Daily Report #4923

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT***** #4923

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 2 - 5am September 3, 2009 (DOY
245/09:00z-246/09:00z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/WFC3 11879

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 1)

This program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and
dark current of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels.
The recorded frames are used to create bias and dark reference images
for science data reduction and calibration. This program will be
executed four days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of
Cycle 17. To facilitate scheduling, this program is split into three
proposals. This proposal covers 352 orbits (22 weeks) from 31 August
2009 to 31 January 2010.

COS/NUV 11480

COS NUV Structural and Thermal Stability

The goal of this program is to measure OTA-COS pointing jitter or
drifts, over timescales of seconds to hours. In particular, our
priorities are to test the level of OSM1 drift, thermal day-night
transitions, and orbital 'breathing'. Pointing-related thermal offsets
with their related drifts during thermal settling will be overlaid
upon the signatures of the other components of positional change.
Three different instrumental configurations/transitions will be
tested: NUV and FUV spectroscopy, and NUV imaging using Mirror A, all
with the PSA. No FP-POS motions, nor grating changes, will be made
during the spectroscopy in order to limit the variables contributing
to any changes in position of the spectra.

ID: COS 20 (11480) & COS 35 (11493) This is the NUV portion of this
experiment. It was initially estimated to be a 6-orbit program, but
has been expanded to 10 orbits in order to improve the statistical
sample of the day-night/breathing transitions.

STIS/CCD 11721

Verifying the Utility of Type Ia Supernovae as Cosmological Probes:
Evolution and Dispersion in the Ultraviolet Spectra

The study of distant type Ia supernova (SNe Ia) offers the most
practical and immediate discriminator between popular models of dark
energy. Yet fundamental questions remain over possible
redshift-dependent trends in their observed and intrinsic properties.
High-quality Keck spectroscopy of a representative sample of 36
intermediate redshift SNe Ia has revealed a surprising, and
unexplained, diversity in their rest-frame UV fluxes. One possible
explanation is hitherto undiscovered variations in the progenitor
metallicity. Unfortunately, this result cannot be compared to local UV
data as only two representative SNe Ia have been studied near maximum
light. Taking advantage of two new `rolling searches' and the
restoration of STIS, we propose a non-disruptive TOO campaign to
create an equivalent comparison local sample. This will allow us to
address possible evolution in the mean UV spectrum and its diversity,
an essential precursor to the study of SNe beyond z~1.

STIS/CCD 11843

STIS CCD Performance Monitor

This activity measures the baseline performance and commandability of
the CCD subsystem. Only primary amplifier D is used. Bias and
Flatfield exposures are taken in order to measure bias level, read
noise, CTE, and gain. Numerous bias frames are taken to permit
construction of "superbias" frames in which the effects of read noise
have been rendered negligible. Full frame and binned observations are
made, with binning factors of 2 x 1, 1 x 2, 2 x 2. Bias frames are
taken in subarray readouts to check the bias level for ACQ and
ACQ/PEAK observations. All exposures are internals.

STIS/CCD 11844

CCD Dark Monitor Part 1

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 11846

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 1

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 11850

CCD Sparse Field CTE Internal

CTE measurements are made using the "internal sparse field test",
along the parallel axis. The "Pos=" optional parameter, introduced
during Cycle 11, is used to provide off- center MSM positionings of
some slits. All exposures are internals.

STIS/CCD/MA1/MA2 11690

EG And: Providing the Missing Link Required for Modeling Red Giant
Mass-Loss

For the majority of red giant stars, the basic mass-loss processes at
work are unknown. Indeed, for stars of spectral types between K0 III
and M5-M6 III, much remains unknown about the regions above the
visible photosphere and the transportation of the processed material
outwards to the ISM. Eclipsing symbiotic binary systems, consisting of
an evolved giant in orbit with a white dwarf, provide an opportunity
to take advantage of the finite size of the hot component to probe
different levels of the chromosphere and wind acceleration region in
absorption. This provides spatially resolved thermal, ionisation and
dynamic information on the wind which can then be compared against
predictions of hydrodynamical stellar atmosphere codes. The symbiotic
binary EG And can be considered as a Rosetta Stone for understanding
the winds of these objects. The system is ideal on a number of counts
for utilizing the ultraviolet eclipse of the white dwarf (WD)
component to probe, layer-by-layer, the thermal and dynamic conditions
at the very base of the wind and chromosphere of the RG. This
information is vital for constraining, testing and calibrating the new
generation of cool giant wind+chromosphere models and is not possible
to obtain for isolated RGs. This team has studied the UV eclipses of
this system in depth and detail, however in order to definitively
constrain the wind acceleration profile and identify the location of
the temperature rise just above the photosphere, we require 4 STIS
E140M observations of EG And at specific orbital phases. We are also
requesting a E230M observation of an isolated spectral standard,
corresponding to the RG in the binary, which will help place the EG
And results into the context of the general RG population from
analysis of the MgII wind diagnostic lines.

