NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #4762

The HST Daily Report will not be issued from 12/25/08 to 1/04/09, inclusive. It will resume on Monday, January 5, 2009.

The HST science proposals that will execute during this hiatus will be listed at the end of the Daily Report for 12/24.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #4762

Continuing to collect World Class Science

PERIOD COVERED: 5am December 22 – 5am December 23, 2008 (DOY 357/1000z-358/1000z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/SBC 11885

SBC Dark Current Measurement

This takes a series of SBC dark measurements over a continuous period of about 6 hours (4 orbits). The aim is to collect dark images during an extended SBC on-time. Earlier measurements indicate that the dark current increases with SBC on-time and may also be increasing with overall SBC use. The 6-hour time matches the longest time used by any observer. As with all SBC observations this needs continuous SAA free time.

FGS 11945

Asteroseismology of Extrasolar Planet Host Stars

Detections of stellar oscillations, although a very demanding task in terms of observing time, offers a return of more accurate knowledge about the structure of stars than can be obtained in any other way. In particular, detecting the 10-15 highest amplitude modes in solar-like stars to signal-to-noise of just a few sigma each allows robust constraints on the stellar density to <1%, and the stellar age to within 5-10% of its main sequence lifetime. Ten day observing runs using the FGS as a photometer on any of the 5 best transiting planet systems would enable these asteroseismology returns. From more precisely observed transit shapes than can be obtained from the ground a completely independent constraint on stellar density to ~1% can be obtained. The long observation sets required for asteroseismology also provide an excellent opportunity of detecting transits from other planets, e.g. hypothesized inner -orbit Hot Earths, should any exist.

WFPC2 11302

WFPC2 CYCLE 16 Standard Darks – Part III

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 11793

WFPC2 Cycle 16 Internal Monitor

This calibration proposal is the Cycle 15 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 (both gain 7 and gain 15 — to test stability of gains and bias levels), a test for quantum efficiency in the CCDs, and a monitor for possible buildup of contaminants on the CCD windows. These also provide raw data for generating annual super-bias reference files for the calibration pipeline.

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:

18370-1 – Adjust NCS CPL Setpoint (6º C) @ 358/0033z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                       SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq                2                   2
FGS REacq               13                  13
OBAD with Maneuver      28                  28

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)