Daily # 4220

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4220

PERIOD COVERED: UT October 16, 2006 (DOY 289)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC/WFC 10758

ACS CCDs daily monitor

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. Changes from cycle 13:- The default
gain for WFC is 2 e-/DN. As before bias frames will be collected for
both gain 1 and gain 2. Dark frames are acquired using the default
gain {2}. This program cover the period May, 31 2006- Oct, 1-2006. The
first half of the program has a different proposal number: 10729.

ACS/WFC 10769

X-Ray Sources in Starburst Galaxies

We propose to observe a sample of nearby, M82-like, starburst galaxies
with high star formation rates. The data will be used to better
understand the correlation between the X-ray point population in a
galaxy and its star formation rate, to measure the high end of X-ray
point source luminosity function to verify or refute the cutoff
reported at high luminosities, and, using joint NICMOS and ACS/WFC
observations, to study the spatial relation between X-ray source and
star forming regions.

ACS/WFC 10816

The Formation History of Andromeda's Extended Metal-Poor Halo

We propose deep ACS imaging in the outer spheroid of the Andromeda
galaxy, in order to measure the star formation history of its true
halo. For the past 20 years, nearly all studies of the Andromeda
"halo" were focused on the spheroid within 30 kpc of the galaxy's
center, a region now known to host significant substructure and
populations with high metallicity and intermediate ages. However, two
groups have recently discovered an extended metal-poor halo beyond 30
kpc; this population is distinct in its surface-brightness profile,
abundance distribution, and kinematics. In earlier cycles, we obtained
deep images of the inner spheroid {11 kpc on the minor axis}, outer
disk {25 kpc on the major axis}, and giant tidal stream, yielding the
complete star formation history in each field. We now propose deep ACS
imaging of 4 fields bracketing this 30 kpc transition point in the
spheroid, so that the inner spheroid and the extended halo populations
can be disentangled, enabling a reconstruction of the star formation
history in the halo. A wide age distribution in the halo, as found in
the inner spheroid, would imply the halo was assembled through ongoing
accretion of satellite galaxies, while a uniformly old population
would be a strong indication that the halo was formed during the early
rapid collapse of the Andromeda proto-galaxy.

ACS/WFC 10875

A Snapshot Survey of The Most Massive Clusters of Galaxies

We propose the continuation of our highly successful Cycle14 snapshot
survey of a sample of 123 very X-ray luminous clusters in the redshift
range 0.3-0.7. As demonstrated by the 21 snapshots obtained so far in
Cycle14 these systems frequently exhibit strong gravitational lensing
as well as spectacular examples of violent galaxy evolution. 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. Acknowledging
the broad community interest in this sample we waive our data rights
for these observations.

NIC1 11061

NICMOS Imaging of Grism Spectrophotometric Standards

In this program we will take imaging observations with all 3 cameras
with a range of filters of a significant number of stars that are part
of the spectroscopic standard star project. These stars will form the
fainter reference star backbone for programs as JWST, Sophia, and
SNAP. With this program we will: 1. Accurately calibrate relative
brightness of standard stars, which can be done more accurately with
photometry than with spectroscopy. This has been proven to be vary
valuable to straighten out the problems in the spectroscopic data
reduction and calibrations so far. 2. Increase the number of stars
over a large magnitude range to provide a more accurate cross check of
our count rate dependent non-linearity correction 3. Include stars
with radically different {very red} spectra to investigate whether the
filter curves as measured before flight are still valid by comparing
the throughput estimates from these stars to those used for the
standard calibration. 4. Repeat a few standard star observations from
cycle 7 and post-NCS installation SMOV, to increase the accuracy in
the change in sensitivity measurement with just a few observations
thanks to the long baseline.

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.

WFPC2 10744

WFPC2 Cycle 14 Decontaminations and Associated Observations

This proposal is for the WFPC2 decontamination. Also included are
instrument monitors tied to decontamination: photometric stability
check, focus monitor, pre- and post-decontamination internals {bias,
intflats, kspots, & darks}, UV throughput check, VISFLAT sweep, and
internal UV flat check.

WFPC2 11029

WFPC2 CYCLE 15 Intflat Linearity Check and Filter Rotation Anomaly
Monitor

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 xxxx 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.

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: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 06 06
FGS REacq 08 08
OBAD with Maneuver 28 28

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

HRC Flash_Report

The HRC detector was initialized and the ASPC2 +35 (JHAS2P35) FSW
limit was return to its nominal range by stored commanding 289/00:12.
The first HRC image (part of the daily monitor program) was obtained
at 289/00:30 and all telemetry voltages and temperatures are within
their expected range.

Flash Report: ACS HRC Biases and Darks look good

Everything looks nominal. The frames are clean. The CCD appears to
have annealed well, and the C-amplifier readnoise is at the expected
(historical) level. The bias levels in these first images are just a
bit above the historical averages (a few % high), but this is expected
for biases obtained soon after the HRC is configured for science
operations. We expect the bias levels to drop to the nominal values
within a few hours, and this return to the historical average should
be evident in the next set obtained on Wednesday. Looks like we have
another terrific ACS camera back on line and operating well.