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Daily 3737
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science
DAILY REPORT # 3737 PERIOD COVERED: DOY 320 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED ACS/HRC 10238 The nature of quasar host galaxies: combining ACS imaging and VLT Integral Field Spectroscopy. We propose to perform ACS/F606W imaging of a complete sample of 29 quasar host galaxies {0.08z0.34}. The spatial resolving power of the ACS HRC, in combination with the acquisition of empirical PSFs and advanced deconvolution techniques, will allow to study in detail structures on scales of a few tens of parsecs, and to access the inner regions of the host galaxies, even in the presence of bright nuclei. We demonstrate that combining deep spectroscopy with high resolution imaging in stable PSF conditions definitely constitutes the solution to characterize the complex physical properties of quasar host galaxies, from their outer regions to the inner 0.1 kpc, where most of the information on the interplay between quasars and their hosts is hidden. We propose to combine new ACS images with existing Integral Field VLT Spectra. We will map the stellar and gas velocity fields in 2D, constrain the mass models, derive the radial host M/L ratios, map and characterize the stellar populations and the ionization state of the gas. ACS/HRC 10272 A Snapshot Survey of the Sites of Recent, Nearby Supernovae During the past few years, robotic {or nearly robotic} searches for supernovae {SNe}, most notably our Lick Observatory Supernova Search {LOSS}, have found hundreds of SNe, many of them in quite nearby galaxies {cz 4000 km/s}. Most of the objects were discovered before maximum brightness, and have follow-up photometry and spectroscopy; they include some of the best-studied SNe to date. We propose to conduct a snapshot imaging survey of the sites of some of these nearby objects, to obtain late-time photometry that {through the shape of the light and color curves} will help reveal the origin of their lingering energy. The images will also provide high- resolution information on the local environment of SNe that are far superior to what we can procure from the ground. For example, we will obtain color-color and color- magnitude diagrams of stars in these SN sites, to determine their progenitor masses and constraints on the reddening. Recovery of the SNe in the new HST images will also allow us to actually pinpoint their progenitor stars in cases where pre-explosion images exist in the HST archive. Use of ACS rather than WFPC2 will make our snapshot survey even more valuable than our Cycle 9 survey. This Proposal is complementary to our Cycle 13 archival proposal, in which we outline a plan for using existing HST images to glean information about SN environments. ACS/HRC 10377 ACS Earth Flats High signal sky flats will be obtained by observing the bright Earth with the HRC and WFC. These observations will be used to verify the accuracy of the flats currently used by the pipeline and will provide a comparison with flats derived via other techniques: L-flats from stellar observations, sky flats from stacked GO observations, and internal flats using the calibration lamps. Weekly coronagraphic monitoring is required to assess the changing position of the spots. ACS/HRC 9733 Direct imaging of the progenitors of massive, core-collapse supernovae Modern supernovae searches in the nearby Universe are discovering large numbers of SNe which have massive star progenitors {Types II, Ib and Ic}. The extensive HST {and ground-based} image archives of galaxies within ~20Mpc enables their individual bright stellar content to be resolved. As massive, evolved stars are the most luminous single objects in a galaxy, the progenitors of core-collapse SNe should be directly detectable on pre-explosion images. Within the last two cycles we have set direct mass-limits on three type II-P supernovae using HST images, and already these can be used to constrain theoretical models of pre-supernova stellar evolution which predict which stars cause which of the supernovae types. We request time to continue this successful project, and require ACS observations of future SNe which are discovered in galaxies closer than 20Mpc which have pre-explosion HST archive images available. These ToO observations will allow the SNe to be precisely positioned on the pre-explosion frames with the required astrometric accuracy of around 0.05", and allow 3-colour photometry of the surrounding stellar populations for reddening estimations. The goal of this project is to directly identify the progenitor stars of core-collapse supernovae. We will compare the progenitor detections or luminosity limits to our own stellar evolutionary tracks in order to determine masses or restrictive mass-limits for the progenitors. ACS/HRC/WFC 10367 ACS CCDs daily monitor- cycle 13 - part 1 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 programme will be for the entire lifetime of ACS. ACS/WFC 10325 Low Redshift Cluster Gravitational Lensing Survey This proposal has two main scientific goals: to determine the dark matter distribution of massive galaxy clusters, and to observe the high redshift universe using these clusters as powerful cosmic telescopes. Deep, g, r, i, z imaging of a sample of low-z {0.2-0.4} clusters will yield a large sample of lensed background galaxies with reliable photometric redshifts. By combining strong and weak lensing constraints with the photometric redshift information it will be possible to precisely measure the cluster dark matter distribution with an unprecedented combination of high spatial resolution and area coverage, avoiding many of the uncertainties which plague ground-based studies and yielding definitive answers about the structure of massive dark matter haloes. In addition, the cosmological parameters can be constrained in a largely model independent way using the multiply lensed objects due to the dependence of the Einsteinng radius on the distance to the source. We can also expect to detect several highly magnified dropout galaxies behind the clusters in the redshift ranges 4-5 5-6 and 7-8, corresponding to a drop in the flux in the g, r, and i bands relative to longer wavelength. We will obtain the best information to date on the giant arcs already known in these clusters, making possible detailed, pixel-by-pixel studies of their star formation rate, dust distribution and structural components, including spiral arms, out