NICMOS STAN +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | NICMOS | STScI Analysis Newsletter | 10 July 2009 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Visit the NICMOS web site http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos "New in the Last 45 Days" for all new information about NICMOS. CONTENTS: - NICMOS Instrument Handbook Version 11.0 Release - NICMOS Data Handbook Version 8.0 Release - New NICMOS ISRs - New Reference Files - NICMOS NCS/NCC Restart Plans - NICMOS Data Released in the HLA (Hubble Legacy Archive) +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ NICMOS Instrument Handbook Version 11.0 Release The latest version of NICMOS Instrument Handbook has been released. It can be found on the NICMOS web site at: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/handbooks/current_NEW/cover.html This version includes up-to-date information (as of June 2009) about the observational capabilities of NICMOS including imaging, coronagraphy, polarimetry and grism spectroscopy. It also describes the detector characteristics, including updated information on the dark current, flat-fields and bad pixels on the detectors, as well as the available detector readout modes, exposure time overheads, dithering strategies, and exposure time calculator information. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ NICMOS Data Handbook Version 8.0 Release The latest version of NICMOS Data Handbook has been released. It can be found on the NICMOS web site at: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/handbooks/DataHandbookv8/. Major updates include up-to-date information (as of March 2009) about -Photometric calibrations, bias-derived temperature, temperature dependent reference files, dark current and polarimetry. -New calibration routines CalTempFromBias and runcalsaa -Bright Earth persistence and a new calibration routine nic_rem_persist (which is part of runcalsaa) List of figures and tables are available at the beginning of the handbook. Minor updates include updated flags, updated *_cal.fits primary header, NICMOS Cycle 17 calibration Plan, Link to new Multidrizzle handbook, updates to several other sections +------------------------------------------------------------------+ New NICMOS ISRs The NICMOS team has published the following Instrument Science Reports: NICMOS ISR 2009-001 (E. A. Barker & T. Dahlen): "New Bad Pixel Mask Reference Files for the Post-NCS Era" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_001.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-002 (T. Dahlen et al.): "Temperature Dependent Dark Reference Files: Linear Dark and Amplifier Glow Components" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_002.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-003 (T. Dahlen, M. Sosey & E. Bergeron): "Updates to Calnica: Using Temperature Dependent Reference Files" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_003.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-004 (A. C. Viana, R. S. de Jong & A. M. Koekemoer): "NICMOS Photometric Calibration Pipeline" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_004.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-005 (D. Thatte & T. Dahlen): "NICMOS Temperature Dependent Flat-fields" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_005.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-006 (N. Pirzkal, R. Bohlin & D. Thatte): "NICMOS Grism Wavelength Calibration" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_006.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-007 (N. Pirzkal, D. Grumm & E. Bergeron): "CalTempFromBias:Implementation and Testing: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_007.pdf NICMOS ISR 2009-008 (T. Wiklind & D. Thatte): "NICMOS Breathing and Focus Field Variations" http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos/documents/isrs/isr_2009_008.pdf +------------------------------------------------------------------+ New Reference Files The NICMOS team has delivered several new/updated reference files within past few months. The files delivered after October 1, 2008 include new persistence model (extension pmd) and persistence mask (extension msk) files for NIC2 to correct for the effects of Bright Earth persistence, updated linearity correction files (extension lin), updated photometric calibration tables (extension pht), updated static flat files (extension flt) to calibrate post-NCS data, updated temperature dependent darks (extension tdd) and new temperature dependent flat-fields (extension tdf), updated mask files (extension msk) with updated bad pixels for both pre-NCS and post-NCS masks and grot pixels added to the pre-NCS masks (which previously only the post-NCS mask had included). Users who have data retrieved before October 1st, 2008 are advised to retrieve the data again from the archive so that it will have new/updated header keywords and their values or calibrate the data with calnica version 4.4 and later using the new reference files. Users can retrieve the reference files from NICMOS dynamic reference file pages located at: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/observatory/cdbs/SIfileInfo/NICMOS/reftablequeryindex or from the archive. +-----------------------------------------------------------------+ NICMOS NCS/NCC Restart Plans The HST Project has been discussing plans over the past few months to restart the NICMOS Cooling System (NCS), using slightly different startup procedures aimed at mitigating the issues that were encountered during the previous startup attempts. A startup attempt will likely proceed in the near future, with the exact timing depending on achieving the thermal conditions needed in order to proceed with a startup. If a startup proceeds, details on its progress and the NCS status will be disseminated via the NICMOS web site. +------------------------------------------------------------------+ NICMOS Data Released in the HLA (Hubble Legacy Archive) A preliminary release of all the pre-NCS NICMOS data, about 30% of the total NICMOS archive, has been made available in the HLA (Hubble Legacy Archive) as part of Data Release 3. These data have been reprocessed using new temperature-dependent flat-fields and dark reference files, along with several other calibration improvements aimed at reducing low-level residuals, and have also been processed through MultiDrizzle to produce cosmic-ray cleaned, distortion-corrected, combined images for all the filters in each visit, aligned to a common pixel grid. We are currently reprocessing the post-NCS NICMOS data, and invite the community to send comments and feedback for any further improvements that can be performed on the data. The products can be accessed at: http://hla.stsci.edu +------------------------------------------------------------------+ For more detailed information and updates, please consult the NICMOS webpages: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos +----------------------------------------------------------+ | Help: help@stsci.edu +----------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 nicmos_news +----------------------------------------------------------+ | The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the | Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, | Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. +----------------------------------------------------------+
