Status and performance of HST/Wide Field Camera 3

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a powerful UV/visible/near-infrared camera currently in development for installation into the Hubble Space Telescope. WFC3 provides two imaging channels. The UVIS channel features a 4096 x 4096 pixel CCD focal plane covering 200 to 1000 nm wavelengths with a 160 x 160 arcsec field of view. The UVIS channel provides unprecedented sensitivity and field of view in the near ultraviolet for HST. It is particularly well suited for studies of the star formation history of local galaxies and clusters, searches for Lyman alpha dropouts at moderate redshift, and searches for low surface brightness structures against the dark UV sky background. The IR channel features a 1024 x 1024 pixel HgCdTe focal plane covering 800 to 1700 nm with a 139 x 123 arcsec field of view, providing a major advance in IR survey efficiency for HST. IR channel science goals include studies of dark energy, galaxy formation at high redshift, and star formation. The instrument is being prepared for launch as part of HST Servicing Mission 4, tentatively scheduled for late 2007, contingent upon formal approval of shuttle-based servicing after successful shuttle return-to-flight. We report here on the status and performance of WFC3.