NICMOS Instrument Handbook for Cycle 11

Supported and Unsupported NICMOS
Capabilities

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As was done for both NICMOS and STIS for past Cycles, we have established a set of core scientific capabilities of NICMOS which will be supported for Cycle 11 science. These capabilities cover an enormous range of science applications.

Supported capabilities include:

• NIC1, NIC2, and NIC3 observations in any filter or polarizer/grism. NIC3 comes "as is", namely slightly out-of-focus (see Chapter 4 for a detailed explanation of the NIC3 capabilities).
• MULTIACCUM and ACCUM detector readout modes (see Chapter 8 for a discussion of the problems that can be faced when using ACCUM mode).
  • The defined MULTIACCUM SAMP-SEQ exposure time sequences,
  • A subset of the ACCUM exposure times as defined in Chapter 8.
  • ACCUM NREAD=1 or 9 values only.
• Coronagraphic observations, including on-board target acquisitions.

One additional capability is "available" , but not supported for Cycle 11. The use of this capability can be proposed upon consultation with a NICMOS Instrument Scientist, and is useful only for target acquisition of extremely bright sources for coronagraphic observations. The use of this capability requires approval from STScI and support for calibration is non-existent.

The unsupported ("available") capability is:

• BRIGHTOBJ readout mode. The calibration and linearity of this mode is problematic.

The use of this capability is strongly discouraged if the acquisition of a target for coronagraphic observations can be obtained with any of the supported capabilities. Cycle 11 proposals which include use of the unsupported NICMOS capability must include a justification of why the target acquisition cannot be done with a supported configuration, and must justify the added risk of using an unsupported mode in terms of the science payback.