Charge transfer inefficiency in the Hubble Space Telescope since Servicing Mission 4

Massey, Richard

doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00959.x

Charge transfer inefficiency in the Hubble Space Telescope since Servicing Mission 4

Massey, Richard

Authors

Professor Richard Massey r.j.massey@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

We update a physically motivated model of radiation damage in the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys/Wide Field Channel, using data up to mid-2010. We find that charge transfer inefficiency increased dramatically before shuttle Servicing Mission 4, with ∼1.3 charge traps now present per pixel. During detector readout, charge traps spuriously drag electrons behind all astronomical sources, degrading image quality in a way that affects object photometry, astrometry and morphology. Our detector readout model is robust to changes in operating temperature and background level, and can be used to iteratively remove the trailing by pushing electrons back to where they belong. The result is data taken in mid-2010 that recovers the quality of imaging obtained within the first six months of orbital operations.

Citation

Massey, R. (2010). Charge transfer inefficiency in the Hubble Space Telescope since Servicing Mission 4. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 409(1), L109-L113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00959.x

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 20, 2010
Publication Date	Nov 1, 2010
Deposit Date	Jan 31, 2012
Publicly Available Date	Apr 24, 2015
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Electronic ISSN	1745-3933
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	409
Issue	1
Pages	L109-L113
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00959.x
Keywords	Instrumentation: detectors, Methods: data analysis, Space vehicles: instruments, Techniques: image processing.

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: letters. ©: 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.