NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 3855
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE – Continuing to collect World Class Science
DAILY REPORT # 3855
PERIOD COVERED: DOY 126 – 128
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793
NICMOS Post-SAA calibration – CR Persistence Part 4
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.
ACS/HRC/WFC 10436
Black Hole Growth and the Black Hole Mass — Bulge Relations for AGNs
Recent work has shown that the mass of a black hole is tightly
correlated with the bulge mass of its host galaxy. This relation needs
to be understood in the context of black hole growth in its active
phase. Highly accreting AGNs, like narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies
{NLS1s}, are found to lie below the black hole mass — bulge velocity
dispersion correlation of normal galaxies and broad line AGNs. This
result was obtained using FWHM{[OIII]} as a surrogate for the bulge
velocity dispersion. To test this result we propose to obtain high
resolution images of 10 NLS1s that do not lie on the black hole
mass–sigma relation and measure accurate bulge parameters {luminosity
and effective radius}. We will obtain an alternate handle on the bulge
velocity dispersion through the fundamental plane relations and also
find the locus of these NLS1s on the black hole mass–bulge luminosity
plane. Testing this result is crucial to understanding the role of
accretion on black hole growth, the observed correlations of the black
hole mass with the bulge, and the formation and evolution of galaxies.
ACS/WFC 10429
Streaming Towards Shapley: The Mass of the Richest Galaxy
Concentration in the Local Universe
The 600 km/s motion of the Local Group {LG} with respect to the cosmic
microwave background {CMB} is now known to high accuracy. However, its
precise origin remains poorly understood. The contribution to the
motion from the pull of the rich Shapley supercluster at z = 0.048 is
particularly controversial. This extreme mass concentration contains
more than 20 Abell clusters within 35 Mpc of its very rich central
cluster A3558, and is recognized as both the optically richest and the
most X-ray luminous structure in the local {z < 0.1} universe. Yet,
published values for the mass of Shapley continue to differ by an
order of magnitude, and recent estimates of its pull on the LG range
from negligible {20 km/s} to highly significant {300 km/s or more}.
Here we propose to resolve this key issue by using ACS to measure
high- precision surface brightness fluctuation {SBF} distances in
order to make a direct measurement of the infall towards Shapley. We
will target three Shapley foreground clusters where the infall is
expected to be high {possibly 1000 km/s or more}, as well as the
Shapley core, in order to test the assumption that it is at rest in
the CMB. Prior to ACS, the Shapley region was unreachable for SBF, but
ACS doubles the distance range of the SBF method with HST, enabling
the distances to be measured to the required accuracy. The proposed
measurements will place a firm limit on the largest mass fluctuation
in the nearby universe and finally determine its contribution to the
observed CMB dipole.
ACS/HRC 10398
Transcending Voyager: A Deeper Look at Neptune’s Ring-Moon System
We will use the High Resolution Channel {HRC} of ACS to study the
inner rings, arcs and moons of Neptune with a sensitivity that exceeds
that achieved by Voyager 2 during its 1989 flyby. Our study will
reveal any moons down to V magnitude 25.5, to address a peculiar
truncation in the size distribution of inner moons and to look for the
“shepherds” and source bodies for Neptune’s dusty rings. {For
comparison, Neptune’s smallest known moon is Naiad, at magnitude
23.9}. Recent ground-based studies show that the mysterious arcs in
the Adams Ring continue to shift and change, and may be fading away
entirely. We will obtain the visual-band data uniquely necessary to
determine whether the arcs are fading. Long-term monitoring of the
arcs at high resolution and sensitivity will reveal their gradual
changes more clearly and enable us to assess the role of Galatea,
whose resonances are widely believed to confine the arcs.
ACS/HRC/WFC 10389
ACS CCDs daily monitor – Cycle 13 – Part 2
This program consists of a set of basic tests to monitor, the read
noise, the development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise
in ACS CCD detectors. The files, biases and dark will be used to
create reference files for science calibration. This programme will be
for the entire lifetime of ACS.
WFPC2 10356
WFPC2 Cycle 13 Decontaminations and Associated Observations
This proposal is for the monthly WFPC2 decons. Also included are
instrument monitors tied to decons: photometric stability check, focus
monitor, pre- and post- decon internals {bias, intflats, kspots, &
darks}, UV throughput check, VISFLAT sweep, and internal UV flat
check.
NIC3 10337
The COSMOS 2-Degree ACS Survey NICMOS Parallels
The COSMOS 2-Degree ACS Survey NICMOS Parallels. This program is a
companion to program 10092.
ACS/HRC 10185
When does Bipolarity Impose itself on the Extreme Mass Outflows from
AGB Stars? An ACS SNAPshot Survey
Essentially all well-characterized preplanetary nebulae {PPNe} —
objects in transition between the AGB and planetary nebula
evolutionary phases – are bipolar, whereas the mass-loss envelopes of
AGB stars are strikingly spherical. In order to understand the
processes leading to bipolar mass-ejection, we need to know at what
stage of stellar evolution does bipolarity in the mass-loss first
manifest itself? Our previous SNAPshot surveys of a PPNe sample {with
ACS & NICMOS} show that roughly half our targets observed are
resolved, with well-defined bipolar or multipolar morphologies.
