NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3429
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
DAILY REPORT # 3429
PERIOD COVERED: DOY 230
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
NIC3 10062
NICMOS Filter Wheel Test
This is an engineering test to verify the aliveness, functionality,
operability,
and electro-mechanical calibration of the NICMOS filter wheel motors and
assembly after NCS restart in August 2003. This test has been designed to
obviate concerns over possible deformation or breakage of the fitter wheel
“soda-straw” shafts due to excess rotational drag torque and/or bending
moments
which may be imparted due to changes in the dewar metrology from
warm-up/cool-down. This test should be executed after the NCS {and filter
wheel
housing} has reached and approximately equilibrated to its nominal Cycle 11
operating temperature.
NIC3 10064
Mini-SMOV NICMOS dark current, shading profile, and read noise program
The purpose of this proposal is to study the dark current, read noise, and
shading profile for all three NICMOS detectors after the NICMOS starts
operating
due to safing. This proposal is a version of the NICMOS monitoring program.
NICMOS 8791
NICMOS Post-SAA calibration – CR Persistence Part 2
A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of NICMOS.
Dark
frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA contour 23, and
every
time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50 minutes of coming out of the
SAA.
The darks will be obtained in parallel in all three NICMOS Cameras. The
POST-SAA
darks will be non-standard reference files available to users with a
USEAFTER
date/time mark. The keyword ‘USEAFTER=date/time’ will also be added to the
header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword must be populated with the
time,
in addition to the date, because HST crosses the SAA ~8 times per day so
each
POST-SAA DARK will need to have the appropriate time specified, for users to
identify the ones they need. Both the raw and processed images will be
archived
as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally we expect that all NICMOS science/calibration
observations started within 50 minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps
to
remove the CR persistence from the science images. Each observation will
need
its own CRMAP, as different SAA passages leave different imprints on the
NICMOS
detectors.
HST 9382
A Large Targeted Survey for z < 1.6 Damped Lyman Alpha Lines in SDSS QSO MgII-FeII Systems.
We have searched the first public release of SDSS QSO spectra for low-z
WFPC2 9592
WFPC2 CYCLE 11 Standard Darks
This dark calibration program obtains dark frames every week in order to
WFPC2 9595
WFPC2 CYCLE 11 SUPPLEMENTAL DARKS pt3/3
This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to provide
WFPC2 9596
WFPC2 CYCLE 11 INTERNAL MONITOR
This calibration proposal is the Cycle 11 routine internal monitor for
STIS 9606
CCD Dark Monitor-Part 2
Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.
STIS 9608
CCD Bias Monitor – Part 2
Monitor the bias in the 1×1, 1×2, 2×1, and 2×2 bin settings at gain=1, and
STIS 9615
Cycle 11 MAMA Dark Monitor
This test performs the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark noise.
ACS 9649
ACS internal CTE monitor
The charge transfer efficiency {CTE} of the ACS CCD detectors will decline
ACS 9675
CCD Daily Monitor
This program consists of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the
ACS/WFC 9744
HST Imaging of Gravitational Lenses
Gravitational lenses offer unique opportunities to study cosmology, dark
ACS/HRC 9747
An Imaging Survey of the Statistical Frequency of Binaries Among
We propose an ambitious SNAPSHOT program to determine the frequency of
ACS/WFC 9820
SagDIG: a benchmark for understanding star formation in extreme
A long-standing question in the field of galaxy evolution is whether
ACS 9831
Multiplicity among brown dwarfs in the Pleiades cluster
We have compiled a sample of 32 confirmed brown dwarfs in the Pleiades
ACS/WFC 9892
H-alpha Snapshots of Nearby Galaxies observed in F300W: Quantifying Star
Previous studies of nearby galaxies show large discrepancies between
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of
COMPLETED OPS REQs: None
OPS NOTES EXECUTED:
{z<1.65}
metal absorption lines and found over 200 large rest equivalent width
MgII-FeII
systems. Previously, we empirically showed that such systems are good
tracers of
large neutral gas columns, with ~50% being classical damped Lyman alpha
{DLA}
systems {N_HI>=2*10^20 cm^-2}. Here we propose to follow up a well-defined
subset of 79 of them to search for DLAs with 0.47
provide
data for the ongoing calibration of the CCD dark current rate, and to
monitor
and characterize the evolution of hot pixels. Over an extended period these
data
will also provide a monitor of radiation damage to the CCDs.
data
for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels.
WFPC2, to
be run weekly to monitor the health of the cameras. A variety of internal
exposures are obtained in order to provide a monitor of the integrity of
the CCD
camera electronics in both bays {gain 7 and gain 15}, a test for quantum
efficiency in the CCDs, and a monitor for possible buildup of contaminants
on
the CCD windows.
1×1
at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot
columns.
This
proposal will provide the primary means of checking on health of the MAMA
detectors systems through frequent monitoring of the background count rate.
