Status Report

Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #2795 01/26/01

By SpaceRef Editor
January 26, 2001
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HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
 
  DAILY REPORT #2795
 
PERIOD COVERED:  0000Z (UTC) 01/25/01 – 0000Z (UTC) 01/26/01
 
Daily Status Report as of 026/0000Z
 
1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:
 
    1.1 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.
 
    1.2 Completed Two 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 Two 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.
 
    1.5 Completed Four Sets of 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 STIS/CCD 8776 (Absolute Proper Motions of Nearby Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to measure precise absolute proper motions for four dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way using spectroscopically-confirmed background QSOs to define a zero- velocity reference frame.  No anomalous activity was reported.
 
    1.7 Completed Two Sets of WF/PC-2 8815 (Cycle 9 Earth Flats)
 
        The WF/PC-2 was used to monitor flatfield stability.  This proposal obtains sequences of Earth streak flats to construct high quality flat fields for the WF/PC-2 filter set.  These flat fields will allow mapping of the OTA illumination pattern and will be used in conjunction with previous internal and external flats to generate new pipeline superflats.  The proposal completed nominally.
 
    1.8 Completed Six 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.
 
    1.9 Completed STIS/CCD/MA2 8612 (Boron in the Lithium-Rich K-Giants: A Critical Test of Deep Stellar Mixing Versus Brown-Dwarf Ingestion)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA2) was used to observe the B I 2500Angstrom lines in four Li-rich K- giants using HST with STIS/G230M in order to test two different evolutionary scenarios invoked to explain the high Li abundances: the cool bottom process versus the possible accretion of brown dwarfs/planets.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.10 Completed STIS/CCD/MA1 8590 (UV Imaging and Spectroscopy of Luminous Blue Compact Galaxies from z=0 to z=1)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA1) was used to observe two well-defined samples of low-mass starburst galaxies, one in the local universe {z<0.1} and another at intermediate redshifts {0.2 < z < 0.7}.  Both samples show optical sizes, morphologies, emission line widths, and luminosities comparable to those of LBGs at z=3, and are therefore probably the best local analogs and testbeds for further study of LBGs.  Our main goals are to: {1} explore the morphologies, surface brightness distributions, and half-light radii of nearby starforming galaxies in the FUV, near Ly-alpha; {2} search for systematic differences among UV, optical, and near-IR morphologies and structural parameters; {3} investigate the intrinsic emission and absorption spectra near Ly-alpha of starbursting dwarf galaxies, with special attention to Ly- alpha profiles and interstellar and stellar photospheric absorption from Si II, O I, C II, Si IV, and C IV; {4} measure their FUV-optical colors and dust extinction properties; and {5} test the hypothesis that low-mass starbursts are the local counterparts of LBGs.  The observation completed normally.
 
    1.11 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.
 
    1.12 Completed STIS/MA2 8843 (Cycle 9 MAMA Dark Measurements)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA2) was used to perform the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark noise.  The proposal completed nominally.
 
    1.13 Completed WF/PC-2/STIS/CCD 8191 (The Faintest Radio Galaxies: Interacting Starbursts at z<1)
 
        Deep WF/PC-2 imaging and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) slitless spectroscopy of two of our ultra-deep VLA fields were
performed.  There were no reported problems.
 
    1.14 Completed STIS/CCD 8881 (An Unbiased Survey of X-Ray and Optical Emission From Extended Radio Jets in AGN)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to an X-ray bright jet in the distant quasar PKS 0836+299 that shows that X-rays can be energetically dominant in relativistic jets.  The observations completed nominally.
 
    1.15 Completed STIS/CCD/MA1 8606 (Determining the Nature of the Variable Absorption in AGN: Monitoring NGC 3783 with HST And Chandra)
 
        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA1) was used to investigate Seyfert 1 galaxies, many of which show intrinsic UV absorption lines, characterized by high moderate widths, significant outflow velocities, and variability on time scales as small as days.  Seyferts with UV absorption also show variable X-ray “warm absorbers”, characterized by O VII and O VIII absorption edges, which suggests a common
origin.  Variability monitoring is the key to understanding the absorbers, by providing their radial locations, densities, and evolution in ionization, column density, velocity, and coverage of the inner active nucleus.  The proposal completed with no problems
 
    1.16 Completed 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 proposal completed normally, with no reported problems.
 
    1.17 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.
 
2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
 
    2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:
      Scheduled Acquisitions: 11
Successful: 11
 
  Scheduled Re-acquisitions:  6
Successful:  6
 
    2.2 FHST Updates:
Scheduled: 25
Successful: 25
 
    2.3 Operations Notes:
 
        The SSR EDAC error counter was cleared three times per ROP SR-1A.
 
        SSA transmitter #2 was turned on and off for the intervals 025/1142Z to 025/1210Z and 025/2229Z to 026/0536Z.  These actions were directed by ROP IC-2.
 
        The NSSC-1 status buffer was dumped and reset at 026/0547Z, using ROP NS-3.
 
3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
 
        Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.
 

SpaceRef staff editor.