) (e.g. NICMOS preprints)
+----------------------------------------------------------+
The on-orbit performance of NICMOS was described in two
papers presented at the SPIE Meeting, Astronomical Telescopes
and Instrumentation, Waikoloa, Hawaii, August 22-28, 2002. In
addition, a paper was presented describing the NICMOS Cryo
Cooler (NCC), the technology, evolution, performance, and
future applications. Links to these manuscripts can be
found on the NICMOS home web page.
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/
Boeker, T. et al. 2002, "NICMOS revival story: A cooldown
monitoring program", in IR Space Telescopes and Instruments,
J. Mather ed., SPIE, Vol 4850, in press.
Jedrich, N.M, et al. 2002, "A cryogeneric cooling system for
restoring the IR science on the Hubble Space Telescope", in
IR Space Telescopes and Instruments, J. Mather ed., SPIE,
Vol 4850, in press.
Schultz, A. et al. 2002, "Post-NCS Performance of the HST
NICMOS", in IR Space Telescopes and Instruments, J. Mather
ed., SPIE, Vol 4850, in press.
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