Observing and calibration strategies for fir imaging with SIRTF

We present data from a 16×32 array of unstressed Ge:Ga detectors, showing the long time constant responses and hook effect characteristic of these devices. This array is half the size of the 70 μm imaging array planned for MIPS, the Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF. We present simulations of the FIR (far infrared) sky as viewed by a MIPS array, including realistic noise effects and extraction of point sources with a standard photometry package, showing that the photometric goals of MIPS are attainable with the current array performance and using standard analysis techniques. Previous calculations by Heim et al. (1998) had determined that MIPS would achieve 5-σ detections of ≤1 mJy at 70 μm in 2000 s; the simulations presented here obtain results consistent with those calculations.