Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #2759 11/30/00

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
 
  DAILY REPORT #2759
 
PERIOD COVERED:  0000Z (UTC) 11/29/00 – 0000Z (UTC) 11/30/00
 
Daily Status Report as of 335/0000Z
 
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 Two Sets of WF/PC-2 8823 (Decontaminations and Associated Observations Pt. 2/4)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used for the monthly WFPC2 decons.  Also included were instrument monitors tied to decons: photometric stability check, focus monitor, pre- and post-decon internals {bias, intflats, kspots, & darks}, UV throughput check, VISFLAT sweep, and internal UV flat check.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.4 Completed Six 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.
 
    1.5 Completed WF/PC-2 8240 (Masses and Spins of Black Holes in Seyfert Galaxies)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to observe about 20 bright Seyfert 1 galaxies that are now known to have very broad {up to 100, 000 km s^-1} Fe KAlpha emission lines near 6.4 keV.  The observations completed nominally.
 
    1.6 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.
 
    1.7 Completed WF/PC-2 8597 (The Fueling of Active Nuclei: Why are Active Galaxies Active?)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to investigate the accretion onto massive black holes that are believed to be the energy source for AGN.  However, evidence for black holes in quiescent galaxies has also been reported.  Why are these galaxies inactive?  One possibility is that active galaxies are better at providing fuel to the nuclear region than quiescent
galaxies.  Other possible fueling mechanisms such as “bars-within-bars” or nuclear spirals cannot be investigated from the ground because they are relatively small features in the ISM.  The observations were completed as planned.
 
    1.8 Completed STIS/CCD 8891 (Test of End of Slit Pseudo-Aperture Locations)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to determine whether the decreasing charge transfer efficiency in the STIS CCD has a detrimental effect on faint spectra acquired at the default location at the center of the chip.  The proposal completed with no reported problems.
 
    1.9 Completed WF/PC-2 8601 (A Snapshot Survey of Probable Nearby Galaxies)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to continue the very successful snapshot survey in order to use the high spatial resolution of HST to determine whether selected galaxies are nearby on the basis of resolution into stars, and the magnitudes and colors of the brightest stars.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.10 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.
 
    1.11 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.
 
    1.12 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
 
    1.13 Completed STIS/CCD/MA1 8691 (Calibrating the Cosmic Meter Stick: The Distance to the LMC Using Eclipsing Binaries)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA1) was used to measure the LMC distance which is crucial for the calibration of the Cosmic Distance Scale.  The observations completed with no reported problems.
 
    1.14 Completed WF/PC-2 8059 (POMS Test Proposal: Targeted Parallel Archive Proposal)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to observe the parallel opportunities available in the neighborhood of bright galaxies are treated in a slightly different way from the normal pure parallels.  Local Group galaxies offer the opportunity for a closer look at young stellar
populations.  Narrow-band images in F656N can be used both to identify young stars via their emission lines, and to map the gas distribution in star-forming regions.  The observations completed nominally.
 
    1.15 Completed WF/PC-2/STIS/CCD/MA2 7514 (Observations of Orion — Probing the Origin of Abundance Anomalies in H II Regions)
 
        The WF/PC-2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph CCD and MA2) were used to perform a set of observations of emission-line diagnostics of the Orion Nebula, the brightest and best-resolved H II region.  The major goal is to provide reliable elemental abundances in this benchmark of the ISM.  The observations completed with no reported anomalous activity.
 
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: 19
                Successful: 19
 
    2.3 Operations Notes:
 
        Using ROP SR-1A, the SSR EDAC errors were cleared three times.
 
        SSA transmitter #2 was turned on at 334/1250Z and turned off at 334/1228Z.  Later is was turned on at 334/1347Z and turned off at 334/1414Z.  ROP IC-2 was utilized in both cases.
 
        A TTR was written for a required re-transmit during a NSSC-1 uplink at 334/2120Z.
 
        Per NS-5, SI C&DH errors were reset at 334/2129Z.
 
        The Battery #1 Capacity Test was terminated yesterday.  Since that time, Battery #1 has stabilized, and was brought back on-line at 334/233848Z.  All ground limits have been restored to their
pre-conditioning values.  Battery #1 is charging nominally.
 
        A TTR was written for a required re-transmit during a 486 uplink at 335/0205Z.
 
        Engineering status buffer limits were adjusted at 335/0936Z, using ROP DF-18A.
 
3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
 
        GSFC Internal Simulation #2 (EVA-1) will be conducted today, starting at 08:00L and running for approximately twelve and one-half hours.
 
        Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.