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[19.01] An Overview of the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys' On-orbit Performance

G.F. Hartig (Space Telescope Science Institute), H.C. Ford (Johns Hopkins University), G.D. Illingworth (UCSC-Lick Obs.), M. Clampin, R.C. Bohlin, C. Cox, J. Krist, W.B. Sparks (Space Telescope Science Institute), G. De Marchi (ESA), A.R. Martel, W.J. McCann, G.R. Meurer, M. Sirianni, Z. Tsvetanov (Johns Hopkins University), F. Bartko (Bartko Sci. & Tech.), D.J. Lindler (Sigma Space)

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was installed in the HST on 7 March 2002 during the fourth servicing mission to the observatory, and is now beginning science operations. The ACS provides HST observers with a considerably more sensitive, higher-resolution camera with wider field and polarimetric, coronagraphic, low-resolution spectrographic and solar-blind FUV capabilities. We review selected results of the early verification and calibration program, comparing the achieved performance with the advertised specifications. Emphasis is placed on the optical characteristics of the camera, including image quality, throughput, geometric distortion and stray-light performance. More detailed analyses of various aspects of the ACS performance are presented in other papers at this meeting. This work was supported by a NASA contract and a NASA grant.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.