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Daily Report #4666



 
 
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Old August 4th 08, 04:58 PM posted to sci.astro.hubble
Cooper, Joe
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Default Daily Report #4666

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #4666

PERIOD COVERED: 5am August 1 - 5am August 4, 2008 (DOY 214/0900z-217/0900z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8795

NICMOS Post-SAA Calibration - CR Persistence Part 6

A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of NICMOS.
Dark frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA contour 23,
and every time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50 minutes of coming
out of the SAA. The darks will be obtained in parallel in all three NICMOS
Cameras. The POST-SAA darks will be non-standard reference files available
to users with a USEAFTER date/time mark. The keyword 'USEAFTER=date/time'
will also be added to the header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword
must be populated with the time, in addition to the date, because HST
crosses the SAA ~8 times per day so each POST-SAA DARK will need to have the
appropriate time specified, for users to identify the ones they need. Both
the raw and processed images will be archived as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally
we expect that all NICMOS science/calibration observations started within 50
minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to remove the CR persistence
from the science images. Each observation will need its own CRMAP, as
different SAA passages leave different imprints on the NICMOS detectors.

WFPC2 11797

Supplemental WFPC2 CYCLE 16 Intflat Linearity Check and Filter Rotation
Anomaly Monitor

Supplemental observations to 11029, to cover period from Aug 08 to SM4.
Intflat observations will be taken to provide a linearity check: the
linearity test consists of a series of intflats in F555W, in each gain and
each shutter. A combination of intflats, visflats, and earthflats will be
used to check the repeatability of filter wheel motions. (Intflat sequences
tied to decons, visits 1-18 in prop 10363, have been moved to the cycle 15
decon proposal 11022 for easier scheduling.)

Note: long-exposure WFPC2 intflats must be scheduled during ACS anneals to
prevent stray light from the WFPC2 lamps from contaminating long ACS
external exposures.

Note: These are supplemental observations to cover June to SM4 (oct 8 '08) +
6 months.

WFPC2 11794

Cycle 16 Visible Earth Flats

This proposal monitors flatfield stability. This proposal obtains sequences
of Earth streak flats to construct high quality flat fields for the WFPC2
filter set. These flat fields will allow mapping of the OTA illumination
pattern and will be used in conjuction with previous internal and external
flats to generate new pipeline superflats. These Earth flats will complement
the Earth flat data obtained during cycles 4-15.

ACS/SBC 11791

The Wavelength Dependence of Accretion Disk Structure

We can now routinely measure the size of quasar accretion disks using
gravitational microlensing of lensed quasars. The next step to testing
accretion disk models is to measure the size of accretion disks as a
function of wavelength, particularly at the UV and X-ray wavelengths that
should probe the inner, strong gravity regime. Here we focus on two
four-image quasar lenses that already have optical (R band) and X-ray size
measurements using microlensing. We will combine the HST observations with
ground-based monitoring to measure the disk size as a function of wavelength
from the near-IR to the UV. We require HST to measure the image flux ratios
in the ultraviolet continuum near the Lyman limit of the quasars. The
selected targets have estimated black hole masses that differ by an order of
magnitude, and we should find wavelength scalings for the two systems that
are very different because the Blue/UV wavelengths should correspond to
parts of the disk near the inner edge for the high mass system but not in
the low mass system. The results will be modeled using a combination of
simple thin disk models and complete relativistic disk models. While
requiring only 18 orbits, success for one system requires observations in
both Cycles 16 and 17.

WFPC2 11544

The Dynamical Legacy of Star Formation

We propose to use WFPC2 to conduct a wide-field imaging survey of the young
cluster IC348. This program, in combination with archival HST observations,
will allow us to measure precise proper motions for individual cluster
members, characterizing the intra-cluster velocity dispersion and directly
studying the dynamical signatures of star formation and early cluster
evolution. Our projected astrometric precision (~1 mas in each epoch) will
allow us to calculate individual stellar velocities to unprecedented
precision (0.5 mas/yr; 1 km/s) and directly relate these velocities to
observed spatial substructure within the cluster. This survey will also
allow us to probe small-scale star formation physics by searching for
high-velocity stars ejected from decaying multiple systems, expanding our
knowledge of multiplicity in dense environments, and identifying new
substellar and planetary-mass cluster members based on kinematic membership
tests.

FGS 11210

The Architecture of Exoplanetary Systems

Are all planetary systems coplanar? Concordance cosmogony makes that
prediction. It is, however, a prediction of extrasolar planetary system
architecture as yet untested by direct observation for main sequence stars
other than the Sun. To provide such a test, we propose to carry out FGS
astrometric studies on four stars hosting seven companions. Our
understanding of the planet formation process will grow as we match not only
system architecture, but formed planet mass and true distance from the
primary with host star characteristics for a wide variety of host stars and
exoplanet masses. We propose that a series of FGS astrometric observations
with demonstrated 1 millisecond of arc per-observation precision can
establish the degree of coplanarity and component true masses for four
extrasolar systems: HD 202206 {brown dwarf+planet}; HD 128311
{planet+planet}, HD 160691 = mu Arae {planet+planet}, and HD 222404AB =
gamma Cephei {planet+star}. In each case the companion is identified as such
by assuming that the minimum mass is the actual mass. For the last target, a
known stellar binary system, the companion orbit is stable only if coplanar
with the AB binary orbit.

