Space Telescope Science Institute  Acknowledgments  Chapter 2:  Special Considerations for Cycle 15

Chapter 1:
Introduction


The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a third-generation instrument, was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 3B (http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/servicing_missions) on March 7, 2002. Its primary purpose is to increase HST imaging discovery efficiency by about a factor of 10, with a combination of detector area and quantum efficiency that surpasses previous instruments.

ACS has three independent cameras that provide wide-field, high resolution, and ultraviolet imaging capabilities respectively, using a broad assortment of filters designed to address a large range of scientific goals. In addition, coronagraphic, polarimetric, and grism capabilities make this a versatile and powerful instrument.

The ACS Instrument Handbook, which is maintained by the ACS team at STScI, describes the instrument properties, performance, operations, and calibration. It is the basic technical reference manual for the instrument, and should be used with other documents (listed in Table 1.1) for writing Phase I proposals, detailed Phase II programs, and for data analysis. (See Figure 1.1).

The documents in Table 1.1 can be downloaded from the ACS STScI Web site, http://www.stsci.edu/hst/acs. Paper copies can be requested by sending a message to help@stsci.edu or by calling 410-338-1082. European users may also contact the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST ECF) at Garching, Germany (+49-89-320 06-291, stdesk@eso.org.)


Table 1.1: Useful documents
Purpose
Document or resource
General
observatory
information
HST Primer
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/proposing/documents/cp/primer.pdf
Phase I
proposals
Proposing Overview
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/proposingOverview
Call for Proposals
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/hst/proposing/documents/cp/cp_cover.html
Phase II
programs
Phase II Proposal Instructions
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/programs/hst/proposing/docs/p2pi.html
Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT) for Phase II preparations
http://apt.stsci.edu/
Two-Gyro Web site
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/TwoGyroMode
Two-Gyro Handbook
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/TwoGyroMode/handbook/cover.html
Data analysis
ACS Data Handbook
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/acs/documents/handbooks/DataHandbookv4/ACS_longdhbcover.html
Dither Handbook
http://www.stsci.edu/instruments/wfpc2/Wfpc2_driz/dither_handbook.html
Space Telescope Analysis Newsletter
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/acs/documents/isrs/hst/acs/documents/newsletters
Instrument Science Reports
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/acs/documents/isrs
Calibration and Pipeline Information
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/Post-observation
Figure 1.1: Handbook roadmap for proposal preparation.

 

Acknowledgments  Chapter 2:  Special Considerations for Cycle 15
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