diff --git a/doc/releases/1.17.2dev.rst b/doc/releases/1.17.2dev.rst
index 194bea27a..2829355d7 100644
--- a/doc/releases/1.17.2dev.rst
+++ b/doc/releases/1.17.2dev.rst
@@ -43,4 +43,5 @@ Bug Fixes
   in both spatial dimensions equal to half the field of view.
 - Fix the code for the extraction of the 1D flat spectrum, so that
   the spectrum is extracted even when `pixelflat_model` does not exist.
-
+- The variance cube previously had a cubic term, and this has been changed
+  to a quadratic term. This has been cross-checked with simple subpixel calculations.
diff --git a/pypeit/core/datacube.py b/pypeit/core/datacube.py
index bcca07d36..917a6b871 100644
--- a/pypeit/core/datacube.py
+++ b/pypeit/core/datacube.py
@@ -1822,7 +1822,7 @@ def subpixellate(output_wcs, bins, sciImg, ivarImg, waveImg, slitid_img_gpm, wgh
             vox_coord = vox_coord.reshape(numpix * num_all_subpixels, 3)
             # Use the "fast histogram" algorithm, that assumes regular bin spacing
             flxcube += histogramdd(vox_coord, bins=outshape, range=binrng, weights=np.repeat(this_sci[this_sl] * this_wght_subpix[this_sl], num_all_subpixels) * subpix_wght)
-            varcube += histogramdd(vox_coord, bins=outshape, range=binrng, weights=np.repeat(this_var[this_sl] * this_wght_subpix[this_sl]**2, num_all_subpixels) * subpix_wght**3)
+            varcube += histogramdd(vox_coord, bins=outshape, range=binrng, weights=np.repeat(this_var[this_sl] * this_wght_subpix[this_sl]**2, num_all_subpixels) * subpix_wght**2)  # NOTE :: This was changed from subpix_wght**3 to subpix_wght**2 by RJC on 2024-12-18
             normcube += histogramdd(vox_coord, bins=outshape, range=binrng, weights=np.repeat(this_wght_subpix[this_sl], num_all_subpixels) * subpix_wght)
 
     # Normalise the datacube and variance cube