WFPC2 11206

At the Cradle of the Milky Way: Formation of the Most Massive Field Disk
Galaxies at z1

We propose to obtain 2 orbit WFPC2 F814W images of a sample of the 15 most
massive galaxies found at $1 z 1.3$. These were culled from over 20,000
Keck spectra collected as part of DEEP and are unique among high redshift
massive galaxy samples in being kinematically selected. Through a recent HST
NICMOS-2 imaging program {GO-10532}, we have confirmed that these galaxies
have regular stellar disks, and their emission line kinematics are not due
to gradients from merging components. These potentially very young galaxies
are likely precursors to massive local disks, assuming no further merging.
The proposed WFPC2 and existing NIC-2 data provide colors, stellar masses,
and ages of bulge and disk subcomponents, to assess whether old stellar
bulges and disks are in place at that time or still being built, and
constrain their formation epochs. Finally, this sample will yield the first
statistically significant results on the $z 1$ evolution of the
size-velocity-luminosity scaling relations, for massive galaxies at
different wavelengths, and constrain whether this evolution reflects stellar
mass growth, or passive evolution, of either bulge or disk components.

WFPC2 11203

A Search for Circumstellar Disks and Planetary-Mass Companions around Brown
Dwarfs in Taurus

During a 1-orbit program in Cycle 14, we used WFPC2 to obtain the first
direct image of a circumstellar disk around a brown dwarf. These data have
provided fundamental new constraints on the formation process of brown
dwarfs and the properties of their disks. To search for additional direct
detections of disks around brown dwarfs and to search for planetary-mass
companions to these objects, we propose a WFPC2 survey of 32 brown dwarfs in
the Taurus star-forming region.

WFPC2 11178

Probing Solar System History with Orbits, Masses, and Colors of
Transneptunian Binaries

The recent discovery of numerous transneptunian binaries {TNBs} opens a
window into dynamical conditions in the protoplanetary disk where they
formed as well as the history of subsequent events which sculpted the outer
Solar System and emplaced them onto their present day heliocentric orbits.
To date, at least 47 TNBs have been discovered, but only about a dozen have
had their mutual orbits and separate colors determined, frustrating their
use to investigate numerous important scientific questions. The current
shortage of data especially cripples scientific investigations requiring
statistical comparisons among the ensemble characteristics. We propose to
obtain sufficient astrometry and photometry of 23 TNBs to compute their
mutual orbits and system masses and to determine separate primary and
secondary colors, roughly tripling the sample for which this information is
known, as well as extending it to include systems of two near-equal size
bodies. To make the most efficient possible use of HST, we will use a Monte
Carlo technique to optimally schedule our observations.

NIC2 11166

The Mass-dependent Evolution of the Black Hole-Bulge Relations

In the local universe, the masses of giant black holes are correlated with
the luminosities, masses and velocity dispersions of their host galaxy
bulges. This indicates a surprisingly close connection between the evolution
of galactic nuclei (on parsec scales) and of stars on kpc scales. A key
observational test of proposed explanations for these correlations is to
measure how they have evolved over cosmic time. Our ACS imaging of 20
Seyfert 1 galaxies at z=0.37 showed them to have smaller bulges (by a factor
of 3) for a given central black hole mass than is found in galaxies in the
present-day universe. However, since all our sample galaxies had black hole
masses in the range 10^8.0--8.5 Msun, we could only measure the OFFSET in
black hole mass to bulge luminosity ratios from the present epoch. By
extending this study to black hole masses another factor of 10 lower, we
propose to determine the full CORRELATION of black hole mass with host
galaxy properties at a lookback time of 4 Gyrs and to test mass-dependency
of the evolution. We have selected 14 Seyfert galaxies from SDSS DR5 whose
narrow Hbeta emission lines (and estimated nuclear luminosities) imply that
they have black hole masses around 10^7 Msuns. We will soon complete our
Keck spectroscopic measures of their bulge velocity dispersions. We need a
1-orbit NICMOS image of each galaxy to separate its nonstellar luminosity
from its bulge and disk. This will allow us to make the first determination
of the full black hole/bulge relations at z=0.37 (e.g. M-L and M-sigma), as
well as a test of whether active galaxies obey the Fundamental Plane
relation at that epoch.

NIC2/WFPC2 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. {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}.