STIS/CCD/MA2 11860

MAMA Spectroscopic Sensitivity and Focus Monitor

Monitor sensitivity of each MAMA grating mode to detect any change due
to contamination or other causes. Also monitor the STIS focus in a
spectroscopic and an imaging mode.

STIS20 11402

STIS-20 NUV MAMA Dark Monitor

The STIS NUV-MAMA dark current is dominated by a phosphorescent glow
from the detector window. Meta-stable states in this window are
populated by cosmic ray impacts, which, days later, can be thermally
excited to an unstable state from which they decay, emitting a UV
photon. The equilibrium population of these meta-stable states is
larger at lower temperatures; so warming up the detector from its cold
safing will lead to a large, but temporary, increase in the dark
current.

To monitor the decay of this glow, and to determine the equilibrium
dark current for Cycle 17, four 1380s NUV-MAMA ACCUM mode darks should
be taken each week during the SMOV period. Once the observed dark
current has reached an approximate equilibrium with the mean detector
temperature, the frequency of this monitor can be reduced to one pair
of darks per week.

WFC3/ACS/IR 11235

HST NICMOS Survey of the Nuclear Regions of Luminous Infrared Galaxies
in the Local Universe

At luminosities above 10^11.4 L_sun, the space density of far-infrared
selected galaxies exceeds that of optically selected galaxies. These
`luminous infrared galaxies' (LIRGs) are primarily interacting or
merging disk galaxies undergoing enhanced star formation and Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) activity, possibly triggered as the objects
transform into massive S0 and elliptical merger remnants. We propose
NICMOS NIC2 imaging of the nuclear regions of a complete sample of 88
L_IR 10^11.4 L_sun luminous infrared galaxies in the IRAS Revised
Bright Galaxy Sample (RBGS: i.e., 60 micron flux density 5.24 Jy).
This sample is ideal not only in its completeness and sample size, but
also in the proximity and brightness of the galaxies. The superb
sensitivity and resolution of NICMOS NIC2 on HST enables a unique
opportunity to study the detailed structure of the nuclear regions,
where dust obscuration may mask star clusters, AGN, and additional
nuclei from optical view, with a resolution significantly higher than
possible with Spitzer IRAC. This survey thus provides a crucial
component to our study of the dynamics and evolution of IR galaxies
presently underway with Wide-Field, HST ACS/WFC3, and Spitzer IRAC
observations of these 88 galaxies. Imaging will be done with the F160W
filter (H-band) to examine as a function of both luminosity and merger
stage: (i) the luminosity and distribution of embedded star clusters,
(ii) the presence of optically obscured AGN and nuclei, (iii) the
correlation between the distribution of 1.6 micron emission and the
mid-IR emission as detected by Spitzer IRAC, (iv) the evidence of bars
or bridges that may funnel fuel into the nuclear region, and (v) the
ages of star clusters for which photometry is available via ACS/WFC3
observations. The NICMOS data, combined with the HST ACS, Spitzer, and
GALEX observations of this sample, will result in the most
comprehensive study of merging and interacting galaxies to date.

WFC3/ACS/IR 11563

Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to
0.2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields

