NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3557

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE – Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 3557

PERIOD COVERED: DOY 54

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC/WFC 10059

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.

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.

NICMOS 9750

The Galactic Bulge Deep Field: A Planetary Transit Survey and Very
Deep Stellar Mass Function

We propose to observe a Galactic bulge field continuously with ACS/WFC
over a 7-day period. We will monitor ~167, 000 F, G, and K dwarfs down
to V=23, in order to detect transits by orbiting Jovian planets. If
the frequency of "hot Jupiters" is similar to that in the solar
neighborhood, we will detect over 100 planets, more than doubling the
number of extrasolar planets known. For the brighter stars with
transits, we will confirm the planetary nature of the companions
through radial- velocity measurements using the 8-m VLT. We will
determine the metallicities of most of the planet-bearing stars as
well as a control sample, through follow-up VLT spectroscopy. The
metallicities of the target stars range over more than 1.5 dex,
allowing for a determination of the dependence of planet frequency
upon metallicity–a crucial element in understanding planet formation.
We will be able to discriminate between the equally numerous disk and
bulge stars via proper motions. Hence we will determine, for the first
time, the frequencies of planets in two entirely different stellar
populations. We will also determine for the first time the
distribution of planetary radii for extrasolar planets for both these
populations. Parallel observations with NICMOS will provide ultra-deep
near-infrared images of a nearby bulge field, which will be used to
determine the stellar luminosity and mass functions down to the
brown-dwarf regime. The data will also be useful for a variety of
spinoff projects, including a census of variable stars and of hot
white dwarfs in the bulge, and the metallicity distribution of bulge
dwarfs.

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 10085

STIS Pure Parallel Imaging Program: Cycle 12

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

STIS/MA1 10034

Cycle 12 MAMA Dark Monitor

This test performs the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark
noise. 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.

WFPC2 10068

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 Standard Darks

This dark calibration program obtains dark frames every week in order
to 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.

WFPC2 10070

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 Supplemental Darks Part 2/3

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

WFPC2 10072

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 INTERNAL MONITOR

This calibration proposal is the Cycle 12 routine internal monitor for
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.

WFPC2 10084

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.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of
potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)

HSTAR 9333: GS Reacquisition (3,2,3) @ 055/09:43:14Z required two
attempts to achieve FL-DV on FGS 2. During the first walk down, FGS 2
suffered SSLEX, second attempt was successful. Under investigation.

COMPLETED OPS REQs: None

OPS NOTES EXECUTED: None

                              SCHEDULED     SUCCESSFUL    FAILURE TIMES
FGS GSacq                  6                         6
FGS REacq                  9                         9
FHST Update                6                         6
LOSS of LOCK

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

VEST HST-SIMSS Release 1.0 test and validation scheduled 055/11:00Z –
056/20:00Z with GDOC, HITT, SE, SOC, and VEST using CCS "B" String
with CCS Release 4.0.3.1 and PRD O06300T. The purpose of this testing
is to verify the functionality of the HST SIMSS Release 1.0 interface
between the VEST Structure and the STOCC CCS.

Command Timing test scheduled 055/12:00Z – 20:00Z with GDOC, SOC,
HITT, and CCS using CCS "F" String with CCS Release 5.0.3.1 and PRD
S07300S. The purpose of this testing is to check the command timing
for CCS Release 5.0.3.1 with historical baselined numbers.