NIC2 11135

Extreme Makeovers: Tracing the Transformation of Massive Galaxies at
z~2.5

To obtain a full spectroscopic census of the universe at z~2.5 we have
conducted a near-infrared spectroscopic survey for K-selected galaxies. We
found that, in contrast to the local universe, massive high-redshift
galaxies span a wide range of properties, varying from (dusty) star burst to
"red and dead" galaxies. This may imply that massive galaxies transform from
star-forming to quiescent galaxies in the targeted redshift range. To
understand whether the 9 quiescent galaxies in our sample are the
progenitors of local elliptical, we are observing them in the current cycle
with NIC2. For cycle 16 we propose to complete our sample of massive z~2.5
galaxies and image the remaining 10 galaxies, which all have emission lines.
Based on emission-line diagnostics, 6 of these galaxies are identified as
star-forming objects and 4 harbor an active galactic nucleus. The goals are
to 1) determine whether star formation in massive z~2.5 galaxies takes place
in disks or is triggered by merger activity, 2) derive the contribution of
AGNs to the rest-frame optical emission, and 3) test whether the
morphologies are consistent with the idea that the star-forming galaxies,
AGNs, and quiescent galaxies represent subsequent phases of an evolutionary
sequence. The combination of both programs will provide the first
morphological study of a spectroscopically confirmed massive galaxy sample
at z~2.5.

WFPC2 11129

The Star Formation History of the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

The Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy is one of the most luminous dwarf
satellites of the Milky Way. It is unusual in many ways: it hosts 5 globular
clusters, shows some relatively young stars, and has faint sub-structures
which have been interpreted as signs of recent interactions. It is thus of
great interest to learn the complete star formation history {SFH} of Fornax
to establish a link between its evolutionary path and the predictions from
numerical simulations, as a test of our understanding of dwarf galaxy
evolution. Yet many questions remain open. Is the old stellar population
made up of stars formed in a very early burst, perhaps before the epoch of
re- ionization, or the result of a more continuous star formation between 13
and 9 Gyr ago ? How quickly did Fornax increase its metallicity during its
initial assembly and during subsequent episodes of star formation ? Are
accretion episodes required to explain the age-metallicity history of Fornax
? However, there has never been a comprehensive study of the global SFH of
the Fornax field based on data of sufficient depth to unambiguously measure
the age mixture of the stellar populations and their spatial variation. We
propose to use the WFPC2 to obtain very deep images in several fields across
the central region of Fornax in order to reach the oldest main-sequence
turnoffs. The number of fields is determined by the need to measure the SFH
over different regions with distinct kinematics and metallicity. The
resolution achievable with HST is crucial to answer these questions because,
to derive the age distribution of the oldest stars, we are interested in I
magnitude differences of the order 0.2 mag in crowded fields at V=24.5. We
will directly measure the time variation in star-formation rate over the
entire galaxy history, from first stars coeval with the Milky Way halo to
the youngest populations 200 Myr ago. The combination of detailed CMD
analysis with WFPC2 with our existing metallicity and kinematic information
will allow us to trace out the early phases of its evolution.

WFPC2 11103

A Snapshot Survey of The Most Massive Clusters of Galaxies

We propose the continuation of our highly successful SNAPshot survey of a
sample of 125 very X-ray luminous clusters in the redshift range 0.3-0.7. As
demonstrated by the 25 snapshots obtained so far in Cycle14 and Cycle15
these systems frequently exhibit strong gravitational lensing as well as
spectacular examples of violent galaxy interactions. The proposed
observations will provide important constraints on the cluster mass
distributions, the physical nature of galaxy-galaxy and galaxy-gas
interactions in cluster cores, and a set of optically bright, lensed
galaxies for further 8-10m spectroscopy. All of our primary science goals
require only the detection and characterization of high-surface-brightness
features and are thus achievable even at the reduced sensitivity of WFPC2.
Because of their high redshift and thus compact angular scale our target
clusters are less adversely affected by the smaller field of view of WFPC2
than more nearby systems. Acknowledging the broad community interest in this
sample we waive our data rights for these observations. Due to a clerical
error at STScI our approved Cycle15 SNAP program was barred from execution
for 3 months and only 6 observations have been performed to date -
reinstating this SNAP at Cycle16 priority is of paramount importance to
reach meaningful statistics.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

11423 - GSAcq (1,2,1) failed to RGA Hold due to QF1STOPF flag on FGS-1

At 216/20:20:02 GSAcq (1,2,1) scheduled from 217/20:17:25 - 20:24:46 failed
to RGA Hold due to stop flags QF1STOPF and QSTOP on FGS 1.

Possible observations affected: WFPC2 Proposal 11142, Observation 132 - 133
NICMOS Proposal 8795, Observation 72.

At 216/21:56:13 REAcq (1,2,1) scheduled from 216/21:53:17 - 22:00:38 failed
due to QF1STOPF and QSTOP flags on FGS 1.

Possible observations affected: WFPC Proposal 11142, Observation 134 - 135
NICMOS Proposal 11142, Observation 73 - 74.

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq 29 28
FGS REacq 15 14
OBAD with Maneuver 84 84

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
  #2  
Old September 11th 08, 10:29 PM
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