NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #3953
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE – Continuing to collect World Class Science
DAILY REPORT # 3953
PERIOD COVERED: UT September 26, 2005 (DOY 269)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
ACS/HRC/WFC 10263
SAINTS – Supernova 1987A INTensive Survey
SAINTS is a program to observe SN 1987A, the brightest supernova in 383 years, as it transforms into supernova remnant {SNR} 1987A, the youngest supernova remnant. HST is the unique and perfect match in scale and in field for spatially-resolved observations of SN 1987A. Rapid changes are taking place in a violent encounter between the fastest-moving debris and the circumstellar ring. This one-time-only event, leading to suddenly appearing hotspots and new emission that can reveal previously hidden gas, is powered by shocks that can be studied simultaneously with HST and with Chandra to great advantage. Both the optical and X-ray flux from the ring are rising rapidly so prompt observations are needed in Cycle 13. Our previous observations reveal a remarkable reverse shock moving upstream through the expanding debris. The reverse shock provides a powerful tool for dissecting the radial structure of the vanished star. The debris from the explosion itself, still excited by radioactivity, is now well resolved by ACS and seen to be aspherical, providing direct clues to the mechanism of the explosion. Many questions about SN 1987A remain unanswered. SAINTS is a comprehensive attempt to use HST to establish the facts of SN 1987A, help to answer interesting questions, and to observe the birth of SNR 1987A.
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 program will be for the entire lifetime of ACS.
ACS/WFC 10496
Decelerating and Dustfree: Efficient Dark Energy Studies with Supernovae and Clusters
We propose a novel HST approach to obtain a dramatically more useful “dust free” Type Ia supernovae {SNe Ia} dataset than available with the previous GOODS searches. Moreover, this approach provides a strikingly more efficient search-and-follow-up that is primarily pre- scheduled. The resulting dark energy measurements do not share the major systematic uncertainty at these redshifts, that of the extinction correction with a prior. By targeting massive galaxy clusters at z > 1 we obtain a five-times higher efficiency in detection of Type Ia supernovae in ellipticals, providing a well-understood host galaxy environment. These same deep cluster images then also yield fundamental calibrations required for future weak lensing and Sunyaev-Zel’dovich measurements of dark energy, as well as an entire program of cluster studies. The data will make possible a factor of two improvement on supernova constraints on dark energy time variation, and much larger improvement in systematic uncertainty. They will provide both a cluster dataset and a SN Ia dataset that will be a longstanding scientific resource.
ACS/WFC 10551
Gamma-Ray Bursts from Start to Finish: A Legacy Approach
The progenitors of long-duration GRBs are now known to be massive stars. This result lends credence to the collapsar model, where a rotating massive star ends its life leaving a black hole or a highly magnetized neutron star, and confirms its essential aspects. The focus of attention now is on the black hole or magnetar engines that power the bursts. Somehow these engines create the most highly relativistic and highly collimated outflows that we know of, through mechanisms that no current theory can explain. These astrophysical laboratories challenge our understanding of relativistic shocks, of mechanisms for extracting energy from a black hole, and of how physics works in extreme conditions. The launch of Swift is bringing us into a new era, where we can make broadband observations that will enable us to study these fascinating physical processes. We propose here an ambitious, comprehensive program to obtain the datasets that will become the standard that any successful model for the central engine must explain. This programs leverages the HST observations to the maximum extent by our commitment of Swift observations, a Large program at the VLA, and extensive ground-based optical resources. By studying the engines and searching for jets in a variety of events, this program will investigate the conditions necessary for the engine and jet formation itself.
