When writing and submitting a NICMOS Observing Proposal, proposers should consult all relevant technical documentation about the capabilities and sensitivities of NICMOS. Two important documents to consult are the NICMOS Instrument Handbook, and the NICMOS Data Handbook. Proposers should also discuss the requirements of their observing programs with appropriate STScI experts. Contacts are provided via the STScI HelpDesk at help@stsci.edu.
For more specific information relating to Phase I proposing, follow the links to the documents listed below.
Advisories:
Important updates, discoveries and developments
that could potentially affect NICMOS observations,
calibration, or data analysis.
FAQs:
Frequently Asked Questions.
Performance Summaries:
Status reports reflecting the current
understanding of instrument characteristics,
performance and calibration.
Absolute Photometry
Results for the two primary standards G191-B2B and P330E and the two additional standards GD153 and P177D indicate that the absolute photometry is accurate to 2% (1 sigma uncertainty) and is always better than 5%, for stars in the J-K range covered by the standards, i.e. from about -0.25 to +0.35.
NCS Subsystems
Description of the NCS instrument specifications and how the cryo-cooler will work with NICMOS.
Plot of the Frequency of Parallel Exposures
Histogram showing the frequency of NICMOS parallel program exposures as of Dec. 28, 1998.
Plot of the Distribution of Parallel Exposures on the Sky
Distribution of NICMOS parallel exposures.
Plot of the Distribution of the Exposure Times
Plot of the number of exposures as a function of the integrated exposure time.
Summary of NICMOS Parallel Programs
This chart shows a summery of the NICMOS parallel programs which were completed.
NICMOS Cycle 7 PAM Setting and Focus
Current PAM settings and actual focci for the three NICMOS cameras.
Performance of the Coronagraph in Cycle 7
Past performance of the Coronagraph
and recommendations for proposers
Handbooks:
The NICMOS Instrument Handbook is the primary
guide regarding the characteristics and use of
the instrument. The HST Data Handbook is the
primary guide for calibration, reduction and analysis
of NICMOS data.
Instrument Science Reports:
ISRs are technical reports written by members
of the NICMOS Group about various aspects of the
instrument and data. They usually contain in-depth
information about specific topics.
NICMOS ISR-013: NICMOS Proposal Instructions 2: Patterns and Associations
In this ISR the optional parameters in the NICMOS Proposal Instructions which implement the automatic execution of patterns of observations are described.
NICMOS ISR-012: NICMOS Proposal Instructions 1: General Instructions
In this ISR the Proposal Instructions for the NICMOS Science Instrument are described. This report discusses the possible SI configurations, modes, and most of the optional parameters.
Papers and Proceedings:
Selected NICMOS related published papers and workshop
proceedings.
Tutorials:
Cookbook style instructions, prescribed procedures, and
helpful tips.
Photometric Calibration CookBook
A brief summary of the steps needed
to perform absolute photometric
measurements in NIC1, NIC2, and NIC3 images. The steps described here are no longer valid for most of the current calibration values, which have wavelength dependent aperture corrections. However, polarimetry and grism calibrations should still be performed this way, as they have not been recalibrated in the method with aperture corrections.
Examples:
Examples of how to use various NICMOS-related tools, calibration and analysis techniques.
Space Telescope Analysis Newsletters:
STANs contain useful information regarding
calibration and data reduction.
NICMOS STScI Analysis Newsletter 22
New NICMOS Exposure Time Calculator
Synthetic DARKs for NIC1
Release of the Visual Target Tuner
NICMOS STScI Analysis Newsletter 15
NICMOS standard stars
NICMOS End-of-Life monitoring
NICMOS Prime Science Observations Update
NICMOS at the January 1999 Texas AAS Meeting
NICMOS STScI Analysis Newsletter 9
Proceedings of the 1997 HST Calibration Workshop
Making Associations From Individual NICMOS Observations
New HST field-of-view plotting task available in STSDAS
NICMOS STScI Analysis Newsletter 6
HST Data Handbook Version 3.0 released
Status of the NICMOS pure parallel program
NICMOS imaging polarimetry
NICMOS STScI Analysis Newsletter 4
Changes to flight software to diminish residualbias & resulting new calibration reference files
Changes to the Exposure Time Calculator
History of calibration pipeline
Status of the coronagraph and recommendations for Cycle 7-NICMOS
Release of STSDAS/TABLES 2.0
