Daily # 4253

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4253

PERIOD COVERED: UT December 05, 2006 (DOY 339)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC/WFC 10733

CCD Hot Pixel Annealing

Hot pixel annealing will continue to be performed once every 4 weeks.
The CCD TECs will be turned off and heaters will be activated to bring
the detector temperatures to about +20C. This state will be held for
approximately 6 hours, after which the heaters are turned off, the
TECs turned on, and the CCDs returned to normal operating condition.
To assess the effectiveness of the annealing, a bias and four dark
images will be taken before and after the annealing procedure for both
WFC and HRC. The HRC darks are taken in parallel with the WFC darks.
The charge transfer efficiency {CTE} of the ACS CCD detectors declines
as damage due to on-orbit radiation exposure accumulates. This
degradation has been closely monitored at regular intervals, because
it is likely to determine the useful lifetime of the CCDs. We combine
the annealling activity with the charge transfer efficiency monitoring
and also merge into the routine dark image collection. To this end,
the CTE monitoring exposures have been moved into this proposal . 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/WFC 10882

Emission Line Snapshots of 3CR Radio Galaxies

Radio galaxies are an important class of extragalactic objects: they
are one of the most energetic astrophysical phenomena and they provide
an exceptional probe of the evolving Universe, lying typically in high
density regions but well-represented across a wide redshift range. In
earlier Cycles we carried out extensive HST observations of the 3CR
sources in order to acquire a complete and quantitative inventory of
the structure, contents and evolution of these important objects. We
discovered new optical jets, dust lanes, and revealed point-like
nuclei whose properties support AGN unified schemes. Here, we propose
to obtain ACS emission line images at low and high excitation of 3CR
sources with z0.3, both low- and classical high- power radio
galaxies, as a major enhancement to an already superb dataset. We aim
to probe fundamental relationships between warm optical line-emitting
gas, radio source structure {jets and lobes} and X-ray coronal halos.
We will combine our existing UV images with new emission- line images
to establish quantitative star formation characteristics and their
relation to dust and merging, and with emission-line excitation maps,
test theories on ionization beam patterns and luminosities from active
nuclei. We will seek jet induced star formation and knowing optical
emission-line physics, investigate quantitative jet physics. The
nuclear emission line properties of the galaxies will themselves be
established and used as ingredients in continuing tests of unified AGN
theories. The resulting database will be an incredibly valuable
resource to the astronomical community for years to come.

ACS/WFC 10886

The Sloan Lens ACS Survey: Towards 100 New Strong Lenses

As a continuation of the highly successful Sloan Lens ACS {SLACS}
Survey for new strong gravitational lenses, we propose one orbit of
ACS-WFC F814W imaging for each of 50 high- probability strong
galaxy-galaxy lens candidates. These observations will confirm new
lens systems and permit immediate and accurate photometry, shape
measurement, and mass modeling of the lens galaxies. The lenses
delivered by the SLACS Survey all show extended source structure,
furnishing more constraints on the projected lens potential than
lensed-quasar image positions. In addition, SLACS lenses have lens
galaxies that are much brighter than their lensed sources,
facilitating detailed photometric and dynamical observation of the
former. When confirmed lenses from this proposal are combined with
lenses discovered by SLACS in Cycles 13 and 14, we expect the final
SLACS lens sample to number 80--100: an approximate doubling of the
number of known galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses and an
order-of-magnitude increase in the number of optical Einstein rings.
By virtue of its homogeneous selection and sheer size, the SLACS
sample will allow an unprecedented exploration of the mass structure
of the early-type galaxy population as a function of all other
observable quantities. This new sample will be a valuable resource to
the astronomical community by enabling qualitatively new strong
lensing science, and as such we will waive all but a short {3-month}
proprietary period on the observations.

FGS 11021

HST Pre-SM4 Focal Plane Alignment & ACS Absolute Scale

This proposal will determine and monitor the FGSs and SI positions and
orientations in V2,V3 space. Accuracy goals are 50 mas for position
and between 0.04 and 0.004 degrees for angle {depending on SI}. An
astrometric open cluster {M35} is observed using guidestars with
positions determined to ~ 20 mas. One or more astrometric targets are
placed in the available SIs' major channels as well as each FGS, and
POS TARGs step the target{s} over a significant fraction of the
detector. This proposal will serve to update the FGS and SI positions
and angles, which have trended, uncalibrated, since ~2002, at a rate
between 0.1 and 0.2 arcseconds or more per year. This will execute
before 22 December 2006. A single orbit visit will execute later but
before SM4/SMOV and will only include position/angle checks of any SI
trends and not contain the more costly FGS-FGS alignment, which will
need to be performed during SM4/SMOV. Finally, a special visit is
included in this proposal which will yield the absolute scale of
ACS/WFC with an accuracy of ~2x10-5 by observing a subset of M35
astrometric cluster members with relative positions known to 1 mas
and absolute separations known to ~2x10-5 {via FGS calibrations over
mission life}. This transfers the well-determined FGS absolute scale
knowledge onto ACS/WFC, with the goal of then impressing that
calibration onto an HST-JWST common field {e.g. LMC} in order to
support JWST calibration requirements.

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8794

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 5

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.

