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Session 121 - Instrumentation: Status and Plans.
Oral session, Thursday, January 18
La Condesa, Hilton
NICMOS, the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer is scheduled for insertion into the Hubble Space Telescope during the second maintenance mission due for launch on February 13, 1997. NICMOS will provide imaging, spectroscopy, polarization, and coronagraphic capabilities in the spectral region between 0.8 and 2.5 microns. NICMOS contains three cameras with pixel sizes of 0.043, 0.075 and 0.2 arc seconds. The first two cameras are diffraction limited at 1.0 and 1.75 microns respectively. The third camera provides a wide field capability of 51 x 51 arc seconds. The cameras view adjacent but not contiguous fields of view and can be used independently of each other. Each camera utilizes and individual 256x256 NICMOS 3 HgCdTe detector array. Camera 2 contains a coronagraphic image spot and pupil apodizing mask. Cameras 1 and 2 contain polarizers for polarization studies in the J and H spectral regions.
Camera 3 contains 3 grisms for multi-object spectroscopy throughout the 0.8 to 2.5 micron spectral region. Details on the sensitivity and operation of NICMOS will be presented in the presentation. Proposals for general observer (GO) use of NICMOS will be due in the Cycle 7 proposal call.
