NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report # 4636
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #4636
Continuing to collect World Class Science
PERIOD COVERED: 5am June 19 – 5am June 20, 2008 (DOY 171/0900z-172/0900z)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
ACS/SBC 11215
New Sightlines for the Study of Intergalactic Helium: Dozens of High-Confidence, UV-Bright Quasars from SDSS/GALEX
The reionization of IGM helium is thought to have occurred at redshifts of z=3 to 4. Detailed study of HeII Lyman-alpha absorption toward a handful of QSOs at 2.7
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8795
NICMOS Post-SAA Calibration – CR Persistence Part 6
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/WFPC2 11192
NICMOS Confirmation of Candidates of the Most Luminous Galaxies at z > 7
While the deepest pencil-beam near-IR survey suggested that the Universe was too young to build up many luminous galaxies by z ~ 7–8 (Bouwens & Illingworth 2006), there is also evidenc indicating the contrary. It is now known that some galaxies with stellar masses of M>1e10 Msun were already in place by z ~ 6–7, which strongly suggests that their progenitors should be significantly more luminous, and hence detectable in deep, wide-field near-IR surveys (Yan et al. 2006). As galaxies at such a high redshift should manifest themselves as “dropouts” from the optical, we have carried out a very wide-field, deep near-IR survey in the GOODS fields to search for z-band dropouts as candidates of galaxies at z > 7. In total, six promising candidates have been found in ~ 300 sq. arcmin to J_AB ~ 24.5 mag (corresponding to restframe M(UV) < -22.5 mag at z ~ 7). By contrast, the galaxy luminosity function (LF) suggested in BI06 would predict at most 3--5 galaxies over the entire 2-pi sky at this brightness level. Here we propose to observe these candidates with NIC3 in F110W and F160W to further investigate their nature. If any of these candidates are indeed at z > 7, the result will lead to a completely new picture of star formation in the early universe. If none of our candidates are consistent with being at z > 7, then the depth and area of our near-IR survey (from which the candidates are drawn) will let us set a very stringent upper limit on the bright end of the galaxy LF at those redshift. As a result, our program will still be able to provide new clues about the processes of early galaxy formation, such as their dust contents and their merging time scale (Yan et al. 2006).
WFPC2 11206
At the Cradle of the Milky Way: Formation of the Most Massive Field Disk Galaxies at z>1
We propose to obtain 2 orbit WFPC2 F814W images of a sample of the 15 most massive galaxies found at $1 < z < 1.3$. These were culled from over 20,000 Keck spectra collected as part of DEEP and are unique among high redshift massive galaxy samples in being kinematically selected. Through a recent HST NICMOS-2 imaging program {GO-10532}, we have confirmed that these galaxies have regular stellar disks, and their emission line kinematics are not due to gradients from merging components. These potentially very young galaxies are likely precursors to massive local disks, assuming no further merging. The proposed WFPC2 and existing NIC-2 data provide colors, stellar masses, and ages of bulge and disk subcomponents, to assess whether old stellar bulges and disks are in place at that time or still being built, and constrain their formation epochs. Finally, this sample will yield the first statistically significant results on the $z > 1$ evolution of the size-velocity-luminosity scaling relations, for massive galaxies at different wavelengths, and constrain whether this evolution reflects stellar mass growth, or passive evolution, of either bulge or disk components.
WFPC2 11218
Snapshot Survey for Planetary Nebulae in Globular Clusters of the Local Group
Planetary nebulae {PNe} in globular clusters {GCs} raise a number of interesting issues related to stellar and galactic evolution. The number of PNe known in Milky Way GCs, 4, is surprisingly low if one assumes that all stars pass through a PN stage. However, it is likely that the remnants of stars now evolving in Galactic GCs leave the AGB so slowly that any ejected nebula dissipates long before the star becomes hot enough to ionize it. Thus there should not be ANY PNe in Milky Way GCs–but there are four! It has been suggested that these PNe are the result of mergers of binary stars within GCs, i.e., that they are descendants of blue stragglers. The frequency of occurrence of PNe in external galaxies poses more questions, because it shows a range of almost an order of magnitude. I propose a Snapshot survey aimed at discovering PNe in the GC systems of Local Group galaxies more distant than the Magellanic Clouds. These clusters, some of which may be much younger than their counterparts in the Milky Way, might contain many more PNe than those of our own galaxy. I will use the standard technique of emission-line and continuum imaging, which easily discloses PNe.
WFPC2/NIC3/ACS/SBC 11144
Building on the Significant NICMOS Investment in GOODS: A Bright, Wide-Area Search for z>=7 Galaxies
One of the most exciting frontiers in observational cosmology has been to trace the buildup and evolution of galaxies from very early times. While hierarchical theory teaches us that the star formation rate in galaxies likely starts out small and builds up gradually, only recently has it been possible to see evidence for this observationally through the evolution of the LF from z~6 to z~3. Establishing that this build up occurs from even earlier times {z~7-8} has been difficult, however, due to the small size of current high-redshift z~7-8 samples — now numbering in the range of ~4-10 sources. Expanding the size of these samples is absolutely essential, if we are to push current studies of galaxy buildup back to even earlier times. Fortunately, we should soon be able to do so, thanks to ~50 arcmin**2 of deep {26.9 AB mag at 5 sigma} NICMOS 1.6 micron data that will be available over the two ACS GOODS fields as a result of one recent 180- orbit ACS backup program and a smaller program. These data will nearly triple the deep near-IR imaging currently available and represent a significant resource for finding and characterizing the brightest high-redshift sources — since high-redshift candidates can be easily identified in these data from their red z-H colours. Unfortunately, the red z-H colours of these candidates are not sufficient to determine that these sources are at z>=7, and it is important also to have deep photometry at 1.1 microns. To obtain this crucial information, we propose to follow up each of these z-H dropouts with NICMOS at 1.1 microns to determine which are at high redshift and thus significantly expand our sample of luminous, z>=7 galaxies. Since preliminary studies indicate that these candidates occur in only 30% of the NIC3 fields, our follow-up strategy is ~3 times as efficient as without this preselection and 9 times as efficient as a search in a field with no pre-existing data. In total, we expect to identify ~8 luminous z-dropouts and possibly ~2 z~10 J-dropouts as a result of this program, more than tripling the number currently known. The increased sample sizes are important if we are to solidify current conclusions about galaxy buildup and the evolution of the LF from z~8. In addition to the high redshift science, these deep 1.1 micron data would have significant value for many diverse endeavors, including {1} improving our constraints on the stellar mass density at z~7-10 and {2} doubling the number of galaxies at z~6 for which we can estimate dust obscuration.
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: (None)
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 06 06
FGS REacq 08 08
OBAD with Maneuver 28 28
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
