Abstract. The primary function of the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) is to provide continuous pointing information to the Observatory. The FGS will image two separate regions of the JWST field of view onto two independent 2k x 2k infrared focal planes arrays, which will cover a wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 µm. Once in fine guiding, the FGS will provide continuous pointing information to a precision of ≤ 5 milli-arc seconds at an update rate of 16 Hz for J 18.5 magnitude stars. In order to fulfill its functions, i.e., Identification, Acquisition, Track, and Fine Guide, the FGS will require calibration. In this paper, we present a brief overview of the FGS design, its operations, and its calibration

E Nelan

J Hutchings

P Chayer

R Doyon

S Holfeltz

CiteSeerX

The 2010 STScI Calibration Workshop
Space Telescope Science Institute, 2010
Susana Deustua and Cristina Oliveira, eds.
JWST Fine Guidance Sensor Calibration
P. Chayer, S. Holfeltz, E. Nelan
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21218,
USA
J. Hutchings
Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich Rd., Victoria, BC, V9E
2E7, Canada
R. Doyon
Département de physique and Observatoire du Mont Mégantic, Université de
Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
N. Rowlands
COM DEV Ltd, 303 Terry Fox Drive Suite 100, Ottawa, ON, K2K 3J1, Canada
Abstract. The primary function of the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) is to provide
continuous pointing information to the Observatory. The FGS will image two sepa-
rate regions of the JWST field of view onto two independent 2k x 2k infrared focal
planes arrays, which will cover a wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 µm. Once in fine
guiding, the FGS will provide continuous pointing information to a precision of ! 5
milli-arc seconds at an update rate of 16 Hz for J " 18.5 magnitude stars. In order
to fulfill its functions, i.e., Identification, Acquisition, Track, and Fine Guide, the
FGS will require calibration. In this paper, we present a brief overview of the FGS
design, its operations, and its calibration.
1. Introduction
The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) is an near-infrared (NIR) instrument that will provide
the data for fine pointing and attitude stabilization to the James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST) Attitude Control System (ACS). By measuring and providing accurate positions
of a guide star to the ACS, the FGS will be used to stabilize the line of sight in order to
achieve the pointing stability that is required by the science instruments on board JWST.
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is contributing the FGS to the JWST Observatory
in collaboration with COM DEV Space Systems of Ottawa Canada which is CSA’s prime
contractor. CSA is also contributing a NIR narrow band imager called the Tunable Filter
Instrument (TFI) that will be part of the JWST science instrument collection (see Martel et
al., these proceedings). We describe in this paper the design of the FGS and its operations,
and present some aspects of its calibration.
2. FGS Optical Design
Figure 1 illustrates the optical layout of the FGS with respect to the Optical Telescope
Element (OTE). The FGS is located behind the primary mirror where it is mounted on the
Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) structure. The FGS pick-o! mirror, which is
511
512 Chayer, Holfeltz, Nelan, Hutchings, Doyon, & Rowlands
Figure 1: FGS optical layout diagram with respect to the OTE. (Courtesy of COM DEV
Space Systems of Ottawa Canada.)
placed just past the OTE focus, picks up the light that comes from two adjacent fields of
view (FOV) and feeds it to the relay Three Mirror Assembly (TMA). The light is collimated
by the TMA and is then focused by a fold mirror onto two NIR detectors. Both FOVs cover
2.3! ! 2.3! each.
Figure 2 shows a drawing of the FGS optical assembly and illustrates the optical sub-
system components that are mounted on the FGS aluminum bench. The bench is attached
to the ISIM structure via three bipod kinematic mounts. The TFI optical assembly is
underneath the FGS optical assembly and shares the same optical bench (see Figure 1 of
Martel et al., these proceedings). In Figure 2, the ba!es are not drawn in order to show
clearly the pick-o" mirror, the Fine Focus Mechanism (FFM) with its fold mirror, and the
detector assembly. The FGS focus is adjusted after the TMA by moving a fold mirror
mounted on the FFM. A calibration lamp is located behind a small aperture in the center
of the tertiary mirror of the TMA and provides a light source that can illuminate both
detectors.
The FGS Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) consist of two 2048 ! 2048 pixels 5 µm cuto"
HAWAII-2RG HgCdTe detectors from Teledyne Imaging Systems (TIS) (see, e.g., Loose et
al. 2007). Four rows and columns surrounding the detectors are not sensitive to light and
are used as reference pixels. This leaves a total of 2040 ! 2040 sensitive and active pixels
that can detect light spanning a wavelength range of 0.6 µm " ! " 5 µm (Rowlands et al.
2008). TSI also provides two application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) that control
the FPAs. Each ASIC is paired with an FPA. The ASICs, dubbed SIDECAR, for System
for Image Digitization, Enhancement, Control and Retrieval, are placed on the FGS bench
next to the detector assembly.
