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DOMAINS OF OBSERVABILTY IN THE NEAR-INFRARED with HST / NICMOS and ( ADAPTIVE OPTICS AUGMENTED ) LARGE GROUND-BASED TELESCOPES

This report has been prepared at the request of STScI. It is intended to serve as a guide for HST proposers and TAC panel reviewers in evaluating the need for HST/NICMOS to accomplish the scientific goals of programs under consideration in specific observational domains. In the years since the first incarnation of NICMOS, ground-based technical capabilities in support of challenging astronomical observations have made great strides, notably in the arena of large telescopes augmented with adaptive optics systems. Some programs, which could once only have been attempted from space, might now be possible with suitable instrumentation on such ground-based facilities. Yet, many of these systems are still in there early evolutionary stages and their theoretical potentials as applied to any particular observation is far from assured, and performance is far from repeatable given the temporally variable line-of-sight conditions encountered at ground-based observatories. The delineation between programs best suited for space and ground, and the complementary nature of others has, in some cases, become blurred. In this report, we review the capabilities of HST/NICMOS and the current state-of-the-art of operational AO systems, as applied to astronomical investigations of contemporary import, and suggest areas of suitability and uniqueness for each where applicable.