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Daily 3588



 
 
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Old April 9th 04, 04:47 PM
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Default Daily 3588

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 3588

PERIOD COVERED: DOY 99

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC 9747

An Imaging Survey of the Statistical Frequency of Binaries Among
Exceptionally-Young Dynamical Families in the Main Asteroid Belt

We propose an ambitious SNAPSHOT program to determine the frequency of
binaries among two very young asteroid families in the Main Belt, with
potentially profound implications. These families {of C- and S-type}
have recently been discovered {Nesvorny et al. 2002, Nature 417, 720},
through dynamical modeling, to have been formed at 5.8 MY and 8.3 MY
ago in catastrophic impact events. This is the first time such
precise and young ages have been assigned to a family. Main-belt
binaries are almost certainly produced by collisions, and we would
expect a young family to have a significantly higher frequency of
binaries than the background, because they may not yet have been
destroyed by impact or longer-term gravitational instabilities. In
fact, one of the prime observables from such an event should be the
propensity for satellites. This is the best way that new numerical
models for binary production by collisions {motivated largely by our
ground-based discoveries of satellites among larger asteroids}, can be
validated and calibrated. We will also measure two control clusters,
one being an "old" family, and the other a collection of background
asteroids that do not have a family association, and further compare
with our determined value for the frequency of large main-belt
binaries {2%}. We request visits to 180 targets, using ACS/HRC.

ACS/HRC/WFC 10044

ACS internal CTE monitor

The charge transfer efficiency {CTE} of the ACS CCD detectors will
decline as damage due to on-orbit radiation exposure accumulates. This
degradation will be closely monitored at regular intervals, because it
is likely to determine the useful lifetime of the CCDs. All the data
for this program is acquired using internal targets {lamps} only, so
all of the exposures should be taken during Earth occultation time
{but not during SAA passages}. This program emulates the ACS
pre-flight ground calibration and post-launch SMOV testing {program
8948}, so that results from each epoch can be directly compared.
Extended Pixel Edge Response {EPER} and First Pixel Response {FPR}
data will be obtained over a range of signal levels for both the Wide
Field Channel {WFC}, and the High Resolution Channel {HRC}.

ACS/HRC/WFC 10060

CCD Daily Monitor

This program consists of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the
development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD
detectors. This programme will be executed once a day for the entire
lifetime of ACS.

ACS/WFC/WFPC2 9822

The COSMOS 2-Degree ACS Survey

We will undertake a 2 square degree imaging survey {Cosmic Evolution
Survey -- COSMOS} with ACS in the I {F814W} band of the VIMOS
equatorial field. This wide field survey is essential to understand
the interplay between Large Scale Structure {LSS} evolution and the
formation of galaxies, dark matter and AGNs and is the one region of
parameter space completely unexplored at present by HST. The
equatorial field was selected for its accessibility to all
ground-based telescopes and low IR background and because it will
eventually contain ~100, 000 galaxy spectra from the VLT-VIMOS
instrument. The imaging will detect over 2 million objects with I 27
mag {AB, 10 sigma}, over 35, 000 Lyman Break Galaxies {LBGs} and
extremely red galaxies out to z ~ 5. COSMOS is the only HST project
specifically designed to probe the formation and evolution of
structures ranging from galaxies up to Coma-size clusters in the epoch
of peak galaxy, AGN, star and cluster formation {z ~0.5 to 3}. The
size of the largest structures necessitate the 2 degree field. Our
team is committed to the assembly of several public ancillary datasets
including the optical spectra, deep XMM and VLA imaging, ground-based
optical/IR imaging, UV imaging from GALEX and IR data from SIRTF.
Combining the full-spectrum multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopic
coverage with ACS sub-kpc resolution, COSMOS will be Hubble's ultimate
legacy for understanding the evolution of both the visible and dark
universe.

