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The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)was successfully repaired during SM4 and has resumed science operations with all channels. Most aspects of instrument performance are similar to what had been anticipated. In particular, the time-dependent sensitivity and charge-transfer efficiency are close to what had been extrapolated from trends seen in 2004. The most notable anomaly is that the dark current for the NUV MAMA detector is substantially higher than had been expected. The STIS NUV MAMA, while otherwise performing well, exhibits a dark current several times higher than expected. For the STIS Cycle 17 exposure time calculator, we had adopted a mean rate of 0.0013 counts/s/pixel. Currently, the measured mean value is about 0.011 counts/s/pixel. This excess dark current appears to be fading with an e-folding time of about 100 days. We will continue to track and report on its decay. If you believe that the higher NUV MAMA dark rate may adversely affect your Cycle 17 program, or if you have other questions about this issue, you should communicate with your Contact Scientist. Further information about STIS instrument performance will be made available on the STIS web page and in a STAN in the near future. Processed data from the STIS Early Release Observations can be found at http://archive.stsci.edu/pub/sm4earlypublic/stis/11506/.

STIS News

STIS ETC Update

(Oct 24, 2009)

New versions of the ETC have been released for all instruments. These include updated throughput measurements based on SMOV results, and updates to read-noise and dark current values. For STIS the throughput changes are only a few percent. More information can be found at http://www.stsci.edu/hst/stis/software/etc/

New STIS STAN

(Oct 2009)

The new STAN provides an overview of the orbital verification, as well as discusses the NUV dark current and the radiation damage to the CCD detector.

NUV MAMA Detector Dark Current

The STIS NUV MAMA, while otherwise performing well, appears to at least temporarily have a dark current several times higher than that which had been predicted and which was adopted for use in the STIS Cycle 17 exposure-time calculator. At best, it will be several months before the dark current declines to anything close to the expected level. Read more

CCD Detector Radiation Damage

We discuss the effects of radiation damage on the STIS CCD detector and strategies that observers can use to mitigate these effects.Read more

New in the Last 45 Days


Overview of STIS Status after Orbital Verification
Overview of STIS status after Orbital Verification
Proffitt 21 Sep 2009 (html)

STIS NUV MAMA Detector Dark Current
Describes larger than expected NUV MAMA dark current
Proffitt 21 Sep 2009 (html)

STIS CCD Detector - Living with Radiation Damage
STIS CCD CTE effects and mitigations
Proffitt 21 Sep 2009 (html)

STAN - Sept 2009
STIS versions of the Space Telescope Analysis Newsletters (STANs)
C. Proffitt 21 Sep 2009 (html)


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