NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3465

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

DAILY REPORT # 3465

PERIOD COVERED: DOY 282

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED Remote transmission.

ACS 9468

ACS Grism Parallel Survey of Emission- line Galaxies at Redshift z pl
7

We propose an ACS grism parallel survey to search for emission-line
galaxies toward 50 random lines of sight over the redshift interval 0
< z pl 7. We request ACS parallel observations of duration more than one orbit at high galactic latitude to identify ~ 300 HAlpha emission-line galaxies at 0.2 pl z pl 0.5, ~ 720 O IILambda3727 emission-line galaxies at 0.3 pl z pl 1.68, and pg 1000 Ly-alpha emission-line galaxies at 3 pl z pl 7 with total emission line flux f pg 2* 10^-17 ergs s^-1 cm^-2 over 578 arcmin^2. We will obtain direct images with the F814W and F606W filters and dispersed images with the WFC/G800L grism at each position. The direct images will serve to provide a zeroth order model both for wavelength calibration of the extracted 1D spectra and for determining extraction apertures of the corresponding dispersed images. The primary scientific objectives are as follows: {1} We will establish a uniform sample of HAlpha and O II emission-line galaxies at z<1.7 in order to obtain accurate measurements of co-moving star formation rate density versus redshift over this redshift range. {2} We will study the spatial and statistical distribution of star formation rate intensity in individual galaxies using the spatially resolved emission-line morphology in the grism images. And {3} we will study high-redshift universe using Ly-alpha emitting galaxies identified at z pl 7 in the survey. The data will be available to the community immediately as they are obtained.

ACS 9984

Cosmic Shear With ACS Pure Parallels

Small distortions in the shapes of background galaxies by foreground
mass provide a powerful method of directly measuring the amount and
distribution of dark matter. Several groups have recently detected
this weak lensing by large-scale structure, also called cosmic shear.
The high resolution and sensitivity of HST/ACS provide a unique
opportunity to measure cosmic shear accurately on small scales. Using
260 parallel orbits in Sloan textiti {F775W} we will measure for the
first time: beginlistosetlength sep0cm setlengthemsep0cm setlength
opsep0cm em the cosmic shear variance on scales <0.7 arcmin, em the skewness of the shear distribution, and em the magnification effect. endlist Our measurements will determine the amplitude of the mass power spectrum sigma_8Omega_m^0.5, with signal-to-noise {s/n} ~ 20, and the mass density Omega_m with s/n=4. They will be done at small angular scales where non-linear effects dominate the power spectrum, providing a test of the gravitational instability paradigm for structure formation. Measurements on these scales are not possible from the ground, because of the systematic effects induced by PSF smearing from seeing. Having many independent lines of sight reduces the uncertainty due to cosmic variance, making parallel observations ideal.

ACS/CCD/WFC 9978

The Ultra Deep Field with ACS

The ACS Ultra Deep Field {UDF} is a survey carried out by using
Director’s Discretionary time. The main science driver are galaxy
evolution and cosmology. The primary instrument is the Advanced Camera
for Surveys but WFPC2 and NICMOS will also be used in parallel. The
data will be made public. The UDF consists of a single ultra-deep
field {410 orbits in total} within the CDF-S GOODS area. The survey
will use four filters: F435W {55 orbits}, F606W {55 orbits}, F775W
{150 orbits}, and F850LP {150 orbits}. The F435W {B} and F606W {V}
exposures will be one magnitude deeper than the equivalent HDF
filters. The F775W {I} exposure will be 1.5 magnitude deeper than the
equivalent HDF exposure. The depth in F775W and F850LP is optimized
for searching very red objects – like z=6 galaxies – at the detection
limit of the F850LP image. The pointing will be RA{J2000}=3 32 40.0
and Decl.{J2000}=-27 48 00. These coordinates may change slightly due
to guide star availability and implementation issues. We will attempt
to include in the field both a spectroscopically confirmed z=5.8
galaxy and a spectroscopically confirmed type Ia SN at z=1.3. The
pointing avoids the gaps with the lowest effective exposure on the
Chandra ACIS image of CDFS. This basic structure of the survey
represents a consensus recommendation of a Scientific Advisory
Committee to the STScI Director Steven Beckwith. A local Working Group
is looking in detail at the implementation of the survey.

ACS/HRC 9747

An Imaging Survey of the Statistical Frequency of Binaries Among
Exceptionally-Young Dynamical Families in the Main Asteroid Belt

We propose an ambitious SNAPSHOT program to determine the frequency of
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.

ACS/HRC/WFC 10042

CCD Daily Monitor

This program consists of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the
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.

FGS 9961

The Masses and Luminosities of Population II Stars

Very little is currently known concerning the mass-luminosity relation
{MLR} of Population II stars. However, 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 FGS1. Because of the expected magnitude
differences and separations, it is not possible to resolve the systems
from the ground. We therefore propose FGS observations of the sample.
In combination with the known spectroscopic orbits and Hipparcos
distances, these observations will yield up to 26 precise stellar mass
determinations of metal-poor stars, if all systems are resolved and
the relative orbits are determined. A combination of FGS data and
ground-based observations will lead to component luminosities and
effective temperatures. This program will allow for a significantly
better understanding of the Pop II main sequence, which in turn will
lead to better ages and distances of the galactic globular clusters,
and a Pop II MLR will be constructed for the first time.

