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The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) is a fourth-generation instrument to be installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the 2008 servicing mission. COS is designed to perform high sensitivity, moderate- and low-resolution spectroscopy of astronomical objects in the 1150-3200 Å wavelength range. COS will significantly enhance the spectroscopic capabilities of HST at ultraviolet wavelengths, and will provide observers with unparalleled opportunities for observing faint sources of ultraviolet light.

The primary science objectives of the mission are the study of the origins of large scale structure in the Universe, the formation and evolution of galaxies, the origin of stellar and planetary systems, and the cold interstellar medium.

More information and documentation on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph can be found at CASA, the University of Colorado's Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, Ball Aerospace, and the Experimental Astrophysics Group at the University of California - Berkeley.


COS News

New ETC Release Notes (March 24,2008)
ImageAcqWarning.pdf impacts Proposers Using COS Imaging Target Acquisition ETC to determine exposure times and SNR.

Notice to all COS Proposers (March 6, 2008)
COS backgrounds (when considered versus equivalent STIS ETC cases) are computed too high; decrease COS NUV background by 5x, decrease COS FUV background by 3x, more.

COS ETC Release Notes Updated (March 5, 2008)
New COS ETC Release Notes impacts proposers using the COS ACQ/IMAGE ETC (target acquisition ETC).

Notice to all COS Proposers (March 3, 2008)
An error has been found in Chapter 7 of the COS Instrument Handbook, which discusses acquisitions. Specifically, the exposure times needed for a successful acquisition are longer than those illustrated in Figure 7.3. We anticipate that in almost all cases this error will not affect the time needed in a Phase I proposal because the total time needed for an imaging acquisition with COS is still very short. Nevertheless, if the time needed to acquire a source is of concern, proposers are urged to use the COS Exposure Time Calculator to estimate the correct acquisition time.

COS ETC Release Notes Updated (February 28, 2008)
New COS ETC Release Notes impacts proposers using the HST Standard Star Spectra to model the spectral distribution of their source for COS/FUV observations.


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