Skip to main content

Late Breaking News

About STIS

GIF of Jupiter's aurora taken with STIS
Over the course of Cycle 24 and 151 orbits, STIS was used to observe Jupiter's moons and aurorae in program 14634 (PI: Grodent). The data used to produce this GIF was taken with the STIS FUV-MAMA in TIMETAG mode.

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) was installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during the second servicing mission (SM2) in 1997. STIS is a versatile imaging spectrograph, providing spatially resolved spectroscopy from 1150 to 10300 Å at low to medium spectral resolution, high spatial resolution echelle spectroscopy in the UV, solar-blind imaging in the UV, time-tagging of photons for high time resolution in the UV, and direct and coronagraphic imaging in the optical.

STIS operated on Side-1 electronics until 2001, when it experienced an electronic failure. It then switched to the redundant set of electronics, Side-2, where it operated as normal until 2004, when a power supply on Side-2 failed. STIS remained inoperable until it was repaired successfully in 2009 during Servicing Mission 4 (SM4). STIS has since been operating on Side-2 electronics with all ultraviolet and optical channels.

Callout

STIS Handbooks and Documentation:

STIS Instrument Handbook

STIS Data Handbook

End callout

Current Status

STIS is Operational.

Web Tools and Helpful Links

HST Exposure Time Calculator (ETC)

HST Spectroscopic Legacy Archive (HSLA)

 

Program Information

STIS Instrument Resources

Quick Links

Recently Published Documents

Instrument Science Reports (ISRs)

Recently Published ISRs

Filter Results

View all ISRs

Space Telescope 
Analysis Newsletters (STANs)

Recently Published STANs

Filter Results

View all STANs

Last Updated: 04/07/2025

HST Help Desk

Please contact the HST Help Desk with any questions.