NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #4790

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #4790

Continuing to collect World Class Science

PERIOD COVERED: 5am February 11 – 5am February 12, 2009 (DOY 042/1000z-043/1000z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

FGS 11706

The Parallax of the Planet Host Star XO-3

We will use HST+FGS to measure the parallax of the transiting planet host star XO-3. The resulting accurate distance measurement will provide the most accurate radius determination to date for this massive extrasolar planet (XO-3b), allowing us to critically test current giant extrasolar planet structure models. These observations will also constrain the amount of heating that may be produced inside XO-3b by tides raised on the planet as it moves through its 3.2 d eccentric (e ~ 0.22) orbit.

WFPC2 11967

WFPC2 Imaging of the Lockman Hole

In order to understand galaxy evolution and constrain theoretical models, we require both multiwavelength photometry (to robustly determine physical parameters such as star formation rates and stellar masses) and detailed morphological information. Galaxy morphology encodes crucial information about galaxy formation history and the physical processes that trigger star formation and AGN activity, and high-resolution imaging for large samples of galaxies is currently only obtainable with HST. The Lockman Hole has been the target of extensive multi-wavelength observations from the X-ray to the radio, and will be the target of the deepest wide-area blankfield thermal IR observations with Herschel, but currently lacks comprehensive HST imaging. We propose to obtain WFPC2 imaging of ~500 arcmin2 of the central region of the Lockman Hole in F606W and F814W, to a depth of V606~26.8 and I814~26. This imaging is crucial in order to characterize the sources detected at other wavelengths.

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)