The Scientific Calibration of the Dawn Framing Camera

Abstract

AbstractNASA’s Dawn mission visited the large main-belt asteroids Ceres and Vesta, returning a rich data set. Its science and navigation cameras, Framing Cameras 1 and 2, provided more than 100,000 surface images in total of both targets with seven colour and one panchromatic channels. This paper summarizes the scientific calibration of the Framing Camera images, combining information from on-ground and in-flight calibration campaigns. We describe the calibration methods, algorithms, and parameters that led to the final level 1c data product, including correcting stray light sources. In addition, we detail the performance and stability of both instruments.