Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #2921 25 Jul 2001

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

DAILY REPORT #2921

PERIOD COVERED: 0000Z (UTC) 07/24/01 – 0000Z (UTC) 07/25/01

Daily Status Report as of 206/0000Z

1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:

1.1 Completed STIS/MA1 8572 (Identifying Normal Galaxies at 1.3 < z < 2.5)

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA1) was used to perform
studies of faint, distant galaxies. It is now possible to observe hundreds
of galaxies out to z=1 and in the range 3 < z < 4.5, yet the redshift range 1 < z <3 remains largely unexplored. No problems were noted.

1.2 Completed Seven Sets of WF/PC-2 9244 (POMS Test Proposal: WFII
Parallel Archive Proposal Continuation)

The WF/PC-2 was used to perform a generic target version of the
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 observations completed with no anomalous
activity.

1.3 Completed 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.

1.4 Completed STIS/CCD 8864 (CCD Dark Monitor-Part 2)

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to monitor
the darks for the CCD. The proposal completed nominally.

1.5 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.

1.6 Completed STIS/CCD 8865 (Bias Monitor-Part 2)

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 with no anomalous activity.

1.7 Completed STIS/CCD 7912 (STIS Parallel Archive Proposal – Nearby
Galaxies – Imaging and Spectroscopy)

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to make
parallel observations of nearby galaxies. This survey will be useful to
study the star formation histories, chemical evolution, and distances to
these galaxies. These data will be placed immediately into the Hubble Data
Archive. The observations were completed as scheduled, and no problems
were reported.

1.8 Completed WF/PC-2 9043 (Cepheid Distances to Early-type Galaxies)

The WF/PC-2 was used to continue observations in the HST Key
Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale and the HST project on the
“Calibration of Nearby Type Ia Supernovae” that have greatly improved our
knowledge of the Hubble Constant by providing a solid zero point for the
Tully- Fisher {TF} relation and Type Ia Supernovae {SNIa}. However, severe
inconsistencies remain for distance estimators to early-type galaxies such
as surface brightness fluctuations {SBF}, the planetary nebula luminosity
function {PNLF}, the fundamental plane {FP}, and the globular cluster
luminosity function {GCLF}. As a result, the distance to the Virgo cluster
core remains uncertain by as much as 20 determination is directly affected
by a lingering 0.1 mag {5 uncertainty in the photometric calibration of the
WFPC2. Resolving these issues is essential not only to firm up the
extragalactic distance scale, but also to understand the mass and velocity
structure of the local universe. SBF in particular is emerging as the
method of choice for mapping local velocity fields to 10, 000 kms because
it offers an order of magnitude less Malmquist bias than TF, and SNIa are
too rare to study large scale flows effectively. This project will tighten
the photometric calibration of the WFPC2, and provide a solid Cepheid
calibration for SBF and PNLF. The observations completed nominally.

1.9 Completed Twelve Sets of STIS/CCD 8808 (POMS Test Proposal: STIS
Non-Scripted Parallel Proposal Continuation III)

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to make
non-scripted, parallel observations as part of a POMS test proposal. The
observations completed with no anomalous activity.

1.10 Completed STIS/CCD 9121 (Evolution of the Host Galaxies in Low-
Power AGN)

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to study
the evolution of low-power AGN host galaxies to z~1.3, allowing the direct
study of how the formation and life cycles of radio-loud AGN depend on
intrinsic power. There were no reported problems.

1.11 Completed WF/PC-2 9252 (Cycle 10 Clocks On Check)

The WF/PC-2 was used to perform closure calibration for clocks ‘on’
mode, which obtains dark frames in order to provide data to create a clocks
‘on’ super dark calibration reference file, to monitor and characterize the
evolution of hot pixels, and to obtain standard star observations for
photometric calibration. The proposal completed with no reported anomalous
activity.

1.12 Completed Five Sets of FGS/1 9169 (An Interferometric Harvest of
Double Degenerates)

Fine Guidance Sensor #1 was used to observe the white dwarf mass
and age distributions that hold clues to the star formation history of our
Galaxy and the age of the disk. No problems were reported.

1.13 Completed WF/PC-2 9042 (An Archive To Detect The Progenitors Of
Massive, Core-Collapse Supernovae)

WF/PC-s was used to search for supernovae which have massive star
progenitors. The already extensive HST archive and high-resolution
ground-based images of galaxies within ~20 Mpc enables us to resolve and
quantify their individual bright stellar content. As massive, evolved
stars are the most luminous single objects in a galaxy, the progenitors of
core-collapse supernovae should be directly detectable on pre-explosion
images. One Type II progenitor has been observed this year, and the
investigators have proposed a short, companion WFPC2 proposal to confirm
this candidate and identify a second. The observations completed nominally.

1.14 Completed FGS/1 9034 (The Masses and Luminosities of Population II
Stars)

Fine Guidance Sensor #1 was used to observe the mass-luminosity
relation {MLR} of Population II stars of which very little is currently
known. With the advent of the Hipparcos Catalogue, improved distances to
many spectroscopic binaries known to be Pop II systems are now
available. After surveying the literature and making reasonable estimates
of the secondary masses, we find 13 systems whose minimum separation should
be larger than the resolution limit of FGS #1. The observations completed
nominally.

1.15 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.

1.16 Completed WF/PC-2/STIS/MA1 8686 (LINERs in Early-type Galaxies:
Ionized by the UV-upturn Population?)

The WF/PC-2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA1) were
used to investigate the presence of extended ionized gas with LINER spectra
in a large fraction {60-70%} of early-type galaxies. The observations
completed with no reported anomalies.

1.17 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.

2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:

Scheduled Acquisitions: 14

Successful: 14

Scheduled Re-acquisitions: 2

Successful: 2

2.2 FHST Updates:

Scheduled: 34

Successful: 33

The roll delay update scheduled for 205/155949Z failed due to error
box results on tracker #2. The subsequent full maneuver updates were
successful. HSTAR 8281 was written

2.3 Operations Notes:

The SSR EDAC error counter was cleared three times per ROP SR-1A.

The engineering status buffer limits were adjusted at 205/1600Z,
using ROP DF-18A.

Using ROP NS-3, the NSSC-1 status buffer was dumped and reset at
205/1627Z.

3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.