WFPC2 Closeout Information

We are currently (Sept. 2005) beginning to plan close-out activities for WFPC2, with the expectation of its eventual de-orbit in two to three years. The community and observers are welcomed to suggest areas where additional on-orbit calibration data are needed, or where improved calibration would be useful. While resources are limited, input is nonetheless useful in setting priorities and perhaps discovering areas we may have overlooked. Please direct suggestions to John Biretta.

Due to recent staffing reductions, we plan to reduce the frequency at which we manufacture WFPC2 dark calibration reference files and the associated warm and hotpixel tables. In the recent past we have generated new files once a month, but we are now doing it less often -- probably every two to three months in the near term. This means that observers with new data will sometimes need to wait 2 - 3 months to obtain optimal calibration of the dark current and hotpixels. Calibrated data will still be available immediately after observations, but better calibration will be available at the later date. The change will mostly impact observers with faint targets or with narrowband filters. (Sept. 20, 2005)