Mitigating Radiation Damage Effects in the HST/ WFC3 UVIS Detectors
Abstract
CCD detectors in low-Earth orbit are known to suffer from accumulating radiation damage and the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (HST/WFC3) is no exception. In WFC3/UVIS, the damage produces a growing hot-pixel population along with charge traps that cause a progressive loss in charge-transfer efficiency (CTE) over time. The CTE decline results in both a reduction of the detected source fluxes as well as a systematic shift in the measured source centroids, and the impact can be substantial, particularly for faint sources in low-background images. We summarize the state of the radiation-damage effects in WFC3/UVIS and discuss the available mitigation options, with a focus on the algorithm and software that comprise the pixel-based CTE correction available in the WFC3 calibration pipeline as of March 2016.
- Publication:
-
Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXVI
- Pub Date:
- October 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019ASPC..521..454B