NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Report #5159
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DAILY REPORT #5159
Continuing to Collect World Class Science
PERIOD COVERED: 5am August 12 – 5am August 13, 2010 (DOY 223/09:00z-224/09:00z)
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS:
12353 – GSAcq(2,1,1) at 224/10:01:19z and REAcq(2,1,1) at 224/11:33z Resulted in Fine Lock Backup on FGS2.
Observations possibly affected ACS 49-60 Proposal ID#11655; WFC3 116-118 Proposal ID#11905.
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq 10 10
FGS REAcq 07 07
OBAD with Maneuver 09 09
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
ACS/WFC 11655
Dynamics of the Galactic Bulge/bar
We request second-epoch ACS observations of four star fields in the Galactic bar. These will allow us to measure proper motions for tens of thousands of stars well below the turnoff, to construct a dynamical model for the bulge/bar (in combination with data already in hand from other HST fields, and from VLT spectroscopy), and hence to take a unique look at the internal dynamical structure of the central regions of our Galaxy. By relating the kinematics with stellar population we can elucidate the formation history of the bulge and bar, and their relation to the surrounding Galactic disk. This is a resubmission of an approved Cycle 15 proposal that was hit by the ACS malfunction.
ACS/WFC/WFC3/IR/UV 12056
A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury – I
We propose to image the north east quadrant of M31 to deep limits in the UV, optical, and near-IR. HST imaging should resolve the galaxy into more than 100 million stars, all with common distances and foreground extinctions. UV through NIR stellar photometry (F275W, F336W with WFC3/UVIS, F475W and F814W with ACS/WFC, and F110W and F160W with WFC3/NIR) will provide effective temperatures for a wide range of spectral types, while simultaneously mapping M31’s extinction. Our central science drivers are to: understand high-mass variations in the stellar IMF as a function of SFR intensity and metallicity; capture the spatially-resolved star formation history of M31; study a vast sample of stellar clusters with a range of ages and metallicities. These are central to understanding stellar evolution and clustered star formation; constraining ISM energetics; and understanding the counterparts and environments of transient objects (novae, SNe, variable stars, x-ray sources, etc.). As its legacy, this survey adds M31 to the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds as a fundamental calibrator of stellar evolution and star-formation processes for understanding the stellar populations of distant galaxies. Effective exposure times are 977s in F275W, 1368s in F336W, 4040s in F475W, 4042s in F814W, 699s in F110W, and 1796s in F160W, including short exposures to avoid saturation of bright sources. These depths will produce photon-limited images in the UV. Images will be crowding-limited in the optical and NIR, but will reach below the red clump at all radii. The images will reach the Nyquist sampling limit in F160W, F475W, and F814W.
COS/NUV 11705
Physical Properties of Quasar Outflows: From BALs to Mini-BALs
Accretion disk outflows are important components of quasar environments. They might play a major role in facilitating accretion, regulating star formation in the host galaxies and distributing metals to the surrounding gas. They reveal themselves most conspicuously via broad absorption lines (BALs), but they appear even more frequently in other guises such as the weaker and narrower “mini-BALs.” How are these diverse outflow features related? Are mini-BALs really just “mini” versions of the BALs, or do they represent a fundamentally different type of outflow, with different degrees of ionization, column densities, mass loss rates, physical origins, etc.?
We propose HST-COS spectroscopy to make the first quantitative assessment of the outflow physical conditions across the full range of weak/narrow mini-BALs to strong/broad BALs. Our strategy is to measure key diagnostic lines (SVI, OVI, CIII, SIV, PV, etc.) at 930A – 1130A (rest- frame) in a sample of 7 outflow quasars with known mini-BALs through weak BALs. We will then 1) combine the COS data with ground-based spectra of the same quasars to include more lines (CIV, SiIV) at longer wavelengths, and 2) include in our analysis a nearly identical UV/optical dataset obtained previously for a sample of quasars with strong BALs. Our study of this combined dataset will be an essential next step toward a more global understanding of quasar outflows.
STIS/CCD 11845
CCD Dark Monitor Part 2
Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.
STIS/CCD 11847
CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2
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.
