Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #2726 10/12/00
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
DAILY REPORT #2726
PERIOD COVERED: 0000Z (UTC) 10/11/00 – 0000Z (UTC) 10/12/00
Daily Status Report as of 286/0000Z
1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:
1.1 Completed Four Sets of WF/PC-2 8826 (Cycle 9 Supplemental Darks pt 1)
The WF/PC-2 was used to perform a T dark calibration program that obtains three dark frames every day in order to provide data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels. There were no reported anomalies.
1.2 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.
1.3 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.
1.4 Completed STIS/CCD 8631 (Bright Quasar Close Lensing Search II)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to expand the Cycle 8 second generation HST snapshot survey of bright quasars, optimized to find lenses with component image separations < 1". The observations completed nominally.
1.5 Completed Two Sets of WF/PC-2/STIS/CCD 8559 (The Role of Dark Matter in Cluster Formation and Galaxy Evolution)
The WF/PC-2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) were used to observe the outer regions of massive clusters that represent transitional areas of great cosmological importance where field galaxies encounter the steep potential wells of dark matter and baryonic hot gas. Little is known about either the dark matter profile at large radii or the morphological properties of infalling galaxies at those redshifts where strong evolution is observed in the cluster cores. The anomalous error message described in 2.1 and HSTAR 7897 occurred during the second iteration of this proposal, possibly affecting one of the
observations. Otherwise, the proposal completed normally, with no further reported problems.
1.6 Completed Three 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. There were no reported problems.
1.7 Completed WF/PC-2 8632 (A UV Atlas of Nearby Galaxies)
The WF/PC-2 was used to perform a snapshot survey of local galaxies at UV wavelengths with the F300W filter. The aim of the project is to build a reference UV Atlas of normal galaxies, whose optical images are well known, with the highest possible degree of information, covering all the morphological types and luminosity classes. The proposal completed normally.
1.8 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.
1.9 Completed WF/PC-2 8602 (A Snapshot Survey of the Sites of Recent, Nearby Supernovae)
The WF/PC-2 was used to conduct a snapshot survey in V and I of the sites of the nearby SNe, which have precisely known positions, to obtain high-resolution information on their local environment. The proposal completed with no reported problems.
1.10 Completed STIS/MA1 8561 (The Ionizing Flux from Star-Forming Galaxies)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA1) was used to measure the meaningful upper limits on the amount of ionizing radiation from galaxies in the current epoch. The proposal completed nominally.
1.11 Completed Four Sets of WF/PC-2 8805 (POMS Test Proposal: WFII Parallel Archive Proposal Continuation)
The WF/PC-2 was used to perform a generic target version of the WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallel program. The program will be used to take parallel images of random areas of the sky, following the recommendations of the Parallels Working. The proposal completed with no reported problems.
1.12 Completed STIS/CCD/MA1 8662 (A Snapshot Survey of the Hot Interstellar Medium)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD And MA1) was used to obtain snapshot STIS echelle observations of key tracers of hot interstellar gas {C IV, N IV, and Si IV} for selected FUSE Team O VI survey targets with known UV fluxes. By taking advantage of the snapshot observing mode we will efficiently obtain a large number of spectra suitable for the study of the highly ionized hot component of the interstellar medium {ISM}. Our goals are to explore the physical conditions in and distribution of such gas, as well as to explore the nature of the interfaces between the hot ISM and the other interstellar gas phases. The observations completed with no reported problems.
1.13 Completed STIS/MA1 8843 (Cycle 9 MAMA Dark Measurements)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA1) was used to perform the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark noise. The proposal completed nominally.
1.14 Completed WF/PC-2 8575 (Leo A Evidence for the Delayed Formation of Dwarfs Scenario)
The WF/PC-2 was used to answer the question: Did all galaxies form at high redshift, or was the formation of certain galaxies delayed until recent cosmological epochs? There were no reported problems.
1.15 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD 8260 (Searching for the Hydrogen Reionization Edge of the Universe at 5HST)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to observe one of 36 parallel orbits {4–5 fields of 5–8 orbits each} to constrain the H Lyman-edge in emission that marks the transition from a neutral to a fully ionized IGM at a predicted zion~eq5–15. This edge is due to recombination from the H Lyman series and Lyman continuum, and can be used to constrain zion, one of the most important unknown quantities in large scale structure and cosmology. The proposal completed nominally.
1.16 Completed STIS/CCD 8639 (The Origin of Gaseous Outflows in Active Galaxies)
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to obtain images, previously observed by WF/PC-2, of the ionized gas in the Circinus galaxy, a nearby Seyfert 2. The previous images reveal that the nuclear high excitation gas is “V-shaped” and represents the inner part of the “ionization cone” seen previously on much larger scales in ground-based observations. These images suggest that the observed emission lies along the boundary of a conical structure, a situation which has probably originated through mass entrainment of dense gas in the galaxy disk along the edges of a low density outflow. The proposers wish to obtain long slit observations of this structure. The goals are: 1} to confirm or reject this picture kinematically; 2} investigate how gas is entrained into the outflow from the dense ism in the galaxy disk in the inner region of the outflow at unprecedented spatial resolution for a Seyfert galaxy {our resolution of 1 pc is comparable to or smaller than the expected radius of the inner edge of the putative blocking “torus”}; 3} distinguish between collimation of ionization photons or of gaseous outflow as the origin of the "ionization cone”; and 4} attempt to measure the mass of the nuclear black hole using a long slit spectrum of the disk HII regions. The observations completed with no reported problems.
2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:
Scheduled Acquisitions: 7
Successful: 7
Scheduled Re-acquisitions: 9
Successful: 9
2.2 FHST Updates:
Scheduled: 18
Successful: 18
2.3 Operations Notes:
Using ROP SR-1A, the SSR EDAC error counter was cleared twice.
As documented in HSTAR 7897, WF/PC-2 error message (UERRMSG1) flagged out-of-limits at 285/113913Z for one telemetry sample with a value of ‘109577832 decimal’ (’06 88 06 68 hex’). The AP-17 controlled observation began at 285/113747Z and had a duration of 1100
seconds. During the observation shutter A was open and shutter B was closed. At the end of the observation shutter A was closed and shutter B was open. Approximately one minute later, shutter A opened and shutter B closed. Engineers at GSFC and the STScI were notified. The proposal detailed in 1.5 may have been affected.
The installation of the FV013A EEPROM load was successfully accomplished at 285/1741Z.
3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
At approximately 286/1125Z, an operations request for the closing of the K10 bypass relay and the configuration of flight software is scheduled to be executed.
Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.
