+----------------------------------------------------------+ | NICMOS | STScI Analysis Newsletter | NICMOS STAN | October 2002 +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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 +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ | 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. +----------------------------------------------------------+ | Help: fill in link to help page on the SI website +----------------------------------------------------------+ | To subscribe or unsubscribe to the STAN, send a message | to majordomo@stsci.edu with the subject line blank and | the following in the body: [un]subscribe SINAME_news +----------------------------------------------------------+ | The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the | Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, | Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. +----------------------------------------------------------+
