This page contains a summary of the NIRC2 observing capability, prepared for Astro2010.

1. Bandpass: 1.0 - 5.0 microns.
2. Field of View: 10x10, 20x20, and 40x40 arcseconds.
3. Resolving Power: 1000-5000
   • min value (wide/Kp/Lores) of table 2.2 of manual is 2580
   • max value (narrow/J/Medres) of table 2.2 of manual is 19,380
   • Assuming a 3-pixel slit yields the 'round' numbers above.
4. Polarimetry: No
5. "Sensitivity" (snr=5 in 3600s) for Imaging: 4.1 e-7 Jy
   • SNR calclator gives snr=5.0 for 3600s
     • of 22.95 at kp
   • The NICMOS mag-to-Jansky converter gives, for that value:
     • 4.1 e-7 Jy
6. "Sensitivity" (snr=5 in 3600s) for Spectroscopy: 1.9 e-5 Jy
   • By scaling above imgaging numbers (using kp/wide/lores) (using RC IDL code special for this purpose and scale factor from AC spread sheet (see below)):
     • of 18.8 at kp
   • The NICMOS mag-to-Jansky converter gives, for that value:
     • 1.9 e-5 Jy
7. Angular Resolution : 0.050 arcseconds at K (diffraction limited).
8. Grasp: 9.4 e-3 (m^2-degree^2)
   • Aperture area is 76 m^2
   • Wide camera is 40 x 40 = 1600 arcsec^2
   • 76*1600 = 121600 (m^2-arcsec^2)
   • 121600/(3600^2) = 0.0094 = 9.4 e-3 (m^2 - degree^2)
   • 0.0094 * 10^4 = 94 (cm^2 - degree ^ 2)
   • 94/(57.2958^2) = 0.028 (cm^2 - sr)

Related Information:

1. GW Method
2. Img-to-spec spread sheet (1st cut)
3. Img-to-spec spread sheet (2nd cut)
4. SNR calc screen grab showing 22.95