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Daily Report #4771



 
 
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Old January 14th 09, 05:05 PM posted to sci.astro.hubble
Cooper, Joe
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Default Daily Report #4771

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT****** #4771

PERIOD COVERED: 5am January 13 - 5am January 14, 2009 (DOY
*************************** 013/1000z-014/1000z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

WFPC2 11130

AGNs with Intermediate-mass Black Holes: Testing the Black Hole-Bulge
Paradigm, Part II

The recent progress in the study of central black holes in galactic
nuclei has led to a general consensus that supermassive {10^6-10^9
solar mass} black holes are closely connected with the formation and
evolutionary history of large galaxies, especially their bulge
component. Two outstanding issues, however, remain unresolved. Can
central black holes form in the absence of a bulge? And does the mass
function of central black holes extend below 10^6 solar masses?
Intermediate-mass black holes {10^6 solar masses}, if they exist, may
offer important clues to the nature of the seeds of supermassive black
holes. Using the SDSS, our group has successfully uncovered a new
population of AGNs with intermediate-mass black holes that reside in
low-luminosity galaxies. However, very little is known about the
detailed morphologies or structural parameters of the host galaxies
themselves, including the crucial question of whether they have bulges
or not. Surprisingly, the majority of the targets of our Cycle 14
pilot program have structural properties similar to dwarf elliptical
galaxies. The statistics from this initial study, however, are really
too sparse to reach definitive conclusions on this important new class
of black holes. We wish to extend this study to a larger sample, by
using the Snapshot mode to obtain WFPC2 F814W images from a parent
sample of 175 AGNs with intermediate- mass black holes selected from
our final SDSS search. We are particularly keen to determine whether
the hosts contain bulges, and if so, how the fundamental plane
properties of the host depend on the mass of their central black
holes. We will also investigate the environment of this unique class
of AGNs.

WFPC2 11944

Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram

We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey for binaries
among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest stars in our
part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve binary systems
that are too faint to observe using ground-based, speckle or optical
long baseline interferometry, and too close to resolve with AO. We
propose a SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS mode
observations of very massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous
blue variables, nearby low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf
stars, and white dwarfs. These observations will help us to (1)
identify systems suitable for follow up studies for mass
determination, (2) study the role of binaries in stellar birth and in
advanced evolutionary states, (3) explore the fundamental properties
of stars near the main sequence-brown dwarf boundary, (4) understand
the role of binaries for X-ray bright systems, (5) find binaries among
ancient and nearby subdwarf stars, and (6) help calibrate the white
dwarf mass - radius relation.

WFPC2 11966

The Recent Star Formation History of SINGS Galaxies

The Spitzer Legacy project SINGS provided a unique view of the current
state of star formation and dust in a sample of galaxies of all Hubble
types. This multi-wavelength view allowed the team to create current
star formation diagnostics that are independent of the dust content
and increased our understanding of the dust in galaxies. Even so,
using the SINGS data alone we can only make rough estimates of the
recent star formation history of these galaxies. The lack of high
resolution observations (especially U-band and H-alpha) means that it
is impossible to estimate the ages of young clusters. In addition, the
low resolution of the Spitzer and ground-based observations means that
what appear to be individual Spitzer sources can actually be composed
of many individual clusters with varying ages. We need to know the
ages, star formation histories, and extinction of these individual
clusters to understand how these clusters form and age and thus
influence the evolution of the galaxy. In this proposal we address
this missing area of SINGS by obtaining high-resolution WFPC2 UBVI &
H-alpha observations to not only accurately locate and determine the
ages of the young stellar clusters in the actively star forming SINGS
galaxies but to also address a variety of other scientific issues.
Over 500 HST orbits and 500 hours of Spitzter observing time have been
dedicated to observations of the SINGS sample. But the HST
observations have not been systematic. By adding a relatively small
fraction of this time for these requested observations, we will
greatly enhance the legacy value of the SINGS observations by creating
a uniform high resolution multi-wavelength HST archive that matches
the quality of the lower resolution SINGS archive.

WFPC2 11968

The Light Echoes Around V838 Monocerotis: Cycle 16 DD

This is a DD program in which we propose to obtain WFPC2 imaging of
the light echo around V838 Mon in late 2008 or early 2009. We were
awarded Cycle 17 time to image the echo with ACS at 2 epochs (3+4
orbits). To obtain data of similar quality with WFPC2 requires 7
orbits at 2 different pointings. Because of the SM4 delay, we are
therefore requesting a 14-orbit DD program for Cycle 16, leaving the
Cycle 17 allocation unchanged for continued monitoring of the event in
late 2009 and 2010.

V838 Monocerotis, which burst upon the astronomical scene in early
2002, is a completely unanticipated new object. It underwent a
large-amplitude and very luminous outburst, during which its spectrum
remained that of an extremely cool supergiant. A rapidly evolving set
of light echoes around V838 Mon was discovered soon after the
outburst, quickly becoming the most spectacular display of the
phenomenon yet seen. These light echoes provide the means to
accomplish three unique types of measurements based on continued HST
imaging: (1) study MHD turbulence at high resolution and in 3
dimensions; (2) construct the first unambiguous and fully 3-D map of a
circumstellar dust envelope; (3) study dust physics in a unique
setting where the spectrum and light curve of the illumination, and
the scattering angle, are unambiguously known. We have also used our
HST data to determine the distance to V838 Mon through a novel
geometric technique.

Because of the extreme rarity of light echoes, this program of regular
monitoring provides the only opportunity to achieve such results
during the HST lifetime. We propose WFPC2 imaging in late 2008/early
2009, in order to continue the mapping of the circumstellar dust and
to accomplish the other goals listed above.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

11638 - GSAcq (1,3,3) scheduled from 10:00:51 - 10:08:12 failed to RGA
Hold due to QF1STOPF & QSTOP flags on FGS-1.

Observations affected: WFPC Proposal 11966, observation 56

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

************************ SCHEDULED***** SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq************** 04****************** 03
FGS REacq************** 10****************** 10
OBAD with Maneuver **** 28****************** 28

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)


 




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