Sensitivity and Saturation Limits

Wide Filters | Medium Filters | Narrow Filters

Estimated NIRCam point source sensitivities observing against 1.2x zodiacal min background.

The first table gives sensitivity in 10000 sec, which is comprised of ten 1000 sec exposures. Tables below this one give sensitivities for times between 10.7 sec and 1000 sec. For 1000 < time < 10000 secs, correct the 10000 sec value by SQRT(10000/time).

Filter	10-s in 10000 sec (nJy)
F070W	22.5
F090W	15.3
F115W	13.2
F150W	10.6
F200W	9.1
F277W	14.3
F322W2	9.1

Filter	10-s in 10000 sec (nJy)
F356W	12.1
F444W	23.6
F140M	19.4
F162M	21.4
F182M	16.1
F210M	14.9
F250M	32.1

Filter	10-s in 10000 sec (nJy)
F300M	25.8
F335M	21.8
F360M	20.7
F410M	24.7
F430M	50.9
F460M	46.5
F480M	67.9

Filter	10-s in 10000 sec (nJy)
F164N	145
F187N	133
F212N	129
F323N	194
F405N	158
F466N	274
F470N	302

Wide Filters

Values: 10-sigma in nJy for times < 1000 sec.

Time (secs)	F070W	F090W	F115W	F150W	F200W	F277W	F322W2	F356W	F444W
10.7	10049	6174	5422	4172	3528	2846	1386	2666	3398
96.7	930	575	504	389	329	326	168	300	419
204	344	216	189	147	125	138	78	123	198
311	210	134	117	92	78	95	57	83	145
419	153	99	86	68	58	76	47	66	120
526	123	81	70	56	47	66	41	56	105
634	104	69	60	48	41	58	36	50	94
741	92	62	53	43	36	53	33	45	86
848	83	56	49	39	33	49	31	42	80
956	76	52	45	36	30	46	29	39	75

Medium Filters

Time (secs)	F140M	F162M	F182M	F210M	F250M	F300M	F335M	F360M	F410M	F430M	F460M	F480M
10.7	10368	12324	8469	7938	10070	8000	6888	6652	6603	16021	9072	12965
96.7	951	1127	777	728	1091	868	746	720	726	1735	1042	1495
204	344	405	282	264	405	323	277	266	280	643	442	637
311	205	238	168	157	255	204	174	167	183	405	307	444
419	145	167	119	111	194	155	132	126	142	307	247	359
526	114	130	94	87	160	129	109	104	119	254	213	309
634	95	108	79	73	139	112	95	90	105	220	189	276
741	83	93	69	64	124	100	84	81	94	197	173	251
848	74	83	61	57	113	91	77	74	87	180	160	233
956	67	75	56	52	105	84	71	68	80	166	149	217

Narrow Filters

Values: 10-sigmas in microJy.

Time (secs)	F164N	F187N	F212N	F323N	F405N	F466N	F470N
10.7	119	114	106	99	77	118	129
96.7	10.8	10.4	9.66	10.4	8.16	12.5	13.8
204	3.78	3.63	3.38	3.58	2.81	4.38	4.81
311	2.15	2.07	1.93	2.07	1.64	2.60	2.85
419	1.45	1.39	1.30	1.46	1.16	1.87	2.06
526	1.08	1.04	0.97	1.14	0.91	1.49	1.64
634	0.86	0.83	0.78	0.94	0.76	1.26	1.38
741	0.72	0.69	0.65	0.81	0.65	1.10	1.21
848	0.62	0.60	0.56	0.72	0.58	0.99	1.09
956	0.54	0.52	0.49	0.65	0.53	0.90	0.99

NIRCam DHS + grism saturation limits for 2048 x 64 pixel stripe using reset-read-read mode — blue is DHS + F150W2, red is F322W2 + grism, and green is F444W + grism.

The following table gives the K-mag (Vega) of a star that reaches ~80% full well in the mode indicated for the filter assuming G2V. Reset-read-read is assumed.

Imaging	Full Frame	160x160	32x32	Stripe Mode 2048x32	Stripe Mode 2048x16
F070W	14.81	10.76	7.26	10.27	9.52
F090W	15.35	11.29	7.79	10.81	10.05
F115W	15.47	11.41	7.92	10.93	10.17
F140M	14.81	10.75	7.26	10.27	9.52
F150W	15.63	11.57	8.08	11.09	10.33
F150W2	17.01	12.95	9.45	12.46	11.71
F162M	14.65	10.59	7.10	10.11	9.36
F164N	12.08	8.02	4.53	7.54	6.79
F182M	14.78	10.72	7.23	10.24	9.49
F187N	11.50	7.44	3.95	6.96	6.21
F200W	15.11	11.06	7.56	10.57	9.82
F210M	14.21	10.15	6.66	9.67	8.91
F212N	11.44	7.39	3.89	6.90	6.15
F250M	14.50	10.45	6.95	9.96	9.21
F277W	15.48	11.43	7.93	10.94	10.19

Imaging	Full Frame	160x160	32x32	Stripe Mode 2048x32	Stripe Mode 2048x16
F300M	14.22	10.16	6.66	9.67	8.92
F322W2	15.80	11.74	8.25	11.26	10.51
F323N	11.13	7.08	3.58	6.59	5.84
F335M	13.92	9.87	6.37	9.38	8.63
F356W	14.76	10.70	7.21	10.22	9.47
F360M	13.72	9.67	6.17	9.18	8.43
F405N	10.62	6.56	3.07	6.08	5.33
F410M	13.17	9.12	5.62	8.63	7.88
F430M	12.20	8.14	4.65	7.66	6.90
F444W	13.82	9.76	6.26	9.27	8.52
F460M	11.80	7.74	4.25	7.26	6.51
F466N	9.58	5.52	2.03	5.04	4.28
F470N	9.69	5.64	2.14	5.15	4.40
F480M	12.00	7.95	4.45	7.46	6.71