Image processing for the European Space Agency /ESA/ Faint Object Camera

The main characteristics, scientific capabilities, and analytic software for the Faint Object Camera (FOC) are examined for use in the ESA Space Telescope. With the FOC it will be possible to obtain imagery and accurate photometry of stellar objects as faint as mv = 28, for which a cumulative exposure of 10 hours will yield a signal-to-noise ratio of not less than 4. In the U-band a similar exposure will yield SNR of about 3 on a 29th magnitude star with an AO V flux distribution. Optics and detector designs of the camera are discussed. The capacity for routine image corrections and the ESA facility are also described. The scientific applications of the camera are practically unlimited.