Daily #3953

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 3953

PERIOD COVERED: UT September 26, 2005 (DOY 269)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC/WFC 10263

SAINTS - Supernova 1987A INTensive Survey

SAINTS is a program to observe SN 1987A, the brightest supernova in
383 years, as it transforms into supernova remnant {SNR} 1987A, the
youngest supernova remnant. HST is the unique and perfect match in
scale and in field for spatially-resolved observations of SN 1987A.
Rapid changes are taking place in a violent encounter between the
fastest-moving debris and the circumstellar ring. This one-time-only
event, leading to suddenly appearing hotspots and new emission that
can reveal previously hidden gas, is powered by shocks that can be
studied simultaneously with HST and with Chandra to great advantage.
Both the optical and X-ray flux from the ring are rising rapidly so
prompt observations are needed in Cycle 13. Our previous observations
reveal a remarkable reverse shock moving upstream through the
expanding debris. The reverse shock provides a powerful tool for
dissecting the radial structure of the vanished star. The debris from
the explosion itself, still excited by radioactivity, is now well
resolved by ACS and seen to be aspherical, providing direct clues to
the mechanism of the explosion. Many questions about SN 1987A remain
unanswered. SAINTS is a comprehensive attempt to use HST to establish
the facts of SN 1987A, help to answer interesting questions, and to
observe the birth of SNR 1987A.

ACS/HRC/WFC 10389

ACS CCDs daily monitor - Cycle 13 - Part 2

This program consists of a set of basic tests to monitor, the read
noise, the development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise
in ACS CCD detectors. The files, biases and dark will be used to
create reference files for science calibration. This program will be
for the entire lifetime of ACS.

ACS/WFC 10496

Decelerating and Dustfree: Efficient Dark Energy Studies with
Supernovae and Clusters

We propose a novel HST approach to obtain a dramatically more useful
"dust free" Type Ia supernovae {SNe Ia} dataset than available with
the previous GOODS searches. Moreover, this approach provides a
strikingly more efficient search-and-follow-up that is primarily pre-
scheduled. The resulting dark energy measurements do not share the
major systematic uncertainty at these redshifts, that of the
extinction correction with a prior. By targeting massive galaxy
clusters at z 1 we obtain a five-times higher efficiency in
detection of Type Ia supernovae in ellipticals, providing a
well-understood host galaxy environment. These same deep cluster
images then also yield fundamental calibrations required for future
weak lensing and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich measurements of dark energy, as
well as an entire program of cluster studies. The data will make
possible a factor of two improvement on supernova constraints on dark
energy time variation, and much larger improvement in systematic
uncertainty. They will provide both a cluster dataset and a SN Ia
dataset that will be a longstanding scientific resource.

ACS/WFC 10551

Gamma-Ray Bursts from Start to Finish: A Legacy Approach

The progenitors of long-duration GRBs are now known to be massive
stars. This result lends credence to the collapsar model, where a
rotating massive star ends its life leaving a black hole or a highly
magnetized neutron star, and confirms its essential aspects. The focus
of attention now is on the black hole or magnetar engines that power
the bursts. Somehow these engines create the most highly relativistic
and highly collimated outflows that we know of, through mechanisms
that no current theory can explain. These astrophysical laboratories
challenge our understanding of relativistic shocks, of mechanisms for
extracting energy from a black hole, and of how physics works in
extreme conditions. The launch of Swift is bringing us into a new era,
where we can make broadband observations that will enable us to study
these fascinating physical processes. We propose here an ambitious,
comprehensive program to obtain the datasets that will become the
standard that any successful model for the central engine must
explain. This programs leverages the HST observations to the maximum
extent by our commitment of Swift observations, a Large program at the
VLA, and extensive ground-based optical resources. By studying the
engines and searching for jets in a variety of events, this program
will investigate the conditions necessary for the engine and jet
formation itself.

