Editing Wide Field and Planetary Camera

{{Short description|Former instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope}}
{{For|the [[Low-power broadcasting|low-power]] [[radio station]] in Rindge, New Hampshire|WFPC-LP}}
[[File:Jupiter from Hubble (Oct. 11, 1991).jpg|300px|thumb|Wide Field and Planetary Camera view of Jupiter, 1991]]
[[File:Galaxym100a.jpg|thumb|right|WFPC image of Messier 100 (NGC 4321)]]

The '''Wide Field/Planetary Camera''' ('''WFPC''') (pronounced as wiffpick (Operators of the WFPC1 were known as "whiff-pickers")) was a [[camera]] installed on the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] launched in April 1990 and operated until December 1993.  It was one of the instruments on Hubble at launch, but its functionality was severely impaired by the defects of the main mirror optics which afflicted the telescope.  However, it produced uniquely valuable high resolution images of relatively bright astronomical objects, allowing for a number of discoveries to be made by HST even in its aberrated condition.

WFPC was proposed by [[James Westphal|James A. Westphal]], a professor of planetary science at [[Caltech]], and was designed, constructed, and managed by [[JPL]].  At the time it was proposed, 1976, [[Charge-coupled device|CCD]]s had barely been used for astronomical imaging, though the first [[KH-11 Kennen|KH-11 KENNEN]] reconnaissance satellite equipped with CCDs for imaging was launched in December 1976.<ref>{{cite web|title=NRO review and redaction guide|edition=2006| url=http://www.fas.org/irp/nro/declass.pdf |publisher=[[National Reconnaissance Office]]}}</ref> The high sensitivity offered such promise that many astronomers strongly argued that CCDs should be considered for [[Hubble Space Telescope]] instrumentation.

This first WFPC consisted of two separate cameras, each comprising 4 800x800 pixel [[Texas Instruments]] CCDs arranged to cover a contiguous field of view. The Wide Field camera had a 0.1 arcsecond per pixel resolution and was intended for the panoramic observations of faint sources at the cost of [[angular resolution]].  The Planetary Camera had a 0.043 arcsecond per pixel resolution and was intended for high-resolution observations.  Selection between the two cameras was done with a four-facetted pyramid that rotated by 45 degrees.<ref name="CP-2244">{{cite tech report |title=The Space Telescope Observatory |number=CP-2244 |institution=NASA |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19820025420 |date=1982}}, page 28. 40 MB PDF file.</ref>

As part of the corrective service mission ([[STS-61]] in December 1993) the WFPC was swapped out for a replacement version. The [[Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2]] improved on its predecessor and incorporated corrective optics needed to overcome the main mirror defect.  To avoid potential confusion, the WFPC is now most commonly referred to as WFPC1.

On its return to Earth, the WFPC was disassembled and parts of it were used in [[Wide Field Camera 3]],<ref>{{cite web | url =http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34007&fbodylongid=1926 | title = WFC3 - Wide Field Camera 3 | publisher = ESA | access-date = May 12, 2009 }}</ref> which was installed in Hubble on May 14, 2009, as part of [[STS-125|Servicing Mission 4]], replacing [[Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2|WFPC2]].

==Specifications==
[[File:Repair-hubble-1-training.jpg|thumb|Astronauts practice replacing the WFPC on Earth in water tank to simulate working in space in 1993. The model being used is a full-scale training version of the WFPC]] 
The instrument had two different cameras within, the Wide Field and the Planetary Camera.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/about/general/instruments/wfpc1/|title=Hubble's Instruments: WFPC1 - Wide Field and Planetary Camera 1|last=|website=www.spacetelescope.org}}</ref> The Wide Field camera had a wider field of view compared to the Planetary Camera.<ref name="auto"/>

;Specifications:<ref name="auto"/>
*Detection range, light wavelengths 115 to 1000&nbsp;nm
*For the Wide Field Camera
**Field of View 2.6 x 2.6 arcminutes
**f/12.9 
*For the Planetary Camera
**Field of View 66 x 66 arcseconds
**f/30 
**Smallest pixel scale 0.043 [[arcsecond]] (unit of degree)

==First light image==
[[File:Hubble First Light, First Released Image (STScI-1990-04a).png|thumb|left|340px|Here is the [[First light (astronomy)|first light]] image for the Wide Field and Planetary Camera of HST, taken in May 1990; this view is near star HD96755 in the open cluster [[NGC 3532]].<ref name="hubblesite.org">{{cite web|url=http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1990/04/image/a/|title=HubbleSite: Image - First Image Taken by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera|website=hubblesite.org}}</ref> This view is 11 by 14 arcseconds of the sky.<ref name="hubblesite.org"/> ]]
{{clear}}

==Replacement==
Although there was nothing known to be wrong with this instrument, the spherical aberration in HST's mirror severely limited the performance.   
WFPC was replaced by the [[Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2]] which included its own internal corrective optics.  WFPC2 was replaced by the [[Wide Field Camera 3]] in 2009.  After return to Earth, WFPC was disassembled and its parts cannibalized to make WFC3.

[[File:Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman with Wide Field Planetary Camera (28049530971).jpg|thumb|left|440px|The Wide Field and Planetary Camera in space while it was being exchanged for Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 during [[STS-61]], 1993]]
{{clear}}
[[File:Hubble Images of M100 Before and After Mirror Repair - GPN-2002-000064.jpg|thumb|left|440px|On the left, an un-corrected WFPC image of [[Messier 100|M100]] in November 1993, next to an image by its replacement instrument with corrected optics]]
{{clear}}

==See also==
*[[Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2]]
*[[Wide Field Camera 3]]
*[[Advanced Camera for Surveys]]
*[[Cosmic Origins Spectrograph]]
*[[Faint Object Camera]]
*[[Faint Object Spectrograph]]
*[[Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph]]
*[[Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer]]
*[[Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1991/13/image/a/ Jupiter image by WFPC, 1991]

{{Hubble Space Telescope}}
{{Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wide Field And Planetary Camera}}
[[Category:Hubble Space Telescope instruments]]
[[Category:Space imagers]]
[[Category:Space hardware returned to Earth intact]]