NIC2, ACS/WFC 10802

SHOES-Supernovae, HO, for the Equation of State of Dark energy

The present uncertainty in the value of the Hubble constant {resulting
in an uncertainty in Omega_M} and the paucity of Type Ia supernovae at
redshifts exceeding 1 are now the leading obstacles to determining the
nature of dark energy. We propose a single, integrated set of
observations for Cycle 15 that will provide a 40% improvement in
constraints on dark energy. This program will observe known Cepheids
in six reliable hosts of Type Ia supernovae with NICMOS, reducing the
uncertainty in H_0 by a factor of two because of the smaller
dispersion along the instability strip, the diminished extinction, and
the weaker metallicity dependence in the infrared. In parallel with
ACS, at the same time the NICMOS observations are underway, we will
discover and follow a sample of Type Ia supernovae at z 1. Together,
these measurements, along with prior constraints from WMAP, will
provide a great improvement in HST's ability to distinguish between a
static, cosmological constant and dynamical dark energy. The Hubble
Space Telescope is the only instrument in the world that can make
these IR measurements of Cepheids beyond the Local Group, and it is
the only telescope in the world that can be used to find and follow
supernovae at z 1. Our program exploits both of these unique
capabilities of HST to learn more about one of the greatest mysteries
in science.

WFPC2 10745

WFPC2 CYCLE 14 INTERNAL MONITOR

This calibration proposal is the Cycle 14 routine internal monitor for
WFPC2, to be run weekly to monitor the health of the cameras. A
variety of internal exposures are obtained in order to provide a
monitor of the integrity of the CCD camera electronics in both bays
{both gain 7 and gain 15 -- to test stability of gains and bias
levels}, a test for quantum efficiency in the CCDs, and a monitor for
possible buildup of contaminants on the CCD windows. These also
provide raw data for generating annual super-bias reference files for
the calibration pipeline.

WFPC2 10915

ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey

Existing HST observations of nearby galaxies comprise a sparse and
highly non-uniform archive, making comprehensive comparative studies
among galaxies essentially impossible. We propose to secure HST's
lasting impact on the study of nearby galaxies by undertaking a
systematic, complete, and carefully crafted imaging survey of ALL
galaxies in the Local Universe outside the Local Group. The resulting
images will allow unprecedented measurements of: {1} the star
formation history {SFH} of a 100 Mpc^3 volume of the Universe with a
time resolution of Delta[log{t}]=0.25; {2} correlations between
spatially resolved SFHs and environment; {3} the structure and
properties of thick disks and stellar halos; and {4} the color
distributions, sizes, and specific frequencies of globular and disk
clusters as a function of galaxy mass and environment. To reach these
goals, we will use a combination of wide-field tiling and pointed deep
imaging to obtain uniform data on all 72 galaxies within a
volume-limited sample extending to ~3.5 Mpc, with an extension to the
M81 group. For each galaxy, the wide-field imaging will cover out to
~1.5 times the optical radius and will reach photometric depths of at
least 2 magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch throughout
the limits of the survey volume. One additional deep pointing per
galaxy will reach SNR~10 for red clump stars, sufficient to recover
the ancient SFH from the color-magnitude diagram. This proposal will
produce photometric information for ~100 million stars {comparable to
the number in the SDSS survey} and uniform multi-color images of half
a square degree of sky. The resulting archive will establish the
fundamental optical database for nearby galaxies, in preparation for
the shift of high-resolution imaging to the near-infrared.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

10543 - GSACQ(2,3,3) failed, Search Radius Limit Exceeded on FGS 3

AT AOS (14:55:14Z), GSAcq(2,3,3) failed. The vehicle was in FN format
for telemetry. 486 STB message a05 was also present. First OBAD data
not available due to LOS 2nd OBAD: V1 2.94, V2 -5.69, V3 -6.21, RSS
8.92 MAP: V1 -0.68, V2 8.87, V3 2.04, RSS 9.13

10544 - REAcq(2,3,3) failed to RGA Control

At AOS 339/19:56:34 GSAcq (2,3,3) scheduled from 339/19:49:07-19:56:39
had failed to RGA control. The only mnemonics flagging were QSTOP on
FGS 2 and QF2STOPF. OBAD #1: V1 -28.51, V2 -4479.22, V3 -33.90, RSS
4479.44 OBAD #2: unavailable due to LOS OBAD MAP: V1 -6.03, V2 -34.18,
V3 -10.25, RSS 36.19

At AOS 339/22:34:01 REAcq (2,3,3) scheduled from 339/21:25:01-21:32:33
had failed to RGA control. Only mnemonics QF2STOPF and QSTOP were
flagging. OBAD # 1 & 2 data is unavailable due to LOS OBAD MAP: v1
-8.86, V2 25.03, V3 25.70, RSS 36.95

10545 - GSacq(2,3,2) failed

During LOS GSacq(2,3,2)scheduled at 340/03:49:43 failed to RGA
control. At AOS 04:31:45 the mnemonics flagging were QF2STOPF and
QSTOP. Continuous Scan and astrometry were scheduled for this GSacq.

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
17970-1 GenSlew for Prop 10898 - Slot 2
17971-1 GenSlew for Prop 10898 - Slot 3

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 10 08
FGS REacq 03 01
OBAD with Maneuver 26 26

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)