STIS 9786

The Next Generation Spectral Library

We propose to continue the Cycle 10 snapshot program to produce a Next
Generation Spectral Library of 600 stars for use in modeling the
integrated light of galaxies and clusters. This program is using the
low dispersion UV and optical gratings of STIS. The library will be
roughly equally divided among four metallicities, very low {[Fe/H] lt
-1.5}, low {[Fe/H] -1.5 to -0.5}, near-solar {[Fe/H] -0.3 to 0.1}, and
super-solar {[Fe/H] gt 0.2}, well-sampling the entire HR-diagram in
each bin. Such a library will surpass all extant compilations and have
lasting archival value, well into the Next Generation Space Telescope
era. Because of the universal utility and community-broad nature of
this venture, we waive the entire proprietary period.

STIS/CCD 10018

CCD Dark Monitor-Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 10020

CCD Bias Monitor - Part 2

Monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1,
and 1x1 at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the
evolution of hot columns.

STIS/CCD 9776

Black Holes in Big Galaxies with Small Bulges

In early-type galaxies the black hole {BH} mass is tightly correlated
with the bulge velocity dispersion. This correlation suggests that the
BH mass is determined by local processes in the central part of the
galaxy. However, the bulge dispersion in these galaxies is correlated
with the disk circular speed which in turn correlates with the
inferred halo circular speed {the "disk-halo conspiracy"}. For this
reason, existing data cannot decide whether the BH mass is set by the
bulge dispersion or the disk or halo circular speed. We propose to
break this degeneracy by weighing the BH in 3 Sc galaxies in which the
ratio of bulge circular speed to bulge velocity dispersion is large,
leading to large differences between BH masses predicted from these
quantities. These measurements will increase the number of carefully
studied Sc bulges from one to four and will determine whether the
masses of nuclear BHs are set by {presumably baryonic} processes in
galaxy bulges or by {presumably non-baryonic} processes in their dark
halos.

STIS/CCD 9854

Anomalous Flux Ratios in Quadruple Gravitationally Lensed QSOs

We propose to observe eight {8} gravitationally lensed systems which
exhibit quadruple images of the background high redshift quasars.
Models invoking a smooth potential fit the observed image positions
accurately, in most cases better than 5 milliarcseconds. But the same
models dramatically fail to predict the observed flux ratios. These
anomalous flux ratios can be attributed to micro- or milli-lensing in
the massive lensing halo. In this proposal, we will isolate the source
of the anomalous flux ratios by using the superior resolution of
HST/STIS to obtain spectrophotometric data and compare the emission
line flux ratio of the QSOs to the continuum flux ratios. Due to the
much larger size of the broad emission line regions, the flux ratios
in the emission lines should only be affected by milli-lensing if the
sub-halos are comparable or larger in projected size than the source
region. That is, flux ratios observed in the QSO continuum are
senstive to substructure on all scales {both micro- and
milli-lensing}, while the broad emission lines are insensitive to
micro-lensing due to the larger physical size of the source emission
region. This sample of eight quasars will provide the definitive
evidence to distinguish between possible sources causing the observed
anomalous flux ratios.

WFPC2 10070

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 Supplemental Darks Part 2/3

This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to
provide data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot
pixels.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTAR 9369: GS Acquisition (1,2,2) @ 099/15:42:53Z resulted in FL
backup on FGS 1 due to SSLE on FGS 2. Prior FHST RD Update @
099/15:10:04Z showed good attitude error vector. Following GS
Reacquisition @ 099/17:17:11Z also resulted in FL backup on FGS 1.
Under investigation.

HSTAR 9370: GS Acquisition (1,2,2) @ 100/09:12:15Z resulted in FL
backup on FGS 1 only. No flags were set at AOS. Further information
after engineering recorder dump. Under investigation.

COMPLETED OPS REQs: None

OPS NOTES EXECUTED: None

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FAILURE TIMES
FGS GSacq 7 7
FGS REacq 9 9
FHST Update 15 15
LOSS of LOCK


SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

NICMOS Proposal 10097, adjust NCS setpoint temperature to the current
seasonal setting @ 100/13:49Z via SMS.



 




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