[24.01] The ACS Early Release Observations

AAS 200th meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 2002
Session 24. HST - ACS Early Results and Galaxy Clusters
Oral, Monday, June 3, 2002, 2:00-3:30pm, Ballroom C

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[24.01] The ACS Early Release Observations

H.C. Ford (JHU), G.D. Illingworth (UCSC Lick Obs.), M. Clampin, G. Hartig (STScI), F. Bartko (Bartko Sci. & Tech.), N. Benitez, J.P. Blakeslee (JHU), R. Bouwens (UCSC Lick Obs.), T.J. Broadhurst (Racah Inst.), R. Brown, C. Burrows (STScI), E. Cheng (GSFC), N. Cross, P.D. Feldman (JHU), M. Franx (Leiden Obs.), D.A. Golimowski, C. Gronwall (JHU), R.A. Kimble (GSFC), J. Krist (STScI), M. Lesser (Steward Obs.), D. Magee (UCSC Lick Obs.), A. Martel, Wm.J. McCann, G.R. Meurer (JHU), G. Miley (Leiden Obs.), M. Postman (STScI), P. Rosati (ESO), M. Sirianni (JHU), W. B. Sparks (STScI), H. D. Tran, Z.I. Tsvetanov (JHU), R. L. White (STScI)

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope on March 7, 2002. The ACS passed an aliveness test that was performed before the astronauts reentered the Space Shuttle. A subsequent functional test showed that the instrument was working as expected. With the exception of a higher background of cosmic ray detections, the Wide Field Camera and High Resolution Camera flat field images, bias images, dark currents, and read noises were indistinguishable from those taken prior to launch.

At the time of writing the first ACS observations of interesting objects are scheduled for early April. These ``Early Release Observations'' were chosen to have wide public appeal, and to demonstrate the capabilities of the ACS. These images become public ninety days after being taken. During this talk we will show the ERO observations and summarize what we have learned about the Advanced Camera's capabilities.

This work was supported by a NASA contract and a NASA grant.

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