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The '''Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer''' ('''NICMOS''') is a [[Measuring instrument|scientific instrument]] for [[infrared astronomy]], installed on the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] (HST), operating from [[1997]] to [[1999]], and from [[2002]] to the present.
NICMOS was conceived and designed by the NICMOS Instrument Definition Team centered at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona. NICMOS is an imager and spectrometer built by [[Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.]] that allows the HST to observe [[infrared light]], with [[wavelength]]s between 0.8 and 2.4 micrometers, providing imaging and slitless spectrophotometric capabilities. NICMOS contains three near-infrared detectors in three optical channels providing high (~ 0.1 arcsecond) resolution, coronagraphic and polarimetric imaging, and slitless spectroscopy in 11, 19, and 52 arcsecond square fields of view. Each optical channel contains a 256x256 pixel photodiode array of [[HgCdTe|Hg<sub>0.554</sub>Cd<sub>0.446</sub>Te]] [[infrared detectors]] bonded to a sapphire substrate, read out in four independent 128x128 quadrants.
NICMOS was installed on Hubble during its second servicing mission in [[1997]] along wit the [[Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph]], replacing two earlier instruments.
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