The first generations of galaxies were assembled around redshifts
z~7-10+, just 500-800 Myr after recombination, in the heart of the
reionization of the universe. We know very little about galaxies in
this period. Despite great effort with HST and other telescopes, less
than ~15 galaxies have been reliably detected so far at z7,
contrasting with the ~1000 galaxies detected to date at z~6, just
200-400 Myr later, near the end of the reionization epoch. WFC3 IR can
dramatically change this situation, enabling derivation of the galaxy
luminosity function and its shape at z~7-8 to well below L*,
measurement of the UV luminosity density at z~7-8 and z~8-9, and
estimates of the contribution of galaxies to reionization at these
epochs, as well as characterization of their properties (sizes,
structure, colors). A quantitative leap in our understanding of early
galaxies, and the timescales of their buildup, requires a total sample
of ~100 galaxies at z~7-8 to ~29 AB mag. We can achieve this with 192
WFC3 IR orbits on three disjoint fields (minimizing cosmic variance):
the HUDF and the two nearby deep fields of the HUDF05. Our program
uses three WFC3 IR filters, and leverages over 600 orbits of existing
ACS data, to identify, with low contamination, a large sample of over
100 objects at z~7-8, a very useful sample of ~23 at z~8-9, and limits
at z~10. By careful placement of the WFC3 IR and parallel ACS
pointings, we also enhance the optical ACS imaging on the HUDF and a
HUDF05 field. We stress (1) the need to go deep, which is paramount to
define L*, the shape, and the slope alpha of the luminosity function
(LF) at these high redshifts; and (2) the far superior performance of
our strategy, compared with the use of strong lensing clusters, in
detecting significant samples of faint z~7-8 galaxies to derive their
luminosity function and UV ionizing flux. Our recent z~7.4 NICMOS
results show that wide-area IR surveys, even of GOODS-like depth,
simply do not reach faint enough at z~7-9 to meet the LF and UV flux
objectives. In the spirit of the HDF and the HUDF, we will waive any
proprietary period, and will also deliver the reduced data to STScI.
The proposed data will provide a Legacy resource of great value for a
wide range of archival science investigations of galaxies at redshifts
z~2-9. The data are likely to remain the deepest IR/optical images
until JWST is launched, and will provide sources for spectroscopic
followup by JWST, ALMA and EVLA.

WFC3/IR 11915

IR Internal Flat Fields

This program is the same as 11433 (SMOV) and depends on the completion
of the IR initial alignment (Program 11425). This version contains
three instances of 37 internal orbits: to be scheduled early, middle,
and near the end of Cycle 17, in order to use the entire 110-orbit
allocation.

In this test, we will study the stability and structure of the IR
channel flat field images through all filter elements in the WFC3-IR
channel. Flats will be monitored, i.e. to capture any temporal trends
in the flat fields and delta flats produced. High signal observations
will provide a map of the pixel-to-pixel flat field structure, as well
as identify the positions of any dust particles.

WFC3/UVIS 11432

UVIS Internal Flats

This proposal will be used to assess the stability of the flat field
structure for the UVIS detector. Flat fields will be obtained for all
filters using the internal D2 and tungsten lamps.

This proposal corresponds to Activity Description ID WF19. It should
execute only after the following proposals have executed: WF08 - 11421
WF09 - 11422 WF11 - 11424 WF15 - 11428

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 (11909),
will be used to generate the necessary superbias and superdark
reference files for the calibration pipeline (CDBS).

WFC3/UVIS 11908

Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor

Ground testing revealed an intermittent hysteresis type effect in the
UVIS detector (both CCDs) at the level of ~1%, lasting hours to days.
Initially found via an unexpected bowtie-shaped feature in flatfield
ratios, subsequent lab tests on similar e2v devices have since shown
that it is also present as simply an overall offset across the entire
CCD, i.e., a QE offset without any discernable pattern. These lab
tests have further revealed that overexposing the detector to count
levels several times full well fills the traps and effectively
neutralizes the bowtie. Each visit in this proposal acquires a set of
three 3x3 binned internal flatfields: the first unsaturated image will
be used to detect any bowtie, the second, highly exposed image will
neutralize the bowtie if it is present, and the final image will allow
for verification that the bowtie is gone.

WFC3/UVIS 11912

UVIS Internal Flats

This proposal will be used to assess the stability of the flat field
structure for the UVIS detector throughout the 15 months of Cycle 17.
The data will be used to generate on- orbit updates for the delta-flat
field reference files used in the WFC3 calibration pipeline, if
significant changes in the flat structure are seen.

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:

18695-0 - Adjust NCS PID Control Setpoints @ 245/150021z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

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

FGS GSAcq************** 8******************* 8
FGS REAcq************** 8******************* 8
OBAD with Maneuver **** 6******************* 6

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

NCS PID Control Setpoint Adjustment

OR 18695-0 to adjust the NCS PID control setpoint temperature was
successfully completed at 145/15:00:21 UTC.