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Daily Report #4956



 
 
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Old October 22nd 09, 03:19 PM posted to sci.astro.hubble
Cooper, Joe
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Default Daily Report #4956

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #4956

PERIOD COVERED: 5am October 21 - 5am October 22, 2009 (DOY294/09:00z-295/09:00z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/WFC3 11879

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 1)

This program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and
dark current of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels.
The recorded frames are used to create bias and dark reference images
for science data reduction and calibration. This program will be
executed four days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of
Cycle 17. To facilitate scheduling, this program is split into three
proposals. This proposal covers 352 orbits (22 weeks) from 31 August
2009 to 31 January 2010.

FGS 11785

Trigonometric Calibration of the Distance Scale for Classical Novae

The distance scale for classical novae is important for understanding
the stellar physics of their thermonuclear runaways, their
contribution to Galactic nucleosynthesis, and their use as
extragalactic standard candles. Although it is known that there is a
relationship between their absolute magnitudes at maximum light and
their subsequent rates of decline--the well-known maximum-magnitude
rate-of-decline (MMRD) relation--it is difficult to set the zero-point
for the MMRD because of the very uncertain distances of Galactic
novae.

We propose to measure precise trigonometric parallaxes for the
quiescent remnants of the four nearest classical novae. We will use
the Fine Guidance Sensors, which are proven to be capable of measuring
parallaxes with errors of ~0.2 mas, well below what is possible from
the ground.

NIC 11416

NICMOS Parallel Thermal Background

Characterize the stability of the HST+NCS+Instrument thermal emission
as seen by NICMOS on secular scales. The data will be obtained using
NIC3 and the F222M filter and will run throughout the SMOV4 activities
as a pure parallel program.

NIC 11417

NICMOS Detector Read noise and Dark Current

The NICMOS detector characteristics will be monitored during the
entire extent of the SMOV4 through a set of dark exposures. This will
also allow a determination of the detector temperature from bias
measurements. The data should be obtained in SAA-free orbits,
approximately every 24 hours. In addition, the detector read noise and
the detector shading profiles will be measured once a week.

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 11820

NICMOS Post-SAA Calibration - CR Persistence Part 7

Internals for CR persistence

STIS/CCD 11653

SAINTS - Supernova 1987A INTensive Survey

SAINTS is a program to observe SN 1987A, the brightest supernova since
1604, as it matures into the youngest supernova remnant at age 21. HST
is the essential tool for resolving SN1987A's many physical
components. A violent encounter is underway between the fastest-moving
debris and the circumstellar ring: shocks excite "hotspots." Radio,
optical, infrared and X-ray fluxes have been rising rapidly: we have
organized Australia Telescope, HST, VLT, Spitzer, and Chandra
observations to understand the several emission mechanisms at work.
Photons from the shocked ring will excite previously invisible gas
outside the ring, revealing the true extent of the mass loss that
preceded the explosion of Sanduleak -69 202. This will help test ideas
for the progenitor of SN 1987A. The inner debris, excited by
radioactive isotopes from the explosion, is now resolved and seen to
be aspherical, providing direct evidence on the shape of the explosion
itself. Questions about SN 1987A remain unanswered. A rich and
unbroken data set from SAINTS will help answer these central questions
and will build an archive for the future to help answer questions we
have not yet thought to ask.

STIS/CCD 11844

CCD Dark Monitor Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 11846

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2,
2x1, and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1x1 at gain = 4, to build up
high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns.

STIS/CCD/MA 11865

COS Flux Standard

Cross calibration of of STIS/COS in the UV. Measurement and
verification of CTE correction for the CCDs

WFC3/ACS/IR 11142

Revealing the Physical Nature of Infrared Luminous Galaxies at
0.3z2.7 Using HST and Spitzer

We aim to determine physical properties of IR luminous galaxies at
0.3z2.7 by requesting coordinated HST/NIC2 and MIPS 70um
observations of a unique, 24um flux-limited sample with complete
Spitzer mid-IR spectroscopy. The 150 sources investigated in this
program have S(24um) 0.8mJy and their mid-IR spectra have already
provided the majority targets with spectroscopic redshifts
(0.3z2.7). The proposed 150~orbits of NIC2 and 66~hours of MIPS 70um
will provide the physical measurements of the light distribution at
the rest-frame ~8000A and better estimates of the bolometric
luminosity. Combining these parameters together with the rich suite of
spectral diagnostics from the mid-IR spectra, we will (1) measure how
common mergers are among LIRGs and ULIRGs at 0.3z2.7, and establish
if major mergers are the drivers of z1 ULIRGs, as in the local
Universe, (2) study the co-evolution of star formation and blackhole
accretion by investigating the relations between the fraction of
starburst/AGN measured from mid-IR spectra vs. HST morphologies,
L(bol) and z, and (3) obtain the current best estimates of the far-IR
emission, thus L(bol) for this sample, and establish if the relative
contribution of mid-to-far IR dust emission is correlated with
morphology (resolved vs. unresolved).

