Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report 2770 12/15/00
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
DAILY REPORT #2770
PERIOD COVERED: 0000Z (UTC) 12/14/00 – 0000Z (UTC) 12/15/00
Daily Status Report as of 350/0000Z
1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:
1.1 Completed WF/PC-2 8683 (Imaging Of Brightest Cluster Galaxies: The High End Of The Black Hole Mass Distribution)
The WF/PC-2 was used to make kinematic black hole detections in galaxies to decide whether they indicate that the mass correlates with both optical luminosity and radio power. The observation completed with no reported problems.
1.2 Completed Three Sets of STIS/CCD 8562 (Probing the Large Scale Structure: Cosmic Shear Observations)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to probe the distortion of light bundles from distant galaxies, looking at the statistical properties of the intervening inhomogeneous {dark} matter distribution. The proposal completed nominally.
1.3 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD 8837 (CCD Dark Monitor-Part 1)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to monitor the darks. The proposal completed with no reported problems.
1.4 Completed Five Sets of WF/PC-2 8816 (Cycle 9 UV Earthflats)
The WF/PC-2 was used to obtain sequences of earth streak flats to improve the quality of pipeline flat fields for the WFPC2 UV filter set and in order to monitor flat field stability. As described in HSTAR 8006 and 2.1, the acquisition for the final iteration of this proposal failed, the take data flag remained down, and one observation was lost. There were no other reported problems.
1.5 Completed WF/PC-2 8827 (Cycle 9 Supplemental Darks pt2/3)
The WF/PC-2 was used to obtain three dark frames every day to provide data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels. The proposal completed nominally.
1.6 Completed WF/PC-2/STIS/CCD 8641 (Testing the Accelerating Universe)
The WF/PC-2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) were used to observe Type Ia supernovae which provide evidence for an accelerating universe: an extraordinary result that needs to be rigorously tested. The observations completed with no reported problems.
1.7 Completed STIS/CCD 8838 (Bias Monitor – Part 1)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to monitor the bias in the 1×1, 1×2, 2×1, and 2×2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1×1 at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns. The proposal completed nominally.
1.8 Completed STIS/MA1 8657 (Jovian Auroral Variability Due to the Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interaction)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA1) was used to observe Jupiter, covering nearly complete Jupiter rotations, permitting the observers to perform several known key measurements of the auroral emissions, and also to study uniquely the effects of solar wind variations on the auroral morphology. The proposal completed nominally.
1.9 Completed STIS/CCD 7310 (The Interaction of Accretion Disks with Protostellar Binaries)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was to be used to study the interaction of the accretion disk with the protostellar binary system GG-Tau. As described in HSTAR 8006 and 2.1, the acquisition for this proposal failed, the take data flag remained down, and two observations were lost.
1.10 Completed WF/PC-2 8805 (POMS Test Proposal: WFII Parallel Archive Proposal Continuation)
The WF/PC-2 was to be used to perform a generic target version of the WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallel program. As described in HSTAR 8006 and 2.1, the acquisition for this proposal failed, the take data flag remained down, and one observation was lost.
1.11 Completed WF/PC-2 8453 (Cycle 8 Polarization)
The WF/PC-2 was used to verify the stability of its polarization calibration. There were no reported problems.
1.12 Completed Two Sets of WF/PC-2 8867 (Gamma-Ray Bursts: Discovering The Progenitors And Understanding The Explosion – Visits A0-R0)
The WF/PC-2 was used to observe a gamma-ray burster,
GRB000926. Gamma-ray burst astronomy, one of the most active and exciting frontiers in astrophysics, is now entering a critical stage — with dramatic leaps in understanding of these events, as well as new discoveries. Improvements in triggering and positioning accuracy provided by the SAX and HETE-2 gamma-ray satellites will allow entirely new classes of events to be studied. Given the recent progress in this field, the proposers are now in a position to design precision, broadband measurements that can provide quantitative information on the as-yet unknown energy sources, the explosion geometry, and the surrounding medium. In particular, the growing evidence of an intimate connection between SNe and GRBs can be definitively tested. The proposal completed with no reported problems.
2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:
Scheduled Acquisitions: 5
Successful: 4
Per HSTAR 8006, the acquisition at 349/183000Z failed to gyro control, affecting the observations detailed in 1.4, 1.9, and 1.10.
The acquisition at 350/085739Z defaulted to fine lock backup on FGS-3 only when the scan step limit was exceeded on FGS-1. Two proposals, occurring during the period of the next report, may have been affected: WF/STIS 8277 and WF 8816.
Scheduled Re-acquisitions: 9
Successful: 9
2.2 FHST Updates:
Scheduled: 14
Successful: 14
2.3 Operations Notes:
Using ROP SR-1A, the SSR EDAC error counter was cleared twice.
Per ROP DF-18A, the engineering status buffer limits were adjust on two occasions.
In conjunction with the acquisition failed mentioned in 2.1 above, STIS errors were cleared at 349/1913Z per ROP NS-12.
A TTR was written for data hits encountered in the interval 350/020932Z to 350/020953Z.
3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.
