Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2006 15:22:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Memo on Spitzer Pointing and Other News

Contents of mailing:

1. Memo on Spitzer Pointing Over Long Integrations
2. IRAC Stellar Mode 0.4 second Sensitivity
3. IRS Background Subtracted Data in S13
4. Spitzer Visiting Graduate Student Program


1. Memo on Spitzer Pointing Over Long Integrations
We have recently discovered a new systematic behavior in the Spitzer
pointing data which may affect a small fraction of Spitzer observations.
If your science requires exquisitely accurate pointing during an AOR
(stability better than 0.3 arcsecond) you should read this memo.

Download the memo here:
http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/documents/pointing.pdf


2. IRAC Stellar Mode 0.4 second Sensitivity
Observers using the new IRAC Stellar Mode, with the shortest frame times
in channels 1 and 2, please note that the sensitivities are not explicitly
listed in the Observers Manual or Performance Estimation Tool. The
1-sigma sensitivity is TWICE the value for the 0.6-sec frames, which
are already listed in both SOM and PET. (These short frames are read-noise
limited, and have the same Fowler number, so they differ only by the
inverse of the relative exposure time, which is half as long for the
0.4 sec frames as for the 0.6 sec frames.)


3. IRS Background Subtracted Data in S13
If you have downloaded your IRS S13 data prior to 02 Feb 2006, it may
have been missing the post-BCD background subtracted staring mode data
which are called *bksub.tbl (bksub.fits and bksub_unc.fits are the
2D spectrum and uncertainty) in the pbcd subdirectory. If this is the
case, and these data are needed, you should download the post-BCD
files again using Leopard.

For information on updates to the pipeline for S13:
See http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/archanaly/plhistory/irs.html


4. Spitzer Visiting Graduate Student Program
Spitzer Visiting Grad-student Fellowships Deadline: April 15 2006.
As in previous years, the SSC will be offering 4-5 Visiting Graduate
Student Fellowships in the period July 2006-Jan 2007. These are 6-month
positions in which a student from outside Caltech can apply to work
on a research project with a member of the SSC research staff.
Students must be full-time graduate students (preferably on Ph. D.
programs) at an accredited institution to apply.

Application instructions can be found on this web page:
http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/apple/VGSP.html