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Science Opportunities with the Near-IR Camera (NIRCam) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) offers revolutionary gains in sensitivity throughout the 1-5 micrometer region. NIRCam will enable great advances in all areas of astrophysics, from the composition of objects in our own Kuiper Belt and the physical properties of planets orbiting nearby stars to the formation of stars and the detection of the youngest galaxies in the Universe. NIRCam also plays an important role in initial alignment of JWST and the long term maintenance of its image quality. NIRCam is presently undergoing instrument Integration and Test in preparation for delivery to the JWST project. Key near-term milestones include the completion of cryogenic testing of the entire instrument; demonstration of scientific and wavefront sensing performance requirements; testing of replacement H2RG detectors arrays; and an analysis of coronagraphic performance in light of measured telescope wavefront characteristics. This paper summarizes the performance of NIRCam, the scientific and education/outreach goals of the science team, and some results of the on-going testing program.
Document ID
20130009369
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Other
External Source(s)
Authors
Beichman, Charles A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Rieke, Marcia
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Eisenstein, Daniel
(Harvard Univ. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Greene, Thomas P.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Krist, John
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
McCarthy, Don
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Meyer, Michael
(Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Switzerland)
Stansberry, John
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
July 5, 2012
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+Instrumentation
Location: Amsterdam
Country: Netherlands
Start Date: July 1, 2012
End Date: July 6, 2012
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-02105
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
solar system
James Webb Telescope
galaxies
infrared
astrophysics

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