The
purpose is to look for evidence of change in dark indicative of detector
problem
developing.
as
damage due to on-orbit radiation exposure accumulates. This degradation will
be
closely monitored at regular intervals, because it is likely to determine
the
useful lifetime of the CCDs. All the data for this program is acquired using
internal targets {lamps} only, so all of the exposures should be taken
during
Earth occultation time {but not during SAA passages}. This program emulates
the
ACS pre-flight ground calibration and post-launch SMOV testing {program
8948},
so that results from each epoch can be directly compared. Extended Pixel
Edge
Response {EPER} and First Pixel Response {FPR} data will be obtained over a
range of signal levels for both the Wide Field Channel {WFC}, and the High
Resolution Channel {HRC}.
development
of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD detectors. This
programme will be executed once a day for the entire lifetime of ACS.
matter,
galactic structure, galaxy evolution and quasar host galaxies. They are
also the
only sample of galaxies selected based on their mass rather than their
luminosity or surface brightness. While gravitational lenses can be
discovered
with ground-based optical and radio observations, converting them into
astrophysical tools requires HST. HST has demonstrated that it is the only
telescope that can in each case precisely locate the lens galaxy, measure
its
luminosity, color and structure, and search for lensed images of the source
host
galaxy given the typical image separations of ~1”. We will obtain ACS/WFC
V and
I images and NICMOS H images of 21 new lenses never observed by HST and
NICMOS H
images of 16 lenses never observed by HST in the IR. As in previous cycles,
we
request that the data be made public immediately.
Exceptionally-Young Dynamical Families in the Main Asteroid Belt
binaries
among two very young asteroid families in the Main Belt, with potentially
profound implications. These families {of C- and S-type} have recently been
discovered {Nesvorny et al. 2002, Nature 417, 720}, through dynamical
modeling,
to have been formed at 5.8 MY and 8.3 MY ago in catastrophic impact events.
This
is the first time such precise and young ages have been assigned to a
family.
Main-belt binaries are almost certainly produced by collisions, and we would
expect a young family to have a significantly higher frequency of binaries
than
the background, because they may not yet have been destroyed by impact or
longer-term gravitational instabilities. In fact, one of the prime
observables
from such an event should be the propensity for satellites. This is the
best way
that new numerical models for binary production by collisions {motivated
largely
by our ground-based discoveries of satellites among larger asteroids}, can
be
validated and calibrated. HST is the only facility that can be used to
search
for binaries among such faint objects {V>17.5}. We will also measure two
control
clusters, one being an “old” family, and the other a collection of
background
asteroids that do not have a family association, and further compare with
our
determined value for the frequency of large main-belt binaries {2%}. We
request
visits to 180 targets, using ACS/HRC.
low-metallicity
galaxies
metal-poor
star-forming galaxies {like I ZW 18} posses a very old {>10 Gyr} stellar
population. An excellent example of such a primordial galaxy is the
Sagittarius
dwarf irregular {SagDIG}. Besides being very metal-poor, this object is
exceptionally rich in atomic gas and shows evidence of propagating star
formation. Such features make of SagDIG and ideal target for the study of
star
formation and its triggering mechanism in extremely metal-poor
environments. The
deep, wide-field imaging capability of ACS is able to detect an
unprecedented
number of the oldest stellar population. Such data will enable the
construction
of both the star formation and chemical enrichment history. In particular,
determining the epoch of formation of the first stars in such objects places
a
constraint on heirarchical galaxy formation in “bottom up” cosmologies.
cluster.
We propose to observe this sample with HST/ACS in SNAPSHOT mode in order to
search for very low mass multiple systems. Our goals are: 1} to determine
the
occurrence and frequency of binary systems among substellar objects, which
hold
important clues to the formation and evolution mechanism{s} of ultracool and
brown dwarfs, 2} to get an estimate of the Initial Mass Function {IMF} at
very
low masses, which is still unknown and very much needed to be corrected for
binarity, 3} to compare the distribution of multiple systems in young open
clusters and in the field.
Formation in a Dusty Universe
different
star formation {SF} indicators on large {>100 pc, or even global} scales:
the
strikingly complex interplay of young stars, dust and ionized gas are the
primary cause of this variance. The few galaxies in the HST Archive with
both
WFPC2 H-alpha and mid-UV {F255W or F300W} imaging show this complex geometry
extending down to <10 pc scales. We propose a SNAPshot survey in the ACS/WFC
H-alpha filter of 48 galaxies of all Hubble types, that are nearby but
beyond
the Local Group, and that were previously imaged with WFPC2 in the mid-UV
and in
F814W. We aim to provide a benchmark for understanding the SF processes in
both
normal and star-bursting galaxies, at spatial resolutions unattainable from
the
ground for a large and varied galaxy sample. These data can be applied to a
wide
range of astrophysical problems and will, therefore, be made public
immediately.
Our science goals are to: {1} spatially resolve the dust clouds and
filaments
which strongly affect mid-UV and H-alpha derived SF rates, {2} test how the
large-scale correlation between H-alpha and mid-UV flux breaks down on pc
scales, and {3} model the propagation of star formation by comparing the SF
over
time scales of ~100 Myr {via mid-UV} and ~5 Myr {via H-alpha}. This will {4}
significantly improve our insight into, and calibration of SF in UV-bright
galaxies at high z, and into the cosmic SF history.
potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.) None
11146-1 Change Limit MAMA#2 Threshold Voltage @230/2336z
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FAILURE TIMES
FGS GSacq 6 6
FGS REacq 5 5
FHST Update 21 21
LOSS of LOCK
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
Successfully placed PASS Release 31.80 into formal operations Day 230 on
SOGS cluster and aliveness
testing of the new software was performed.