JWST Fine Guidance Sensor Calibration 513
Figure 2: FGS optical assembly. The ba!es have been removed in order to see the pick-o"
mirror, the fine focus mechanism, and the detector assembly. The TFI optical assembly is
underneath the FGS optical assembly (see Martel et al., these proceedings). (Courtesy of
COM DEV Space Systems of Ottawa Canada.)
3. FGS Operations
3.1. FGS Functions
The FGS Flight Software (FSW) uses the FGS for taking full frame and sub-window images
in order to provide data to the ACS, which will position science targets within the FOV of
a science instrument and stabilize the line-of-sight during an observation. During normal
science observations, a sequence of functions is executed by the FGS FSW under the control
of the Activity Description (AD) scripts that are running on the ISIM Command & Data
Handling Unit. For instance, here are the four functions that the FGS will execute after
the Observatory has slewed to and settled to a desired attitude:
IDENTIFICATION: During this process, the FGS FSW takes full frame images, extracts
the positions of stars observed in the FOV, compares them to the positions of known stars
that were uploaded from the ground, identifies the guide star, measures its position and
reports it to the AD.
ACQUISITION: First, a 128!128 sub-window (" 8.7!!!8.7!!) is placed on the guide star
and a series of images are taken. The images are passed to the FGS FSW that measures the
average position of the guide star. Then a 32 ! 32 sub-window (" 2.2!! ! 2.2!!) is centered
on this new guide star position and a second series of images are taken in order to measure
the position of the guide star more accurately.
TRACK: The AD commands the FGS FSW to center a 32! 32 sub-window on the guide
star. This time the sub-window is continuously read out and the FGS FSW computes the
centroid of the guide star. These centroids are passed to the ACS at a rate of 16 Hz for
line of sight stabilization of the spacecraft. The guide star location is continuously reported
such that the sub-window location is updated in case the guide star is still moving across
the FOV. Once the jitter and drift have been reduced, an 8! 8 sub-window (0.54!! ! 0.54!!)
514 Chayer, Holfeltz, Nelan, Hutchings, Doyon, & Rowlands
is centered on the guide star and the FGS FSW computes more accurate centroids that are
passed to the ACS at a rate of 16 Hz.
FINE GUIDING: The AD commands the FGS FSW to transition directly from Track to
Fine Guiding by using a fixed window size of 8 ! 8 pixels centered on the guide star. The
FGS FSW computes the guide star’s centroids and sends them to the ACS every 64 msec.
Once in Fine Guiding, the image motion that is expected over a typical duration of science
observation should be < 7 mas.
3.2. Guide Star Selection
The ground system will select guide stars and reference objects for JWST observations.
Guide stars are used for fine guiding the telescope and reference objects are used in on-
orbit pattern matching to identify the guide star. Stars with 12.1 " J " 18.6 will be used
as guide stars for fine guiding; reference objects may be even fainter. Up to three guide
star candidates will be selected for each visit, dramatically reducing the risk of guide star
acquisition failure. Guide stars and reference objects will be selected from the Guide Star
Catalog II (GSC-II) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) Point Source Catalog
(see, Lasker et al. 2008 and Skrutskie et al. 2006).
Although the GSC-II is based on a photographic survey, it has been selected as one of
the best sources of guide stars for the JWST mission, because it is the deepest and most
complete all-sky survey available. GSC-II contains approximately a billion objects (# 0.3
billion stars) that were observed in three photographic pass bands: BJ (!e! = 0.47 µm),
RF (!e! = 0.64 µm), and IN (!e! = 0.85 µm). As for the 2MASS point source catalog, it
contains 0.47 billion objects over the entire sky in the J (1.25 µm), H (1.65 µm), and KS
(2.16 µm) band passes and is complete down to J $ 16. The resolution (% 2 arcseconds) of
the 2MASS data is not su!cient to ensure that all objects are truly point sources. Sources
at the bright end of the catalog (J < 12.1) are too bright for guiding and the faint limit of
the catalog (J $ 17) is brighter than the expected faint limit for JWST FGS guide stars
(J $ 18.5).
The on-board guide star identification and acquisition process uses a small star table
provided by the ground system containing the positions and predicted detector count rates
of the guide star and reference objects expected to be in the FGS FOV. As the FGS is
a broadband camera with a wavelength range of # 0.6 µm to 5.0 µm, the magnitudes
of the GSC-II objects, BJ, RF, and IN, must be transformed into J , H, KS if 2MASS
magnitudes are not available, and then extrapolated from KS to 5 µm. These optical and
NIR magnitudes are then convolved with the telescope aperture, the FGS throughput, and
detector response to derive the predicted electron count rate.
Transformations of the GSC-II optical magnitudes into the near infrared J , H, and KS
have been derived from color-color diagrams for stars common to both GSC-II and 2MASS
(Chayer et al. 2006). At high galactic latitudes (|b| > 45 degrees), where only 48% of GSC-
II stars have 2MASS matches within 1.75 arcseconds, the e"ects and variations of reddening
are negligible, and consequently, the magnitude transformations are fairly accurate (Holfeltz
