1.5 Organization of this Handbook

A description of the instrument is contained in Chapter 2. The filter set is described in Chapter 3. CCD performance is discussed in Chapter 4. A description of the Point Spread Function is given in Chapter 5. The details necessary to estimate exposure times are described in Chapter 6. A summary of observation strategies is given in Chapter 7. Data products, standard calibration methods, and calibration plans are summarized in Chapter 8. A complete list of references is given in Chapter 9.

This document summarizes the performance of the WFPC2 as known in June 2004 after nine years of on-orbit calibration. Observers are encouraged to contact the STScI Help Desk, or to consult the WFPC2 WWW pages (see Section 1.10 below).

HST may transition to use of two instead of three gyroscopes at some point in the future. The present Instrument Handbook describes the state of WFPC2 as used with three gyroscopes. For a discussion of how a decrease to two gyroscopes will affect some characteristics of WFPC2 observing, please refer to the separate Two-Gyro Handbook.