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| NICMOS
| STScI Analysis Newsletter
| NICMOS STAN 33
| December 2004
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Visit the NICMOS web site http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmosw
"New in the Last 45 Days" for all new information about NICMOS.
CONTENTS (Optional):
-HST Cycle 14 Proposal Submission Date
-Potential Two-Gyro Guiding Mode in Cycle 14
-Release of APT 14.0 for HST Cycle 14 Phase
-MULTIACCUM Timing Sequences
-NEW VISIT LEVEL REQUIREMENT BEA
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/cycle14announce
HST Cycle 14 Proposal Submission Date
STScI solicits proposals for HST Cycle 14 Observing,
Archival, and Theoretical Research. Information on the
Policies, Procedures & Phase I Proposal Instructions
can be found in the "HST Call for Proposals for Cycle 14."
Four instruments are available to observers: the Advanced
Camera for Surveys (ACS), the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS),
the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
(NICMOS), and the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
Information about the individual instruments can be found in
the "HST Primer for Cycle 14." Phase I proposals are due
by 8:00 PM EST on Friday January 21, 2005.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/TwoGyroMode
Potential Two-Gyro Guiding Mode in Cycle 14
S. Beckwith, Director
There is a 50% chance that HST will go into two-gyro guiding
mode (TGS) before the end of Cycle 14, due to the natural
loss of gyros. Fortunately, the high fidelity simulator tests
suggest that the jitter under TGS guiding will be much less
than previously feared. In particular, the encircled PSF
appears to be considerably smaller than the earlier
estimates. Details can be found on the STScI web page.
We want to alert you to the possibility of early entry to
TGS and to remind you that the Call for Proposals requires
that you describe how your proposal could be carried out
in the TGS. It is important that you do so, since the TAC
will be asked to rank proposals in two lists, one for the
baseline three gyro configuration and the other for the
TGS. We know that this places some extra burden on the
community, but we want to be certain that ultimately the
HST carries out the best scientific programs that are
feasible at that time.
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http://apt.stsci.edu/
Release of APT 14.0 for HST Cycle 14 Phase
APT Team
STScI is pleased to announce the release of APT 14.0 and its
associated documentation. This is the version of APT that
needs to be used to support HST Cycle 14 Phase I submissions.
APT can be down loaded from our APT web site. Highlights of
the major changes to APT can be seen from within APT by
clicking on the What's New button (or at
http://apt.stsci.edu/phase1/ ). There are short training
movies available ( http://apt.stsci.edu/help/ ) on the
basics of using APT (the GUI interface and entering
information) and on processing the observations to check on
2-gyro (and 3-gyro) schedulability.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos
MULTIACCUM Timing Sequences
NICMOS Team
The NICMOS team is planning to remove four of the current
MULTIACCUM timing sequences that are no longer recommended
for use. The four MIF sequences (MIF512, MIF1024, MIF2048,
and MIF3072) have eight rapid reads at the beginning and end
of the integration with evenly spaced read outs in between.
Because of the excessive amplifier glow accumulated in these
sequences, they were unable to achieve their intended
purpose of reducing read noise. They are currently not being
used by any active science program.
The NICMOS team intends to replace these sequences with four
new evenly-spaced sequences at a time that remains to be
determined. The NICMOS team welcomes comments on this plan.
Feedback should be sent to help@stsci.edu with SUBJECT:
NICMOS Timing Sequences.
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http://www.stsci.edu/hst/nicmos
New Visit Level Requirement BEA
NICMOS Team
Long exposure observations of faint fields have been
affected by scattered light from the limb of the Earth. The
Bright Earth Avoidance(BEA) angle is currently set to 20
degrees for NICMOS observations. A new BEA option of 25
degrees is now available to observers as an "Available but
Unsupported" observing mode. All observations within a visit
would have the same BEA requirement including parallel
observations. This new option is available to GOs and GTOs
when justified and approved by the Contact Scientist. This
option will be available in APT version 14.2 to be released
for Cycle 14 observers.
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| Recent NICMOS Publications
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There are 65 NICMOS refereed publications for 2004. Many
NICMOS observations were retrieved from the HST Archive in
support of ground-based and HST observing programs. Some
publications reported new NICMOS observations while others
reported follow up observations to existing programs. A few
publications of note are listed below:
Bouwens et al. 2004, "Galaxies at z~7-8: z(850) Dropouts in
the Hubble Ultra Deep Field," ApJ, 616, L79-L82.
Golimowski et al. 2004, "The Solar Neighborhood.IX.Hubble
Space Telescope Detections of Companions to Five M and
L Dwarfs within 10 Parsecs of the Sun," AJ, 128, 1633-1747.
Moffat et al. 2004, "Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Variability
Study of Massive Stars in the Young Dense Galactic
Starburst NGC 3603," AJ, 128, 2854-2861.
Noll et al 2004, "The Orbit and Albedo of Trans-Neptunian
Binary (58534) 1997 CQ29," AJ, 128, 2547-2552.
Yan et al. 2004, "High-Redshit Extremely Red Objects in the
Hubble Space Telescope Ultra Deep Field Revealed by the
GOODS Infrared Array Camera Observations," 616, 63-70.
A complete list of NICMOS publications by year can be
generated from the STScI Library home web page by clicking
the link "HST Biblography" and entering the year and
selecting NICMOS: http://sesame.stsci.edu/library.html
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| The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the
| Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy,
| Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.
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