Version 6.0 - June 2024

Wide Field Camera 3 Data Handbook

User Support

Please contact the HST Help Desk for assistance. We encourage users to access the new web portal where you can submit your questions directly to the appropriate team of experts.

Website: http://hsthelp.stsci.edu
E-mail: help@stsci.edu

Additional Resources

Information and other resources are available from the WFC3 website:

http://www.stsci.edu/hst/instrumentation/wfc3

Revision History

Version	Date	Editor
6.0	June 2024	Amanda Pagul and Isabel Rivera, et al.
5.0	Sep 2021	Kailash Sahu, et al.
4.0	May 2018	Mario Gennaro, et al.
3.0	January 2016	Susana Deustua, et al.
2.1	May 2011	Abhijith Rajan, et al.
2.0	October 2010	Abhijith Rajan, et al.
1.0	January 2009	Jessica Kim Quijano, Howard Bushouse, and Susana Deustua

Contributors

This document is written and maintained by the WFC3 Team in the Instruments Division of STScI. The WFC3 Team, at the time of this writing, consists of M. Alam, J. Anderson, S. Baggett, V. Bajaj, A. Calamida, F. Dauphin, M. de la Pena, L. Dressel, J. D. Green, K. Huynh, H. Khandrika, B. Kuhn, J. Mack, M. Marinelli, C. Martlin, P. R. McCullough, A. O'Connor, A. Pagul, A. Pidgeon, M. Revalski, I. Rivera, S. Shenoy, D. Som.

Citation

In publications, refer to this document as:

Pagul, A. and Rivera, I., et al., 2024, “WFC3 Data Handbook”, Version 6.0, (Baltimore: STScI).

«Previous Next»

WFC3 Data Handbook
- • Acknowledgments
- • What's New in This Revision
- Preface
  - • Handbook Structure
  - • Typographic Conventions
- Chapter 1: WFC3 Instruments
  - • 1.1 Instrument Overview
  - • 1.2 The UVIS Channel
  - • 1.3 The IR Channel
- Chapter 2: WFC3 Data Structure
  - • 2.1 Types of WFC3 Files
  - • 2.2 WFC3 File Structure
  - • 2.3 Data Storage Requirements
  - • 2.4 Headers and Keywords
- Chapter 3: WFC3 Data Calibration
  - • 3.1 The calwf3 Data Processing Pipeline
  - • 3.2 UVIS Data Calibration Steps
  - • 3.3 IR Data Calibration Steps
  - • 3.4 Pipeline Tasks
  - • 3.5 Manual Recalibration of WFC3 Data
- Chapter 4: WFC3 Images: Distortion Correction and AstroDrizzle
- Chapter 5: WFC3 UVIS Sources of Error
  - • 5.1 Gain and Read Noise
  - • 5.2 Bias Subtraction
  - • 5.3 Dark Current and Hot Pixels
  - • 5.4 UVIS Flat Fields
  - • 5.5 Image Anomalies
  - • 5.6 Generic Detector and Camera Properties
  - • 5.7 UVIS Photometry Errors
  - • 5.8 References
- Chapter 6: WFC3 UVIS Charge Transfer Efficiency - CTE
  - • 6.1 Overview
  - • 6.2 CTE Losses And Background
  - • 6.3 The Nature Of CTE Losses
  - • 6.4 The Pixel-Based Model
  - • 6.5 Empirical Corrections
  - • 6.6 Dealing With CTE Losses in WFC3 UVIS Images
  - • 6.7 Sink Pixels
  - • 6.8 References
- Chapter 7: WFC3 IR Sources of Error
  - • 7.1 WFC3 IR Error Source Overview
  - • 7.2 Gain
  - • 7.3 WFC3 IR Bias Correction
  - • 7.4 WFC3 Dark Current and Banding
  - • 7.5 Blobs
  - • 7.6 Detector Nonlinearity Issues
  - • 7.7 Count Rate Non-Linearity
  - • 7.8 IR Flat Fields
  - • 7.9 Pixel Defects and Bad Imaging Regions
  - • 7.10 Time-Variable Background
  - • 7.11 IR Photometry Errors
  - • 7.12 References
- Chapter 8: Persistence in WFC3 IR
- Chapter 9: WFC3 Data Analysis
  - • 9.1 Photometry
  - • 9.2 Astrometry
  - • 9.3 Spectroscopy
  - • 9.4 STSDAS, STSCI_PYTHON and Astropy
  - • 9.5 Specific Tools for the Analysis of WFC3
  - • 9.6 References
- Chapter 10: WFC3 Spatial Scan Data
  - • 10.1 Analysis of Scanned Data
  - • 10.2 IR Scanned Data
  - • 10.3 UVIS Scanned Data
  - • 10.4 References

WFC3 Data Handbook