NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #4927

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #4927

Continuing to Collect World Class Science

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 9 – 5am September 10, 2009 (DOY 252/09:00z-253/09:00z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/WFC3 11879

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 1)

This program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and dark current of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels. The recorded frames are used to create bias and dark reference images for science data reduction and calibration. This program will be executed four days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of Cycle 17. To facilitate scheduling, this program is split into three proposals. This proposal covers 352 orbits (22 weeks) from 31 August 2009 to 31 January 2010.

STIS/CCD 11844

CCD Dark Monitor Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 11846

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the bias in the 1×1, 1×2, 2×1, and 2×2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1×1 at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns.

STIS/CCD/MA1 11623

Shaping the Pre-Supernova Circumstellar Environment

Recent discoveries of very luminous supernovae associated with luminous blue variable- type objects (LBVs) raise the interesting possibility that an LBV phase may be the prelude to core collapse. Alternatively, the LBV events may be occurring in binary systems where the LBV phase is reached by one of the stars shortly before its more evolved companion becomes a supernova. The Small Magellanic Cloud binary system HD 5980 is believed to consist precisely of such two objects: a massive hydrogen-poor Wolf-Rayet star in orbit around an even more massive variable star that recently underwent an LBV-type eruption. The wind velocity and the mass-loss rate of the LBV- component have changed remarkably over the past $\sim$40 years, providing a glimpse of the detailed information of how a binary LBV-type star may shape the circumstellar environment into which the eventual supernova ejecta will collide. One process that is shaping the CSM around HD 5980 is the interaction between the slow wind ejected during eruption and the fast wind that was subsequently “turned on”. In order to model the evolution of this interaction region, an accurate determination of the mass-loss rate and the wind velocity of HD 5980 is required. Because the optical emission lines are contaminated by other sources, only the P Cygni profiles observable in the UV spectral region provide unambiguous values for the current wind speed and mass-loss rate. In this proposal we are requesting 2 HST orbits to observe HD 5980 with STIS in order to obtain one FUV MAMA spectrum from which we will determine the current wind velocity and mass-loss rate of the LBV-type star. These data will also allow a more detailed analysis of the atmospheric structure of the LBV-type object in its quiescent state and, combined with ground-based observations, an analysis of the emission arising in the wind-wind collision region may be performed. Although HD5980 may be unique in our Galactic vicinity, it may be typical of massive star systems formed in low-metallicity regions in distant galaxies and thus, an understanding of HD5980 can provide further insight into the energetic phenomena present in the more distant, low-metallicity star- forming regions.

STIS/MA1/MA2 11857

STIS Cycle 17 MAMA Dark Monitor

This proposal monitors the behavior of the dark current in each of the MAMA detectors.

The basic monitor takes two 1380s ACCUM darks each week with each detector. However, starting Oct 5, pairs are only included for weeks that the LRP has external MAMA observations planned. The weekly pairs of exposures for each detector are linked so that they are taken at opposite ends of the same SAA free interval. This pairing of exposures will make it easier to separate long and short term temporal variability from temperature dependent changes.

For both detectors, additional blocks of exposures are taken once every six months. These are groups of five 1314s FUV-MAMA Time-Tag darks or five 3x315s NUV ACCUM darks distributed over a single SAA-free interval. This will give more information on the brightness of the FUV MAMA dark current as a function of the amount of time that the HV has been on, and for the NUV MAMA will give a better measure of the short term temperature dependence.

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

Analyses of ground test data showed that dark current signals are more reliably removed from science data using darks taken with the same exposure sequences as the science data, than with a single dark current image scaled by desired exposure time. Therefore, dark current images must be collected using all sample sequences that will be used in science observations. These observations will be used to monitor changes in the dark current of the WFC3-IR channel on a day-to-day basis, and to build calibration dark current ramps for each of the sample sequences to be used by GOs in Cycle 17. For each sample sequence/array size combination, a median ramp will be created and delivered to the calibration database system (CDBS).

WFC3/UVIS 11432

UVIS Internal Flats

This proposal will be used to assess the stability of the flat field structure for the UVIS detector. Flat fields will be obtained for all filters using the internal D2 and tungsten lamps.

This proposal corresponds to Activity Description ID WF19. It should execute only after the following proposals have executed:

WF08 – Proposal 11421
WF09 – Proposal 11422
WF11 – Proposal 11424
WF15 – Proposal 11428

WFC3/UVIS 11565

A Search for Astrometric Companions to Very Low-Mass, Population II Stars

We propose to carry out a Snapshot search for astrometric companions in a subsample of very low-mass, halo subdwarfs identified within 120 parsecs of the Sun. These ultra-cool M subdwarfs are local representatives of the lowest-mass H burning objects from the Galactic Population II. The expected 3-4 astrometric doubles that will be discovered will be invaluable in that they will be the first systems from which gravitational masses of metal-poor stars at the bottom of the main sequence can be directly measured.

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

The behavior of the WFC3 UVIS CCD will be monitored daily with a set of full-frame, four-amp bias and dark frames. A smaller set of 2Kx4K subarray biases are acquired at less frequent intervals throughout the cycle to support subarray science observations. The internals from this proposal, along with those from the anneal procedure (Proposal 11909), will be used to generate the necessary superbias and superdark reference files for the calibration pipeline (CDBS).

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      FAILURE TIMES

FGS GSAcq               04                  04

FGS REAcq               11                  11

OBAD with Maneuver      02                  01         253/07:40z

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)