NIC/NIC3 9865

The NICMOS Parallel Observing Program

We propose to continue managing the NICMOS pure parallel program.
Based on our experience, we are well prepared to make optimal use of
the parallel opportunities. The improved sensitivity and efficiency of
our observations will substantially increase the number of
line-emitting galaxies detected. As our previous work has
demonstrated, the most frequently detected line is Halpha at
0.7

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8792

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration – CR Persistence Part 3

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.

NIC2 9856

A near-IR imaging survey of submm galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts

Submillimeter {submm} surveys with SCUBA have identified a population
of obscured star-forming and active galaxies at high redshift. Our
recent spectroscopic campaigns with the Keck-10m telescope have
uncovered redshifts for 37 SCUBA galaxies. The wide redshift range of
the radio identified submm population {z=1-4} implies that many
varieties of sources driven by different physical processes may be
selected in a submm survey. Only HST observervations have the
resolution to detect any changes in the morphologies of SCUBA galaxies
with increasing cosmic time. We propose to use HST-NICMOS, ACS to
obtain 2-filter images of a sample of 15 SCUBA galaxies with redshifts
spanning z=0.8-3.5. Our goal is to understand what physical process
{major mergers?} drive their strong evolution and great luminosities,
and what the implications are for galaxy evolution models.

NIC3 9979

The Ultra Deep Field – NICMOS Parallels

This is a plan to manage the NICMOS pure parallels of the ACS Ultra
Deep Survey. We will obtain a mix of F110W and F160W images along
sight-lines within the mosaiced ACS fields of the CDF-S GOODS and GEMS
surveys, with these sight-lines enabling an examination of the space
density and morphologies of the reddest galaxies.

STIS/CCD 10000

STIS Pure Parallel Imaging Program: Cycle 12

This is the default archival pure parallel program for STIS during
cycle 12.

STIS/CCD 10017

CCD Dark Monitor-Part 1

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 10019

CCD Bias Monitor – Part 1

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.

STIS/CCD 9981

The Ultra Deep Field – STIS parallels

We propose to obtain slitless spectroscopy of objects in the GEMS and
GOODS area around the UDF.

STIS/CCD/MA1 10081

Is the exoplanet HD209458b’s exosphere in a blowoff state ?

Using HST Lyman alpha observations, we have detected an extended tail
shaped upper atmosphere around the extra-solar planet HD209458b. The
Cycle 10 STIS G140M observations revealed an absorption of 15+/-4% of
the stellar Lyman alpha emission line during the planetary transit in
front of the star {Vidal-Madjar, et al. 2003}. This showed that HI
evaporation is taking place within a highly extended upper atmosphere.
Very recent studies on the evaporation mechanism are now indicating
that instead of “Jeans escape” a more probable mechanism is complete
atmospheric “blowoff” as suffered by the telluric planets in the
early solar system. This mecanism could be directly tested with HST by
searching for the escape of species slightly heavier than HI. It is
easy to show that neither oxygen nor carbon would be detected with HST
if only “Jeans escape” takes place while both species, under
“blowoff” conditions, should reach the Roche limit of the planet and
escape as hydrogen. If this is the case an absorption during transit
of about 15% should be observed for both. Twelve orbits with the STIS
G140L spectrograph will allow us to detect the presence of these
species during three transits with a better than 5% accuracy, needed
to detect an object of the size of the planetary Roche lobe.
Simultaneously these observations will confirm and give more precision
about the extention of the HI cometary like tail expected to occult
the star well after the end of the visible transit. This proposed
investigation is a unique opportunity to further study hot giant
planets upper atmospheres, reveal the precise evaporation mechanism
and give new constraints on the “hot Jupiters” lifetime. This could
explain the lack of planets discovered so far at less than 0.04~AU
from their star. We ask for HST observations under Director
Discretionnary time to have access to the coming transits observable
in the early fall of 2003.

WFPC2 10069

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 Supplemental Darks, Part 1/3

This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to
provide data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot
pixels.

WFPC2 9709

POMS Test Proposal: WFII parallel archive proposal

This is the 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 2002 Parallels
Working Group.

WFPC2 9980

The Ultra Deep Field – WFPC2 Parallels

The ACS Ultra Deep Field {UDF} is a survey carried out by using
Director’s Discretionary time. The main science drivers are galaxy
evolution and cosmology. The primary instrument is the Advanced Camera
for Surveys but WFPC2, NICMOS, and STIS will also be used in pure
parallel mode. The data will be made public. The UDF consists of a
single ultra-deep field {410 orbits in total} within the CDF-S GOODS
area. We request a modification of the default pure parallel programs.
Rather than duplicate the redder bands which will be done much better
with ACS, we propose to observe in the near-ultraviolet F300W filter.
These data will enable study of the rest-frame ultraviolet morphology
of galaxies at 0