Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #2737 10/27/00

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
 
  DAILY REPORT #2737
 
PERIOD COVERED:  0000Z (UTC) 10/26/00 – 0000Z (UTC) 10/27/00
 
Daily Status Report as of 301/0000Z
 
1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:
 
    1.1 Completed STIS/CCD 8851 (Sparse Field CTE test {Cycle 9})
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to perform CTE measurements that are made using the "sparse field test", along both the serial and parallel axes.  The proposal completed with no reported anomalies.
 
    1.2 Completed WF/PC-2 8701 (Multiplicity among Very-Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in Alpha Persei and the Pleiades)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to observe open clusters which provide excellent hunting grounds for brown dwarf {BD} searches.  The AlphaPer and Pleiades clusters are young, nearby and have low extinction.  They are considered to be the best-suited places to study the Substellar Mass.  A dozen of cool faint AlphaPer and Pleiades members have been confirmed as “bona-fide” BDs with the lithium test.  By comparison with those, about 60 very good cluster BD candidates are currently known.  The Pleiades SMF obtained using the most recent deep large CCD surveys indicates that BDs are quite numerous but do not make a significant contribution to the total cluster mass.  The observations completed with no reported problems.
 
    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 Three 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.
 
    1.5 Completed Three Sets of 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.
 
    1.6 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.
 
    1.7 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 FGS 8292 (Calibrating the Mass-Luminosity Relation at the End of the Main Sequence)
 
        The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS1R) was used to make astrometric observations of the star GJ1215 and other nearby reference stars.  This is part of a study to calibrate the mass-luminosity relation for stars less massive than 0.2 Msun, with special emphasis on objects near the stellar/brown dwarf border.  The observations were completed as planned, and no problems were reported.
 
    1.9 Completed Two 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 Group.  The proposal completed with no reported problems.
 
    1.10 Completed STIS/MA2 8427 (MAMA Fold Analysis for Cycle 8)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA2) was used to perform a MAMA Fold Analysis Proposal for cycle 8.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.11 Completed STIS/CCD/MA1 8149 (The Spectral Energy Distribution of a Neutron Star Photosphere)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA1) was used to make direct measurement of the radius or mass of any neutron star outside a binary system.  The proposal seeks to obtain the spectral energy distribution of the isolated neutron star, RXJ185635.  The observations completed with no reported problems.
 
    1.12 Completed WF/PC-2 8584 (Calibrating the Metallicity Dependence of the Cepheid PL Relation)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to determine the uncertainty in the metal abundance dependence of the Cepheid PL relation that remains as one of the largest sources of systematic error in the Cepheid distance scale and in the extragalactic distance scale as a whole.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.13 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.
 
2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
 
    2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:
      Scheduled Acquisitions:  6
Successful:  6
 
        The guide star acquisition at 301/022643Z failed to RGA Control when the scan step limit was exceeded on FGS-3.  The prior full maneuver update had showed good vehicle axis errors.  HSTAR 7932 was written.  Three proposals, all occurring during the period of the next report were affected:  WF/PC-1 8601, WF/PC-2 8826, and STIS 8837.
  Scheduled Re-acquisitions: 10
Successful: 10
 
    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 HSTAR 7930, at 300/004113Z and at 300/004713Z two WF/PC-2 shutter error messages were received.  See the HSTAR for further details.
 
        SSR autonomous engineering record was configured at 300/1713Z and at 1844Z per ROP SR-8A.
 
        N28VIN1, the NICMOS 28V Bus Volts IN side-1, continues to flag out-of-limits low intermittently.
 
3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
 
        Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.