= Wide Field Camera 3
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= WFC3
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The <Wide Field Camera 3> is an instrument on the <Hubble Space Telescope> with separate ultraviolet/visible and near-<infrared> channels. Its <grisms> disperse light onto the detector without an entrance slit, allowing a time series of stellar spectra during an <exoplanet transit>. The near-<infrared> channel uses two <grisms> covering different intervals; their combined coverage is broader than that of either alone.<WFC3 Instrument Handbook by Space Telescope Science Institute>[Sections 2.1 and 8.1: independent channels and grism coverage]{ref}
A spectral channel yields a <light curve>, and its fitted <exoplanet transit depth> contributes one interval of the <exoplanet transmission spectrum>. The resulting molecular bands can constrain <water> and the <atmospheric scale height>, subject to <exoplanet clouds> and <reference-pressure degeneracy in transmission spectroscopy>. Because the stellar photons dominate, stability and calibration are as important as collecting light.
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