Space Telescope Science Institute   1.7 NICMOS History in Brief  1.9 Recommendations for Proposers

1.8 Changes Relative to Cycles 7 and 7N


During Cycles 7 and 7N, the temperature of the three NICMOS detectors was kept within the range 59-62 K by the solid N2 coolant. Now the NCS maintains NICMOS detectors to a temperature of ~ 77.1 K with an rms variation of 0.07 K. The higher operating temperature causes a number of changes in the detector's performance:

Detector performance is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7. The NICMOS Exposure Time Calculator ( Chapter 9) has been updated to reflect the observed changes.

From an operational point of view, a number of changes have been implemented in Cycle 11 which will considerably improve NICMOS efficiency, data quality and scientific use:


 1.7 NICMOS History in Brief  1.9 Recommendations for Proposers
Space Telescope Science Institute
http://www.stsci.edu
Voice: (410) 338-1082
help@stsci.edu