Instrument Science Report 2002-05:

WFPC2 Cycle 11 Calibration Plan

S. Gonzaga, A. Koekemoer, B. Whitmore, I. Heyer, L. Lubin, M. McMaster, V. Platais, S. Baggett, and G. Brammer

August 19, 2002

Abstract:

The Cycle 11 Calibration Program, extending from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003 will continue to monitor the health of WFPC2, using the standard suite of calibrations, as well as some special programs to characterize other aspects of the instrument. The most significant change in the routine monitors concerns the length of time between decontaminations. This period has been increased from 28 days to 49 days because data from the last few cycles indicate that the contamination rate has been decreasing. Special programs include more efforts to characterize CTE, a revisit of the long-vs.-short anomaly, photometry of non-standard filters for creating new zeropoints, as well as an effort to cross-calibrate WFPC2 and ACS filters. Because there are significantly fewer primary WFPC2 science observations in cycle 11, with the advent of ACS, the calibration plan has been significantly scaled back, but without sacrificing the quality of data required to calibrate the instrument. For Cycle 11, 40 external orbits will be used, compared to 61 in Cycle 10.

The Complete Paper (PDF 0.29 MB) is available.