Spectroscopic surveys of our sample confirm that these objects have
not yet evolved into planetary nebulae. Thus, the transformation from
spherical to aspherical geometries has already fully developed by the
time these dying stars have become preplanetary nebulae. From this new
and surprising result, we hypothesize that the transformation to
bipolarity begins during the very late AGB phase, and happens very
quickly, just before, or as the stars are evolving off the AGB. We
propose to test this hypothesis quantitatively, through a SNAPshot
imaging survey of very evolved AGB stars which we believe are nascent
preplanetary nebulae; with our target list being drawn from published
lists of AGB stars with detected heavy mass-loss {from millimeter-wave
observations}. This survey is crucial for determining how and when the
bipolar geometry asserts itself. Supporting kinematic observations
using long-slit optical spectroscopy {with the Keck}, millimeter and
radio interferometric observations {with OVRO, VLA & VLBA} are being
undertaken. The results from this survey {together with our previous
work} will allow us to draw general conclusions about the onset of
bipolar mass-ejection during late stellar evolution, and will provide
crucial input for theories of post-AGB stellar evolution. Our survey
will produce an archival legacy of long-standing value for future
studies of dying stars.
NIC2 10177
Solar Systems In Formation: A NICMOS Coronagraphic Survey of
Protoplanetary and Debris Disks
Until recently, despite decades of concerted effort applied to
understanding the formation processes that gave birth to our solar
system, the detailed morphology of circumstellar material that must
eventually form planets has been virtually impossible to discern. The
advent of high contrast, coronagraphic imaging as implemented with the
instruments aboard HST has dramatically enhanced our understanding of
natal planetary system formation. Even so, only a handful of evolved
disks {~ 1 Myr and older} have been imaged and spatially resolved in
light scattered from their constituent grains. To elucidate the
physical processes and properties in potentially planet-forming
circumstellar disks, and to understand the nature and evolution of
their grains, a larger spatially resolved and photometrically reliable
sample of such systems must be observed. Thus, we propose a highly
sensitive circumstellar disk imaging survey of a well-defined and
carefully selected sample of YSOs {1-10 Myr T Tau and HAeBe stars} and
{> app 10 Myr} main sequence stars, to probe the posited epoch of
planetary system formation, and to provide this critically needed
imagery. Our resolved images will shed light on the spatial
distributions of the dust in these thermally emissive disks. In
combination with their long wavelength SEDs the physical properties of
the grains will be discerned, or constrained by our photometrically
accurate surface brightness sensitivity limits for faint disks which
elude detection. Our sample builds on the success of the exploratory
GTO 7233 program, using two-roll per orbit PSF- subtracted NICMOS
coronagraphy to provide the highest detection sensitivity to the
smallest disks around bright stars which can be imaged with HST. Our
sample will discriminate between proposed evolutionary scenarios while
providing a legacy of cataloged morphologies for interpreting mid- and
far-IR SEDs that the recently launched Spitzer Space Telescope will
deliver.
NIC2 10176
Coronagraphic Survey for Giant Planets Around Nearby Young Stars
A systematic imaging search for extra-solar Jovian planets is now
possible thanks to recent progress in identifying “young stars near
Earth”. For most of the proposed young {<~ 30 Myrs} and nearby {<~ 60
pc} targets, we can detect a few Jupiter-mass planets as close as a
few tens of AUs from the primary stars. This represents the first time
that potential analogs of our solar system - that is planetary systems
with giant planets having semi-major axes comparable to those of the
four giant planets of the Solar System - come within the grasp of
existing instrumentation. Our proposed targets have not been observed
for planets with the Hubble Space Telescope previously. Considering
the very successful earlier NICMOS observations of low mass brown
dwarfs and planetary disks among members of the TW Hydrae Association,
a fair fraction of our targets should also turn out to posses low mass
brown dwarfs, giant planets, or dusty planetary disks because our
targets are similar to {or even better than} the TW Hydrae stars in
terms of youth and proximity to Earth. Should HST time be awarded and
planetary mass candidates be found, proper motion follow-up of
candidate planets will be done with ground-based AOs.
ACS/WFC 10174
Dark-matter halos and evolution of high-z early-type galaxies
Gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary
methods to determine the mass distribution and evolution of luminous
and dark-matter in early- type {E/S0} galaxies. The combined study of
stellar dynamics and gravitational lensing allows one to break
degeneracies inherent to each method separately, providing a clean
probe of the internal structure of massive galaxies. Since most lens
galaxies are at redshifts z=0.1-1.0, they also provide the required
look-back time to study their structural and stellar-population
evolution. We recently analyzed 5 E/S0 lens galaxies between z=0.5 and
1.0, combining exquisite Hubble Space Telescope imaging data with
kinematic data from ground-based Keck spectroscopy, placing the first
precise constraints on the dark-matter mass fraction and its inner
slope beyond the local Universe. To expand the sample to ~30 systems
— required to study potential trends and evolution in the E/S0 mass
profiles — we propose to target the 49 E/S0 lens-galaxy candidates
discovered by Bolton et al. {2004} from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
{SDSS}. With the average lens rate being 40% and some systems having a
lensing probability close to unity, we expect to discover ~20 strong
gravitational lenses from the sample. This will triple the current
sample of 9 E/S0 systems, with data in hand. With the sample of 30
systems, we will be able to determine the average slope of the
dark-matter and total mass profile of E/S0 galaxies to 10% and 4%
accuracy, respectively. If present, we can simultaneously detect 10%
evolution in the total mass slope with 95% confidence. This will
provide unprecedented constraints on E/S0 galaxies beyond the local
Universe and allow a stringent test of their formation scenarios and
the standard cosmological model.
