Mitigating Elevated Dark Rates in SBC Imaging

We present a new aperture that can be used to mitigate elevated dark rates in SBC imaging modes. The reference pixel of this new aperture is located at (175,185) on the detector. At this location the dark rate remains constant at all temperatures. This aperture is limited to observations of small targets, but visits can span an extended number of continuous orbits. We also present results on the heating and cooling rates of the detector. The length of time that the SBC is enabled affects how long it takes to cool back down to its initial temperature. It takes 2 hours for the detector to reach a temperature at which the dark rate becomes elevated. Once that threshold is reached, it takes 6 hours after the detector is turned off for the temperature to go back down to acceptable levels.