Software

NIC Update:

We report an error in the SUPPORT command of NIC Version 1.4-07 (released on February 7, 2000).

The error, which was reported to us only recently, is sufficiently important to cause a perceptible degradation in the reconstructed images. Previous releases are not affected by this problem.

Users of the MPIfR bolometers on the 30m telescope and the SMTO who have installed NIC Version 1.4-07 should therefore replace it as soon as possible with the NIC release 1.4-08 (available since May 2, 2000), where the error has been corrected.

Some positive news: Following a number of suggestions for improvements from the users, several modifications were made on the previous release:

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the possibility to simulate complete observations with bolometer arrays, which allows a more efficient planning of the observing strategy,

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the possibility to reconstruct images under conditions of sky noise with arbitrary correlation distance,

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the refurbishment of the skydip routines which now make use of the forward efficiency of the telescope and, when available, of the instrumental response of the bolometer array, to yield a better estimate of the atmospheric opacity.

These and other minor modifications are documented in the INFO command.

Roberto NERI, Dominique BROGUIERE,
Albrecht SIEVERS and Helmut WIESEMEYER