ACS 10140
Identification of a magnetic anomaly at Jupiter from satellite
footprints
Repeated imaging of Jupiter’s aurora has shown that the northern main
oval has a distorted ‘kidney bean’ shape in the general range of
90-140? System III longitude, which appears unchanged since 1994.
While it is more difficult to observe the conjugate regions in the
southern aurora, no corresponding distortion appears in the south.
Recent improved accuracy in locating the satellite footprint auroral
emissions has provided new information about the geometry of Jupiter’s
magnetic field in this and other areas. The study of the magnetic
field provides us with insight into the state of matter and the
dynamics deep down Jupiter. There is currently no other way to do this
from orbit. The persistent pattern of the main oval implies a
disturbance of the local magnetic field, and the increased latitudinal
separation of the locus of satellite footprints from each other and
from the main oval implies a locally weaker field strength. It is
possible that these phenomena result from a magnetic anomaly in
Jupiter’s intrinsic magnetic field, as was proposed by A. Dessler in
the 1970’s. There is presently only limited evidence from the scarcity
of auroral footprints observed in this longitude range. We propose to
obtain HST UV images with specific observing geometries of Jupiter to
determine the locations of the auroral footprints of Io, Europa, and
Ganymede in cycle 13 to accurately determine the magnetic field
geometry in the suggested anomaly region, and to either confirm or
refute the suggestion of a local magnetic anomaly.
ACS/WFC/WFPC2 10092
The COSMOS 2-Degree ACS Survey
We will undertake a 2 square degree imaging survey {Cosmic Evolution
Survey — COSMOS} with ACS in the I {F814W} band of the VIMOS
equatorial field. This wide field survey is essential to understand
the interplay between Large Scale Structure {LSS} evolution and the
formation of galaxies, dark matter and AGNs and is the one region of
parameter space completely unexplored at present by HST. The
equatorial field was selected for its accessibility to all
ground-based telescopes and low IR background and because it will
eventually contain ~100, 000 galaxy spectra from the VLT-VIMOS
instrument. The imaging will detect over 2 million objects with I> 27
mag {AB, 10 sigma}, over 35, 000 Lyman Break Galaxies {LBGs} and
extremely red galaxies out to z ~ 5. COSMOS is the only HST project
specifically designed to probe the formation and evolution of
structures ranging from galaxies up to Coma-size clusters in the epoch
of peak galaxy, AGN, star and cluster formation {z ~0.5 to 3}. The
size of the largest structures necessitate the 2 degree field. Our
team is committed to the assembly of several public ancillary datasets
including the optical spectra, deep XMM and VLA imaging, ground-based
optical/IR imaging, UV imaging from GALEX and IR data from SIRTF.
Combining the full-spectrum multiwavelength imaging and spectroscopic
coverage with ACS sub-kpc resolution, COSMOS will be Hubble’s ultimate
legacy for understanding the evolution of both the visible and dark
universe.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary
reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)
HSTARS:
9801 – GSACQ(1,2,2) fine lock backup, search radius limit exceeded on
FGS 2 @ 126/09:38:25z GSACQ(1,2,2) at 126/09:34:06 failed to fine lock
backup on FGS 1 due to Search Radius Limit Exceeded on FGS 2 at
09:38:25. Additional acquisition attempts also failed at 09:39:15 and
09:40:43. FHST map at 09:43:00 showed attitude errors of 16.645,
-7.867, -1.279.
9803 – Event Failed To Configure at STGT @ 127/09:09:45z (Ref: CDS
#39445) Due to an equipment failure at STGT. The MA ADPE hung at event
start time and caused HST to lose 36 minutes and 29 second of R/T 32
kb data non-recoverable. Anomaly start 127/09:09:45z Anomaly stop
127/09:47:14z. CDS # 39445.
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)
COMPLETED OPS NOTES:
0916-0 – Tabulation of Slew Attitude Error (Miss-distance) @ 129/0211z
0915-3 – HSTAR Requirements for FHST Map/Update Failures @ 129/0214z
0900-1 – COMMAND PROBLEM @ 128/18:35:39z
0900-1 – COMMAND PROBLEM @ 129/08:29:58z
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FAILURE TIMES FGS Gsacq 31 31 FGS Reacq 16 16 FHST Update 44 43 129/02:14:38z LOSS of LOCK
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
