Status and performance of HST Wide Field Camera 3

Abstract

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a panchromatic UV/visible/near-infrared camera whose development is currently nearing completion, for a planned installation into the Hubble Space Telescope. WFC3 provides two imaging channels. The UVIS channel features a 4096 × 4096 pixel CCD focal plane with sensitivity from 200 to 1000 nm and a 160 × 160 arcsec field of view. The UVIS channel provides unprecedented sensitivity and field of view in the near ultraviolet for HST. The IR channel features a 1014 × 1014 pixel HgCdTe focal plane covering 800 to 1700 nm with a 139 × 123 arcsec field of view, providing a substantial advance in IR survey efficiency for HST. The construction of WFC3 is nearly complete, and the instrument is well into its integration and test program. At the time of this writing (July 2004) the manned HST Servicing Mission 4 that was intended to install WFC3 and other hardware has been cancelled, but a robotic servicing possibility is under intensive investigation. We present the current status and performance of the instrument and also describe some aspects of WFC3 that are relevant to a robotic installation.