3.2 Instrument Capabilities
ACS is a versatile instrument that can be applied to a broad range of scientific programs. The three prime capabilities of ACS are:
- Deep, wide-field imaging from visible to near-IR wavelengths.
- High spatial resolution imaging from near-UV to near-IR wavelengths.
- Solar blind UV imaging.
ACS has three channels, each optimized for a specific goal:
- Wide Field Channel (WFC): 202 x 202 arcsecond field of view from 3500 Ċ to 11,000 Ċ, and peak efficiency of 48% (including the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA)). The plate scale of ~0.05 arcseconds/pixel provides critical sampling at 11,600 Ċ.
- High Resolution Channel (HRC): 29 x 26 arcsecond field of view from 1700 Ċ to 11,000 Ċ, and peak efficiency of 29%. The plate scale of ~0.027 arcseconds/pixel provides critical sampling at 6300 Ċ.
- Solar Blind Channel (SBC): 35 x 31 arcsecond field of view from 1150 Ċ to 1700 Ċ, plate scale of ~0.032 arcseconds/pixel, and peak efficiency of 7.5%.
In addition to these three prime capabilities, ACS also provides:
- Grism spectroscopy: Low resolution (R ~100 @ 8000 Ċ) wide field spectroscopy from 5500 Ċ to 10,500 Ċ available in both the WFC and the HRC.
- Prism spectroscopy: Low resolution (R = 59 @ 2500 Ċ) near-UV spectroscopy from 1700 Ċ to 3900 Ċ available in the HRC.
- Prism spectroscopy: Low resolution (R ~100 @ 1500 Ċ) far-UV spectroscopy from 1250 Ċ to 1800 Ċ available in the SBC.
- Coronagraphy: Aberrated beam coronagraphy in the HRC from 2000 Ċ to 11,000 Ċ with 1.8 arcsecond and 3.0 arcsecond diameter occulting spots.
- Imaging Polarimetry: Polarimetric imaging in the HRC and WFC with relative polarization angles of 0°, 60°, and 120°.
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