ACS/WFC/NIC3/WFPC2 10530

Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically {PEARS}

While imaging with HST has gone deep enough to probe the highest
redshifts, e.g. the GOODS survey and the Ultra Deep Field,
spectroscopic identifications have not kept up. We propose an ACS
grism survey to get slitless spectra of all sources in a wide survey
region {8 ACS fields} up to z =27.0 magnitude, and an ultradeep field
in the HUDF reaching sources up to z =28 magnitude. The PEARS survey
will: {1} Find and spectrocopically confirm all galaxies between
z=4-7. {2} Probe the reionization epoch by robustly determining the
luminosity function of galaxies and low luminosity AGNs at z = 4 - 6.
With known redshifts, we can get a local measure of star formation and
ionization rate in case reionization is inhomogeneous. {3} Study
galaxy formation and evolution by finding galaxies in a contiguous
redshift range between 4 z 7, and black hole evolution through a
census of low-luminosity AGNs. {4} Get a robust census of galaxies
with old stellar populations at 1 z 2.5, invaluable for checking
consistency with heirarchical models of galaxy formation. Fitting
these galaxies' spectra will yield age and metallicity estimates. {5}
Study star-formation and galaxy assembly at its peak at 1 z 2 by
identifying emission lines in star-forming galaxies, old populations
showing the 4000A break, and any combination of the two. {6} Constrain
faint white dwarfs in the Galactic halo and thus measure their
contribution to the dark matter halo. {7} Derive spectro-photometric
redshifts by using the grism spectra along with broadband data. This
will be the deepest unbiased spectroscopy yet, and will enhance the
value of the multiwavelength data in UDF and the GOODS fields to the
astronomical community. To this end we will deliver reduced spectra to
the HST archives.

FGS 10756

Monitoring FGS1r Stability in Position Mode

This proposal gathers the data needed to monitor the FGS1r distortions
and scale across its FOV. An astrometric field in M35 is observed 3
times per year, from Aug to December. Earlier versions of this
proposal contained additional observartions from Jan to May. However,
the ORIENT associated with those observations is not available under
two-gyro operations. The particular field being observed in this
proposal is from "orbit 1" of the FGS1r OFAD {proposal 8469}.

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 4

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.

NIC3 10616

Gotcha! Using Swift GRBs to Pinpoint the Highest Redshift Galaxies

While there is convincing evidence that the Universe was re-ionized
between redshifts of 6.5 and 15, the role of galaxies in this process
is still not understood. Several star-forming galaxies at z~6 have
been identified in recent deep, narrow-field surveys, but the
expensive observations along with cosmic variance and contamination
make it difficult to assess their contribution to re-ionization.
Moreover, the detection of galaxies at z7 is exceedingly difficult
even with the Hubble UDF or cluster lensing. Significant progress can
be made using gamma-ray bursts {GRBs} localized with the
now-operational Swift satellite, which is capable of detecting bursts
out to z10. GRBs have the advantage of being an uncontaminated
signpost for star- formation, and their afterglows are sufficiently
bright even at z6 to allow photometric selection {via the Ly-alpha
drop out technique} with 2-5 meter telescopes. Using our approved TOO
programs at an extensive range of facilities {from 1-m robotic
telescopes to Keck/Magellan}, we can rapidly find afterglows at z6
and easily distinguish them from dusty low redshift bursts. This
approach is highly efficient compared to current techniques,
especially at z7. Here we request imaging with NICMOS {z6}, ACS
{z~6}, and Spitzer/IRAC to characterize the properties {SFR, age,
morphology} of up to five galaxies located in this manner, and begin
to address their role in re-ionization. These observations are
requested as 2 month TOOs, allowing flexibility of scheduling and at
the same time taking a unique and timely advantage of the exquisite
performance of three of NASA's premier missions.

WFPC2 10750

WFPC2 Cycle 14 UV Earth Flats

Monitor flat field stability. This proposal obtains sequences of earth
streak flats to improve the quality of pipeline flat fields for the
WFPC2 UV filter set. These Earth flats will complement the UV earth
flat data obtained during cycles 8-13.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS: (None)

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
17550-4 - NICMOS FSW 5.0 Installation @ 269/1526z
17553-0 - Genslew for proposal 10487 - slot 14 @ 269/1432z
17554-0 - Genslew for proposal 10487 - slot 13 @ 269/1434z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS
Gsacq 05 05

FGS
Reacq 10 10
OBAD with Maneuver 30 30


SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)