WFC3/IR 11202

The Structure of Early-type Galaxies: 0.1-100 Effective Radii

The structure, formation and evolution of early-type galaxies is still
largely an open problem in cosmology: how does the Universe evolve
from large linear scales dominated by dark matter to the highly
non-linear scales of galaxies, where baryons and dark matter both play
important, interacting, roles? To understand the complex physical
processes involved in their formation scenario, and why they have the
tight scaling relations that we observe today (e.g. the Fundamental
Plane), it is critically important not only to understand their
stellar structure, but also their dark-matter distribution from the
smallest to the largest scales. Over the last three years the SLACS
collaboration has developed a toolbox to tackle these issues in a
unique and encompassing way by combining new non-parametric strong
lensing techniques, stellar dynamics, and most recently weak
gravitational lensing, with high-quality Hubble Space Telescope
imaging and VLT/Keck spectroscopic data of early-type lens systems.
This allows us to break degeneracies that are inherent to each of
these techniques separately and probe the mass structure of early-type
galaxies from 0.1 to 100 effective radii. The large dynamic range to
which lensing is sensitive allows us both to probe the clumpy
substructure of these galaxies, as well as their low-density outer
haloes. These methods have convincingly been demonstrated, by our
team, using smaller pilot-samples of SLACS lens systems with HST data.
In this proposal, we request observing time with WFC3 and NICMOS to
observe 53 strong lens systems from SLACS, to obtain complete
multi-color imaging for each system. This would bring the total number
of SLACS lens systems to 87 with completed HST imaging and effectively
doubles the known number of galaxy-scale strong lenses. The deep HST
images enable us to fully exploit our new techniques, beat down
low-number statistics, and probe the structure and evolution of early-
type galaxies, not only with a uniform data-set an order of magnitude
larger than what is available now, but also with a fully-coherent and
self-consistent methodological approach!

WFC3/IR 11927

WFC3 IR Persistence Check

To verify the time constant and photometric effect of image peristence
of the IR detector

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

Analyses of ground test data showed that dark current signals are more
reliably removed from science data using darks taken with the same
exposure sequences as the science data, than with a single dark
current image scaled by desired exposure time. Therefore, dark current
images must be collected using all sample sequences that will be used
in science observations. These observations will be used to monitor
changes in the dark current of the WFC3-IR channel on a day-to-day
basis, and to build calibration dark current ramps for each of the
sample sequences to be used by GOs in Cycle 17. For each sample
sequence/array size combination, a median ramp will be created and
delivered to the calibration database system (CDBS).

WFC3/UV 11730

Continued Proper Motions of the Magellanic Clouds: Orbits, Internal
Kinematics, and Distance

In Cycles 11 and 13 we obtained two epochs of ACS/HRC data for fields
in the Magellanic Clouds centered on background quasars. We used these
data to determine the proper motions of the LMC and SMC to better than
5% and 15% respectively. The results had a number of unexpected
implications for the Milky Way-LMC-SMC system and received
considerable attention in the literature and in the press. The implied
three-dimensional velocities are larger than previously believed and
close to the escape velocity in a standard 10^12 solar mass Milky Way
dark halo. Our orbit calculations suggest the Clouds may not be bound
to the Milky Way or may just be on their first passage, both of which
are unexpected in view of traditional interpretations of the
Magellanic Stream. Alternatively, the Milky Way dark halo may be a
factor two more massive than previously believed, which would be
surprising in view of other observational constraints. Also, the
relative velocity between the LMC and SMC was larger than expected,
leaving open the possibility that the Clouds may not be bound to each
other. To further verify and refine our results we requested an
additional epoch data in Cycle 16 which is being executed with
WFPC2/PC due to the failure of ACS. A detailed analysis of one LMC
field shows that the field proper motion using all three epochs of
data is consistent within 1-sigma with the two-epoch data, thus
verifying that there are no major systematic effects in our previous
measurements. The random errors, however, are only smaller by a factor
of 1.4 because of the relatively large errors in the WFPC2 data. A
prediction for a fourth epoch with measurement errors similar to
epochs 1 and 2 shows that the uncertainties will improve by a factor
of 3. This will allow us to better address whether the Clouds are
indeed bound to each other and to the Milky Way. It will also allow us
to constrain the internal motions of various populations within the
Clouds, and to determine a distance to the LMC using rotational
parallax. Continuation of this highly successful program is therefore
likely to provide important additional insights. Execution in SNAPshot
mode guarantees maximally efficient use of HST resources.

