NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #4760

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #4760

Continuing to collect World Class Science

PERIOD COVERED: 5am December 18 – 5am December 19, 2008 (DOY 353/1000z-354/1000z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

WFPC2 10877

A Snapshot Survey of the Sites of Recent, Nearby Supernovae

During the past few years, robotic {or nearly robotic} searches for supernovae {SNe}, most notably our Lick Observatory Supernova Search {LOSS}, have found hundreds of SNe, many of them in quite nearby galaxies {cz < 4000 km/s}. Most of the objects were discovered before maximum brightness, and have follow-up photometry and spectroscopy; they include some of the best-studied SNe to date. We propose to conduct a snapshot imaging survey of the sites of some of these nearby objects, to obtain late-time photometry that {through the shape of the light and color curves} will help reveal the origin of their lingering energy. The images will also provide high-resolution information on the local environments of SNe that are far superior to what we can procure from the ground. For example, we will obtain color-color and color-magnitude diagrams of stars in these SN sites, to determine the SN progenitor masses and constraints on the reddening. Recovery of the SNe in the new HST images will also allow us to actually pinpoint their progenitor stars in cases where pre- explosion images exist in the HST archive. This proposal is an extension of our successful Cycle 13 snapshot survey with ACS. It is complementary to our Cycle 15 archival proposal, which is a continuation of our long-standing program to use existing HST images to glean information about SN environments.

FGS 11870

Calibrating FGS1R’s Optical Field Angle Distortion (OFAD), Second Epoch

This proposal gathers the data needed to calibrate the optical field angle distortions in FGS1r to the level of accuracy required for astrometry science. Selected stars from the galactic cluster M35 are repeatedly observed in POSITION mode by FGS1r with F583W filter at a variety of spacecraft pointings and telescope roll angles. Ideally the observations are to occur at a time when this ecliptic star field is near the anti-sun direction so that HST’s roll angle is unconstrained. Unfortunately this is not possible under two gyro operations. Therefore, the observations in this proposal are somewhat very constrained in roll. However, this test should suffice as an adequate update to the original FGS1r OFAD that executed in December 2000. For each visit, the desired telescope pointing is specified by POS TARG and ORIENT special requirements.

FGS 11943

Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram

We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey for binaries among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest stars in our part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve binary systems that are too faint for ground-based, speckle or optical long baseline interferometry, and too close to resolve with AO. We propose a SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS mode observations of very massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous blue variables, nearby low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf stars, and white dwarfs. These observations will help us to (1) identify systems suitable for follow up studies for mass determination, (2) study the role of binaries in stellar birth and in advanced evolutionary states, (3) explore the fundamental properties of stars near the main sequence-brown dwarf boundary, (4) understand the role of binaries for X-ray bright systems, (5) find binaries among ancient and nearby subdwarf stars, and (6) help calibrate the white dwarf mass – radius relation.

WFPC2 11944

Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram

We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey for binaries among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest stars in our part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve binary systems that are too faint to observe using ground-based, speckle or optical long baseline interferometry, and too close to resolve with AO. We propose a SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS mode observations of very massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous blue variables, nearby low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf stars, and white dwarfs. These observations will help us to (1) identify systems suitable for followup studies for mass determination, (2) study the role of binaries in stellar birth and in advanced evolutionary states, (3) explore the fundamental properties of stars near the main sequence-brown dwarf boundary, (4) understand the role of binaries for X-ray bright systems, (5) find binaries among ancient and nearby subdwarf stars, and (6) help calibrate the white dwarf mass – radius relation.

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:

18375-0 – Safe NICMOS

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                        SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq               14                  14
FGS REacq                0                   0
OBAD with Maneuver      27                  27

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

Flash Report NICMOS Safe:

At 353/19:32:26 UTC, NICMOS was commanded to safe mode to reduce any NICMOS parasitic heat effects during the NCS cooldown period.