et al. 2009). At low galactic latitudes (|b| < 30 degrees), where highly variable reddening
hinders accurate magnitude transformations and the GSC-II catalog is subject to confusion,
87% of GSC-II stars have 2MASS matches within 1.75 arcseconds, eliminating the need to
predict their NIR magnitudes.
4. FGS Calibration
The calibration of the FGS a"ects many more aspects of the observatory than the accuracy
and precision of pointing. The FGS must be calibrated in order to plan and schedule visits,
select guide stars, optimize operational parameters, and execute spacecraft maneuvers, in
addition to guiding JWST. The characterization and calibration of the FGS started during
JWST Fine Guidance Sensor Calibration 515
instrument assembly, integration and ground testing. These measurements and analytic
calculations will serve as the initial calibration database. These initial calibrations will be
verified or updated during on orbit commissioning. Some calibrations may only be possible
on orbit; initial data for these will likely be obtained during the commissioning phase.
During routine on orbit operations, after commissioning is complete, the calibration plan is
likely to consist mostly of periodic calibration monitoring and updating of the calibration
database and operational instrument settings. Below is a partial list of the planned FGS
calibrations. For more information, the reader is referred to the FGS Calibration Plan
prepared by Nelan 2007 for CSA.
PSF CHARACTERIZATION: The e!ective point spread function (PSF) and its vari-
ation across the FGS field of view will be characterized; (the FGS PSF is under-sampled
and cannot be directly measured). This calibration is needed for the geometric distortion
correction and to verify the centroid non-linearity correction applied to the measured guide
star position. Calibration data will be obtained by dithered observations of an astrometric
field in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Dithering compensates for the under-sampled
FGS pixels. This process will be iterative, since the commanded sub-pixel dithers cannot
be actualized before the e!ective PSF in the guiding FOV is calibrated.
PHOTOMETRIC CALIBRATION: The magnitude transformations predicting FGS
count rates from GSC-II and 2MASS magnitudes will be calibrated. Relatively accurate
predicted FGS count rates are needed to select and identify guide stars. Predicted count
rates are used in the guide star selection process to determine if a candidate is bright
enough to serve as a guide star. Predicted count rates are used on orbit to pattern-match
the predicted and observed scenes, and identify the guide star. To obtain the necessary
calibration data, we will bootstrap from NIRCAM observations of the astrometric LMC
calibration field.
GEOMETRIC DISTORTION: The geometric distortion will be determined across the
FGS FOVs to ! 5 mas. Knowledge of the geometric distortion is needed to support fine
pointing and accurate o!set maneuvers. Calibration data to determine the geometric dis-
tortion across the FGS FOV will be obtained by dithered observations of the astrometric
LMC field at various orientations.
SPACECRAFT TO FGS ALIGNMENT: The alignment of the star tracker coordinate
frame relative to the FGS coordinate frame will be measured. Knowledge of the relative
alignment is needed to place guide stars in the FGS FOV for identification & acquisition and
set the orientation of ISIM focal plane. First, the star trackers must be aligned relative to
each other by comparing catalog and observed positions of stars in the Bright Star Catalog
(BSC). Next, the alignment of the star trackers with respect to the FGS is determined by
simultaneously observing several BSC stars in the star trackers and LMC stars in the FGS.
ISIM TO FGS ALIGNMENT: The relative alignment of each ISIM instrument with
respect to the FGS will be measured. Knowledge of the relative alignments is needed to
fine point the instruments and support accurate o!sets. The initial ISIM-to-FGS alignment
will be measured on the ground during ISIM assembly. Accurate on-orbit calibration data
will be obtained by simultaneously observing the astrometric LMC field with the FGS and
each science instrument at selected positions and rolls.
FLAT FIELD: The FGS flat field will be determined. Knowledge of the pixel-to-pixel
non-uniformity is needed for accurate measurement of guide star positions in the FGS field
of view. Limited flat field data will be collected during ground tests. On-orbit flat field
calibration data will be collected from observations of star fields and the internal flat lamp.
References
Chayer, P., Stys, J., Nelan, E., & Kriss, G. 2006, JWST Technical Report, JWST-STScI-
00920
516 Chayer, Holfeltz, Nelan, Hutchings, Doyon, & Rowlands
Holfeltz, S., Chayer, P., & Nelan, E. 2009, JWST Technical Report, JWST-STScI-001668
Lasker, B. M., et al. 2008, AJ, 136, 735
Loose, M., Beletic, J., Garnett, J., & Xu, M. 2007, Proc. SPIE, 6690, 66900C-1
Nelan, E. 2007, FGS Calibration Plan, JWST-STScI-001050
Rowlands, N., Vila, M. B., Evans, C., Aldridge, D., Desaulniers, D.-L., Hutchings, J. B., &
Dupuis, J. 2008, Proc. SPIE 7010, 701036
Skrutskie, M. F., et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 1163


JWST Fine Guidance Sensor Calibration

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JWST Fine Guidance Sensor Calibration

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