WFC3/UV/ACS/WFC 11688

Exploring the Bottom End of the White Dwarf Cooling Sequence in the
Open Cluster NGC6819

The recent discovery by our group of an unexpectedly bright end of the
white-dwarf (WD) luminosity function (LF) of the metal-rich, old open
cluster NGC 6791 casts serious doubts on our understanding of the
physical process which rules the formation and the cooling of WDs. It
is clear at this point that the theory badly needs more observations.
Here we propose WFC3/UVIS and ACS/WFC HST observations reaching the
bottom end of the WD LF, for the first time in a solar-metallicity,
2.5-Gyr-old, populous open cluster: NGC 6819.

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

The behavior of the WFC3 UVIS CCD will be monitored daily with a set
of full-frame, four-amp bias and dark frames. A smaller set of 2Kx4K
subarray biases are acquired at less frequent intervals throughout the
cycle to support subarray science observations. The internals from
this proposal, along with those from the anneal procedure (Proposal
11909), will be used to generate the necessary superbias and superdark
reference files for the calibration pipeline (CDBS).

WFC3/UVIS 11907

UVIS Cycle 17 Contamination Monitor

The UV throughput of WFC3 during Cycle 17 is monitored via weekly
standard star observations in a subset of key filters covering
200-600nm and F606W, F814W as controls on the red end. The data will
provide a measure of throughput levels as a function of time and
wavelength, allowing for detection of the presence of possible
contaminants.

WFC3/UVIS/IR 11644

A Dynamical-Compositional Survey of the Kuiper Belt: A New Window Into
the Formation of the Outer Solar System

The eight planets overwhelmingly dominate the solar system by mass,
but their small numbers, coupled with their stochastic pasts, make it
impossible to construct a unique formation history from the dynamical
or compositional characteristics of them alone. In contrast, the huge
numbers of small bodies scattered throughout and even beyond the
planets, while insignificant by mass, provide an almost unlimited
number of probes of the statistical conditions, history, and
interactions in the solar system. To date, attempts to understand the
formation and evolution of the Kuiper Belt have largely been dynamical
simulations where a hypothesized starting condition is evolved under
the gravitational influence of the early giant planets and an attempt
is made to reproduce the current observed populations. With little
compositional information known for the real Kuiper Belt, the test
particles in the simulation are free to have any formation location
and history as long as they end at the correct point. Allowing
compositional information to guide and constrain the formation,
thermal, and collisional histories of these objects would add an
entire new dimension to our understanding of the evolution of the
outer solar system. While ground based compositional studies have hit
their flux limits already with only a few objects sampled, we propose
to exploit the new capabilities of WFC3 to perform the first ever
large-scale dynamical-compositional study of Kuiper Belt Objects
(KBOs) and their progeny to study the chemical, dynamical, and
collisional history of the region of the giant planets. The
sensitivity of the WFC3 observations will allow us to go up to two
magnitudes deeper than our ground based studies, allowing us the
capability of optimally selecting a target list for a large survey
rather than simply taking the few objects that can be measured, as we
have had to do to date. We have carefully constructed a sample of 120
objects which provides both overall breadth, for a general
understanding of these objects, plus a large enough number of objects
in the individual dynamical subclass to allow detailed comparison
between and within these groups. These objects will likely define the
core Kuiper Belt compositional sample for years to come. While we have
many specific results anticipated to come from this survey, as with
any project where the field is rich, our current knowledge level is
low, and a new instrument suddenly appears which can exploit vastly
larger segments of the population, the potential for discovery -- both
anticipated and not -- is extraordinary.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary
reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)

HSTARS:

For Day 278:

12049 - GSAcq(1,2,1), scheduled for 278/05:08:38z lost lock shortly
after a successful acquisition. Both FGS 1 and 2 returned to default
at 278/05:16:26z.

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq 11 11
FGS REAcq 05 05
OBAD with Maneuver 08 08

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)


 




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