Date: Tuesday 20 Sep 2011, 14:47 PDT Subject: SPITZER: IRU2, S19 Software Changes, OSX 10.7 Lion Support, S18.18 IRAC Flux Conversion Issue, CUBISM 1.8, Recent Legacy Program Releases, Conference Announcements Contents: 1. Switch to IRU2 2. S19 Uplink Software Changes 3. Support for Mac Lion OSX 10.7 4. S18.18 IRAC Flux Conversion Issue 5. CUBISM Version 1.8 Released 6. Recent Legacy Program Releases (SWIRE, FLS, GLIMPSE II) 7. Conference Announcements 1. Switch to IRU2 ---------------------------------------------------------------- The primary inertial reference unit (IRU) on the observatory has been switched from IRU1 to IRU2. IRU1 has provided eight years of outstanding performance and while still operating within requirements, a minor degradation in the highest precision pointing modes had been identified. The Spitzer project made the decision to switch to IRU2 after a formal review considering the evidence at hand, the history of similar units on other space missions, and the potential impact on science. The transition to IRU2 was successfully accomplished in mid-August and nominal observing restarted August 18. We are currently characterizing the IRU2 performance and expect it to perform as well as IRU1 did prior to the minor degradation. 2. S19 Uplink Software Changes ---------------------------------------------------------------- New versions of Spot and AIRE have recently been released that include several new features. The major new feature is supporting the PCRS peak-up option for long staring observations. Due to the switch to IRU2 we are not yet accepting PCRS peak-up observations from the community. We will notify observers as soon as we have completed the characterization with the new IRU and collected the necessary calibration data to use the PCRS peak-up mode for high precision photometric observations. We anticipate the mode being fully commissioned in December 2011. Also as of this version, if you do not explicitly select a field of view, it is assumed that you want to use a field of view centered on a position in between the two arrays. Please see the Release Notes for more details: http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/warmmission/propkit/spot/s19/ 3. Support for Mac Lion OSX 10.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Spot/Leopard: Support for the Macintosh Lion OSX 10.7 is now available for Spot and Leopard. You must download and install the S19 version of Spot/Leopard to work with Mac Lion. See http://ssc.spitzer.caltech.edu/warmmission/propkit/spot/ for details. If you are not running Lion, or are running Spot on a different platform (e.g, Linux, Windows, etc.), you should still let Spot/Leopard auto-update to the latest version. SPICE: The current version of SPICE (2.4.0) is not compatible with Lion. A new version of SPICE, featuring updated optimal extraction and GUI enhancements, will be released by the end of September. At that time, a version for Lion will also be released. MOPEX: The current version of MOPEX (18.4.9) is not compatible with Lion. A new version of MOPEX featuring multiple upgrades will be released by the end of the calendar year. At that time, a version for Lion will also be released. 4. S18.18 IRAC Flux Conversion Issue ---------------------------------------------------------------- In the process of performing a detailed cross comparison of the calibration of Spitzer instruments and comparing the IRAC calibration to the HST calibration database, an error was identified in the S18.18 IRAC processing. In updating the flux conversions (FLUXCONV), erroneous color corrections were used for the calibration stars. The color corrections used were incorrect for the 5.8 and 8.0 micron bands. As a result, the corresponding flux conversions are incorrect and the scaling of the data to flux density for IRAC channels 3 and 4 is incorrect as well. All IRAC image data with processing version S18.18 and any derived flux density measurements should be multiplied by 1.000, 1.000, 0.968 and 0.973 for the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 micron channels, respectively. We are in the process of updating the data in the Spitzer Heritage Archive. Processing version S18.24 will contain the correct FLUXCONV values. A python script to update data files for users is being beta tested and should be released shortly. Note that the final cryogenic processing includes updated array location dependent photometric correction maps and intra-pixel gain correction functions that will soon be available on the Spitzer website. 5. CUBISM Version 1.8 Released ---------------------------------------------------------------- A new version of CUBISM has been released (v1.8). The main improvement is new calibration sets that are compatible for use with data processed with Spitzer IRS pipeline version S18.18, and updates for compatibility with IDL version 8. To find a complete list of changes, and to download CUBISM v1.8, please see: http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/docs/dataanalysistools/tools/cubism/ 6. Recent Legacy Program Releases (SWIRE, FLS, GLIMPSE II) --------------------------------- IRSA announces new data releases from the "The Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic Survey" (SWIRE), "First Look Survey" (FLS) and "Imaging the Central +/- 10 Degrees of the Galactic Plane with IRAC" (GLIMPSE II) Spitzer Legacy programs. ----- Updated IRAC and MIPS images are now available for the SWIRE Spitzer Legacy program. The data are available at http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/SWIRE/ ----- The presentation of the Spitzer First Look Survey data has been revised and updated to include all available data (Spitzer and ancillary) in a consolidated interface for ease of use. The data are available at http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/FLS/ ----- The final GLIMPSE II data release consists of IRAC subarray mode images and the associated catalog. The data are available at http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/GLIMPSE/ 7. Conference Announcements ---------------------------------------------------------------- We are pleased to announce the following joint conferences to be held in February 2012 in Pasadena, CA. Science with a Wide-field Infrared Telescope in Space (Feb. 13-15, 2012) and The 16th International Conference on Gravitational Microlensing (Feb. 15-17, 2012) Please join us for this two-part, week long conference that capitalizes on the synergy between the top-ranked space-based recommendation of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey report and the burgeoning field of microlensing. The conference will begin with three days (Feb. 13-15) focusing on the scientific potential of observations with a wide-field infrared survey telescope in space to probe the nature of dark energy, conduct searches for exoplanets using gravitational microlensing, and as a general facility for wide-area surveys. The second half of the week (Feb. 15-17) will start with a joint session on Wednesday afternoon Feb. 15, followed by a series of conferences on the 16th and 17th to discuss the latest results from microlensing searches and the perspectives opened by new methodologies and observational and computational facilities. December 6, 2011 - Abstract submission deadline for contributed talks and posters December 13, 2011 - Early registration closes Conference website: http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/wfir2012/ Registration/abstract submission website: http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/wfir2012/reg.shtml Questions: wfir2012@ipac.caltech.edu Spitzer Science User Support