to a redshift of around z~2.5 in several passbands. FGS 10110 Parallaxes of Extreme Halo Subgiants: Calibrating Globular Cluster Distances and the Ages of the Oldest Stars The ages of the oldest stars are a key constraint on the evolution of our Galaxy, the history of star formation, and cosmological models. These ages are usually determined from globular clusters. However, it is alternatively possible to determine ages of extreme Population II subgiants in the solar neighborhood based on trigonometric parallaxes, without any recourse to clusters. This approach completely avoids the vexing issues of cluster distances, reddenings, and chemical compositions. There are 3 known nearby, extremely metal-deficient Pop II subgiants with Hipparcos parallax errors of 6-11% which are available for such age determinations. At present, based on the latest isochrones, the derived ages of these stars {HD 84937, HD 132475, and HD 140283} are all close to 14 Gyr, uncomfortably close to or higher than current estimates of the age of the universe. However, the errors in the Hipparcos parallaxes imply uncertainties of at least 2 Gyr in the ages of the 3 stars. We propose to measure parallaxes of these three Pop II subgiants using HST's Fine Guidance Sensor 1R. We expect to reduce the Hipparcos parallax error bars by factors of 5-6, providing the most stringent test yet of current theoretical stellar models of Pop II stars and pushing the age uncertainties to below 0.5 Gyr. These data will also provide a major new constraint on the distance scale of globular clusters, with wide implications for stellar evolution and the calibration of Pop II standard candles. NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8794 NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 5 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. NIC2 10149 The Coevolution of Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxies at z~3 The existence of strong correlations between the mass of supermassive black holes and galaxy bulge properties implies that there is an intimate connection between their formation and evolution. How do supermassive black holes grow and how did the correlations come about? Is the growth of supermassive black holes coeval with the growth of the bulge, and is a bulge necessary for AGN activity at high z? We propose to use HST NICMOS to image 9 low-luminosity broad-line AGNs at z~3 in the restframe B-band, identified through the Lyman-break technique. This sample is unique because the AGN luminosities are comparable to Seyfert-like nuclei at z~3, and thus are some of the lowest that have been selected optically. Because of the low total luminosity of the sample, the hosts are likely to be Lyman-break galaxies, which are believed to be the progenitor galaxies of the local Hubble sequence. The goal is to directly detect their host galaxies and to separate the AGN, in order to study the host galaxy morphology and luminosity. From measurement of the bulge luminosity and black hole mass {through available spectra}, we will study the black hole-bulge coevolution out to z~3. We will also compare the luminosity and morphology of these faint AGN hosts with the more luminous and massive host galaxies found in previous HST studies of quasars. NIC3 10383 NICMOS Cycle 13 Grism Re-Calibration This cycle 13 proposal will quantify the repeatability of grism observations with a star that has already been observed in cycle 12. CYCLE 12 RESULTS AND CYCLE 13 FOLLOW UP: All cycle 12 data was successfully acquired. One problem is that the repeatability as measured by the comparison of the cycle 11 to the cycle 12 observations of P330E is only +/- 2%, as shown in Fig. 1 {attached to the Phase 1 distribution}. We have extracted and corrected the cycle 12 data for intra-pixel and pixel gap sensitivity variations at each of the 15 dither positions. The rms of these sets of 15 dithered spectra, ie the scatter about the mean of an individual spectrum, is typically 1-2- percent, making the error in the mean 0.5-percent for all the pixels in the central 90- percent of the wavelength coverage.The goal and expectation is for repeatability to better than 1%. The somewhat poorer results may be attributed to flat field differences between the Thompson dither strategy and that used in 9998; or perhaps, there is some synoptic change in the system throughput. In order to distinguish these possibilities and hopefully recover a repeatability of 1%, an observation of one of the cycle 12 standards must be repeated early in cycle 13, using the same dither strategy as 9998. To minimize the measured amount of any synoptic sensitivity change, the observations should be made before the end of 2004. The bulk of the cycle 12 observations were made in the 2004 January through 2004 July time frame, so that the ideal repeatability target was observed early in 2004 and can be observed again this fall. The bright Sloan standard BD+17d4708 is the ideal selection, having been previously observed on 04Jan10. P330E would be a good choice, except that it was previously observed too recently on 04Jun19 to measure any sensitivity change back to 04 Jan; and the scheduling would be rushed to get it before going into solar avoidance in October. FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY: Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.) None COMPLETED OPS REQs: 17307-0 All SPAs on for DOY 321 @ 320/14:14z 17312-0 Load, Dump, Compare TGS SPC Macro @ 320/19:14z OPS NOTES EXECUTED: None SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FAILURE TIMES FGS Gsacq 08 08 FGS Reacq 08 08 FHST Update 14 14 LOSS of LOCK SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: SPA configuration pre- and post-TGS On-orbit Test phases: As a precautionary measure, all SPAs will be placed on-line prior to each phase of the TGS on-orbit test. Following each phase and due to increasing solar intensity through the fall/winter months, the number of off-line strings may be increased from 10 to 12 strings. Successfully closed and unmasked -AA and +D SPAs, followed by reordering the command stack and finally patched SMAC01 to remove the -AA and +D SPA Trim Relay close commands @ 320/13:55Z (OR 17307 with attached IP-068 script). Successfully uplinked, dumped, and verified TGS SPC Macro On-Orbit Table load @ 320/19:39:29Z (OR 17312). Two Gyro On-Orbit Test #2, Day 1 scheduled 321/12:10Z (OR 17311-1 with TOOT2-D1 Script and IP-069). |
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