Daily Report #4967

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #4967

PERIOD COVERED: 5am November 5 - 5am November 6, 2009 (DOY 309/10:00z-310/10:00z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

COS/NUV/FUV/WFC3/UV/IR 11528

COS-GTO: Studies of the HeII Reionization Epoch

Intergalactic Ly-alpha opacity suggests that H I was reionized at z ~
6, while He II reionization was delayed to z ~ 3. Both epochs are
slightly in disagreement with recent (WMAP-3) inferences from the CMB
optical depth, which suggest that IGM reionization occurred at z =
10.7 (+2.7, -2.3) (Spergel et al. 2007). However, these two methods
are sensitive to different ranges of ionization (neutral fractions),
which allows a partially ionized IGM between z = 6-10 produced by
early stars and black holes. One of the major contributions of FUSE to
cosmological studies was the detection of He II Ly-alpha
(Gunn-Peterson) absorption in the spectra of two AGN at redshifts z =
2.72-2.89. The He II absorption is quite patchy between redshifts z =
2.6 and 3.2 probably because the IGM is clumpy and the reionization
process is affected by source fluctuations, spectra, and radiative
transfer through the IGM. Observations of the He II absorption can
therefore be used as diagnostics of the ionizing sources and radiative
transport over large (30-50 Mpc) distances through the IGM. The
ionizing radiation field appears to be softer (higher He II/H I) in
the galaxy voids. These void regions may be ionized by local soft
sources (dwarf starburst galaxies), or the QSO radiation may softened
by escape from AGN cores and transport through denser regions in the
cosmic web.With COS, we will observe the brightest He II target,
HE2347-4342, a QSO with z_em = 2.885. Our goal is to obtain a G130M
moderate-resolution (R = 20, 000) spectrum from 1145-1450A. Because
COS has far greater throughput than either STIS or FUSE, we will be
able to resolve and characterize the He II absorption lines. The
region shortward of the redshifted He II (Ly-alpha) corresponds to z =
2.77-2.92, where He II exhibits patchy transmission and absorption.
The ratio of He II/H I (Ly-alpha line) opacities will provide
information on the ionizing radiation field (and ionizing sources) at
1 and 4 ryd. We will perform similar He II studies on three other
targets, HS1700+6416, PKS1935-692, and Q0302-003.

WFC3/IR 11548

Infrared Imaging of Protostars in the Orion A Cloud: The Role of
Environment in Star Formation

We propose NICMOS and WFC3/IR observations of a sample of 252
protostars identified in the Orion A cloud with the Spitzer Space
Telescope. These observations will image the scattered light escaping
the protostellar envelopes, providing information on the shapes of
outflow cavities, the inclinations of the protostars, and the overall
morphologies of the envelopes. In addition, we ask for Spitzer time to
obtain 55-95 micron spectra of 75 of the protostars. Combining these
new data with existing 3.6 to 70 micron photometry and forthcoming
5-40 micron spectra measured with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we will
determine the physical properties of the protostars such as envelope
density, luminosity, infall rate, and outflow cavity opening angle. By
examining how these properties vary with stellar density (i.e.
clusters vs. groups vs. isolation) and the properties of the
surrounding molecular cloud; we can directly measure how the
surrounding environment influences protostellar evolution, and
consequently, the formation of stars and planetary systems.
Ultimately, this data will guide the development of a theory of
protostellar evolution.

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/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).

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

FOR DAY 302

12067 - GSAcq(1,2,1) at 302/22:12:17 lost lock shortly after achieving
FL-DV on FGS2.

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq 6 6
FGS REAcq 7 7
OBAD with Maneuver 8 8

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)