Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) is a two-dimensional imaging photometer which is located at the center of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) focal plane and covers the spectral range between approximately 1150Å to 10500Å. It simultaneously images a 150" x 150" "L"-shaped region with a spatial sampling of 0.1" per pixel, and a smaller 34" x 34" square field with 0.046" per pixel. The total system quantum efficiency (WFPC2+HST) ranges from 4% to 14% at visual wavelengths, and drops to ~0.1% in the far UV. Detection of faint targets is limited by either the sky background (for broad filters) or by noise in the read-out electronics (for narrow and UV filters) with an RMS equivalent to 5 detected photons. Bright targets can cause saturation (>53000 detected photons per pixel), but there are no related safety issues. The sections below give a more detailed overview.
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