ACS/WFC/NIC3/WFPC2 10530
Probing Evolution And Reionization Spectroscopically {PEARS}
While imaging with HST has gone deep enough to probe the highest redshifts, e.g. the GOODS survey and the Ultra Deep Field, spectroscopic identifications have not kept up. We propose an ACS grism survey to get slitless spectra of all sources in a wide survey region {8 ACS fields} up to z =27.0 magnitude, and an ultradeep field in the HUDF reaching sources up to z =28 magnitude. The PEARS survey will: {1} Find and spectrocopically confirm all galaxies between z=4-7. {2} Probe the reionization epoch by robustly determining the luminosity function of galaxies and low luminosity AGNs at z = 4 – 6. With known redshifts, we can get a local measure of star formation and ionization rate in case reionization is inhomogeneous. {3} Study galaxy formation and evolution by finding galaxies in a contiguous redshift range between 4 < z < 7, and black hole evolution through a census of low-luminosity AGNs. {4} Get a robust census of galaxies with old stellar populations at 1 < z < 2.5, invaluable for checking consistency with heirarchical models of galaxy formation. Fitting these galaxies' spectra will yield age and metallicity estimates. {5} Study star-formation and galaxy assembly at its peak at 1< z < 2 by identifying emission lines in star-forming galaxies, old populations showing the 4000A break, and any combination of the two. {6} Constrain faint white dwarfs in the Galactic halo and thus measure their contribution to the dark matter halo. {7} Derive spectro-photometric redshifts by using the grism spectra along with broadband data. This will be the deepest unbiased spectroscopy yet, and will enhance the value of the multiwavelength data in UDF and the GOODS fields to the astronomical community. To this end we will deliver reduced spectra to the HST archives.
FGS 10756
Monitoring FGS1r Stability in Position Mode
This proposal gathers the data needed to monitor the FGS1r distortions and scale across its FOV. An astrometric field in M35 is observed 3 times per year, from Aug to December. Earlier versions of this proposal contained additional observartions from Jan to May. However, the ORIENT associated with those observations is not available under two-gyro operations. The particular field being observed in this proposal is from “orbit 1” of the FGS1r OFAD {proposal 8469}.
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.
NIC3 10616
Gotcha! Using Swift GRBs to Pinpoint the Highest Redshift Galaxies
While there is convincing evidence that the Universe was re-ionized between redshifts of 6.5 and 15, the role of galaxies in this process is still not understood. Several star-forming galaxies at z~6 have been identified in recent deep, narrow-field surveys, but the expensive observations along with cosmic variance and contamination make it difficult to assess their contribution to re-ionization. Moreover, the detection of galaxies at z>7 is exceedingly difficult even with the Hubble UDF or cluster lensing. Significant progress can be made using gamma-ray bursts {GRBs} localized with the now-operational Swift satellite, which is capable of detecting bursts out to z>10. GRBs have the advantage of being an uncontaminated signpost for star- formation, and their afterglows are sufficiently bright even at z>6 to allow photometric selection {via the Ly-alpha drop out technique} with 2-5 meter telescopes. Using our approved TOO programs at an extensive range of facilities {from 1-m robotic telescopes to Keck/Magellan}, we can rapidly find afterglows at z>6 and easily distinguish them from dusty low redshift bursts. This approach is highly efficient compared to current techniques, especially at z>7. Here we request imaging with NICMOS {z>6}, ACS {z~6}, and Spitzer/IRAC to characterize the properties {SFR, age, morphology} of up to five galaxies located in this manner, and begin to address their role in re-ionization. These observations are requested as >2 month TOOs, allowing flexibility of scheduling and at the same time taking a unique and timely advantage of the exquisite performance of three of NASA’s premier missions.
WFPC2 10750
WFPC2 Cycle 14 UV Earth Flats
Monitor flat field stability. This proposal obtains sequences of earth streak flats to improve the quality of pipeline flat fields for the WFPC2 UV filter set. These Earth flats will complement the UV earth flat data obtained during cycles 8-13.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS: (None)
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
17550-4 – NICMOS FSW 5.0 Installation @ 269/1526z
17553-0 – Genslew for proposal 10487 – slot 14 @ 269/1432z
17554-0 – Genslew for proposal 10487 – slot 13 @ 269/1434z
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FGS Gsacq 05 05 FGS Reacq 10 10 OBAD with Maneuver 30 30
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
