Asteroidscomets

Performance of NIRCam on JWST in Flight

February 2023 • 2023PASP..135b8001R

Authors • Rieke, Marcia J. • Kelly, Douglas M. • Misselt, Karl • Stansberry, John • Boyer, Martha • Beatty, Thomas • Egami, Eiichi • Florian, Michael • Greene, Thomas P. • Hainline, Kevin • Leisenring, Jarron • Roellig, Thomas • Schlawin, Everett • Sun, Fengwu • Tinnin, Lee • Williams, Christina C. • Willmer, Christopher N. A. • Wilson, Debra • Clark, Charles R. • Rohrbach, Scott • Brooks, Brian • Canipe, Alicia • Correnti, Matteo • DiFelice, Audrey • Gennaro, Mario • Girard, Julien H. • Hartig, George • Hilbert, Bryan • Koekemoer, Anton M. • Nikolov, Nikolay K. • Pirzkal, Norbert • Rest, Armin • Robberto, Massimo • Sunnquist, Ben • Telfer, Randal • Wu, Chi Rai • Ferry, Malcolm • Lewis, Dan • Baum, Stefi • Beichman, Charles • Doyon, RenĂ© • Dressler, Alan • Eisenstein, Daniel J. • Ferrarese, Laura • Hodapp, Klaus • Horner, Scott • Jaffe, Daniel T. • Johnstone, Doug • Krist, John • Martin, Peter • McCarthy, Donald W. • Meyer, Michael • Rieke, George H. • Trauger, John • Young, Erick T.

Abstract • The Near Infrared Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is delivering the imagery that astronomers have hoped for ever since JWST was proposed back in the 1990s. In the Commissioning Period that extended from right after launch to early 2022 July, NIRCam has been subjected to a number of performance tests and operational checks. The camera is exceeding prelaunch expectations in virtually all areas, with very few surprises discovered in flight. NIRCam also delivered the imagery needed by the Wavefront Sensing Team for use in aligning the telescope mirror segments.

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IPAC Authors
(alphabetical)

Chas Beichman

JPL Fellow / Senior Faculty Associate


Tom Greene

IPAC Execuitve Director