WFC3/ACS/IR 11563
Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to <0.2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields The first generations of galaxies were assembled around redshifts z~7-10+, just 500-800 Myr after recombination, in the heart of the reionization of the universe. We know very little about galaxies in this period. Despite great effort with HST and other telescopes, less than ~15 galaxies have been reliably detected so far at z>7, contrasting with the ~1000 galaxies detected to date at z~6, just 200-400 Myr later, near the end of the reionization epoch. WFC3 IR can dramatically change this situation, enabling derivation of the galaxy luminosity function and its shape at z~7-8 to well below L*, measurement of the UV luminosity density at z~7-8 and z~8-9, and estimates of the contribution of galaxies to reionization at these epochs, as well as characterization of their properties (sizes, structure, colors). A quantitative leap in our understanding of early galaxies, and the timescales of their buildup, requires a total sample of ~100 galaxies at z~7-8 to ~29 AB mag. We can achieve this with 192 WFC3 IR orbits on three disjoint fields (minimizing cosmic variance): the HUDF and the two nearby deep fields of the HUDF05. Our program uses three WFC3 IR filters, and leverages over 600 orbits of existing ACS data, to identify, with low contamination, a large sample of over 100 objects at z~7-8, a very useful sample of ~23 at z~8-9, and limits at z~10. By careful placement of the WFC3 IR and parallel ACS pointings, we also enhance the optical ACS imaging on the HUDF and a HUDF05 field. We stress (1) the need to go deep, which is paramount to define L*, the shape, and the slope alpha of the luminosity function (LF) at these high redshifts; and (2) the far superior performance of our strategy, compared with the use of strong lensing clusters, in detecting significant samples of faint z~7-8 galaxies to derive their luminosity function and UV ionizing flux. Our recent z~7.4 NICMOS results show that wide-area IR surveys, even of GOODS-like depth, simply do not reach faint enough at z~7-9 to meet the LF and UV flux objectives. In the spirit of the HDF and the HUDF, we will waive any proprietary period, and will also deliver the reduced data to STScI. The proposed data will provide a Legacy resource of great value for a wide range of archival science investigations of galaxies at redshifts z~2-9. The data are likely to remain the deepest IR/optical images until JWST is launched, and will provide sources for spectroscopic follow up by JWST, ALMA and EVLA.
WFC3/IR 11696
Infrared Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
We propose to use the unique power of WFC3 slitless spectroscopy to measure the evolution of cosmic star formation from the end of the reionization epoch at z>6 to the close of the galaxy- building era at z~0.3.Pure parallel observations with the grisms have proven to be efficient for identifying line emission from galaxies across a broad range of redshifts. The G102 grism on WFC3 was designed to extend this capability to search for Ly-alpha emission from the first galaxies. Using up to 250 orbits of pure parallel WFC3 spectroscopy, we will observe about 40 deep (4-5 orbit) fields with the combination of G102 and G141, and about 20 shallow (2-3 orbit) fields with G141 alone.
Our primary science goals at the highest redshifts are: (1) Detect Lya in ~100 galaxies with z>5.6 and measure the evolution of the Lya luminosity function, independent of of cosmic variance; 2) Determine the connection between emission line selected and continuum-break selected galaxies at these high redshifts, and 3) Search for the proposed signature of neutral hydrogen absorption at re-ionization. At intermediate redshifts we will (4) Detect more than 1000 galaxies in Halpha at 0.5< z<1.8 to measure the evolution of the extinction-corrected star formation density across the peak epoch of star formation. This is over an order-of-magnitude improvement in the current statistics, from the NICMOS Parallel grism survey. (5) Trace ``cosmic downsizing" from 0.5< z<2.2; and (6) Estimate the evolution in reddening and metallicty in star- forming galaxies and measure the evolution of the Seyfert population. For hundreds of spectra we will be able to measure one or even two line pair ratios -- in particular, the Balmer decrement and [OII]/[OIII] are sensitive to gas reddening and metallicity. As a bonus, the G102 grism offers the possibility of detecting Lya emission at z=7-8.8. To identify single-line Lya emitters, we will exploit the wide 0.8–1.9um wavelength coverage of the combined G102+G141 spectra. All [OII] and [OIII] interlopers detected in G102 will be reliably separated from true LAEs by the detection of at least one strong line in the G141 spectrum, without the need for any ancillary data. We waive all proprietary rights to our data and will make high-level data products available through the ST/ECF. 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 11903 UVIS Photometric Zero Points This proposal obtains the photometric zero points in 53 of the 62 UVIS/WFC3 filters: the 18 broad-band filters, 8 medium-band filters, 16 narrow-band filters, and 11 of the 20 quad filters (those being used in cycle 17). The observations will be primary obtained by observing the hot DA white dwarf standards GD153 and G191-B2B. A redder secondary standard, P330E, will be observed in a subset of the filters to provide color corrections. Repeat observations in 16 of the most widely used cycle 17 filters will be obtained once per month for the first three months, and then once every second month for the duration of cycle 17, alternating and depending on target availability. These observations will enable monitoring of the stability of the photometric system. Photometric transformation equations will be calculated by comparing the photometry of stars in two globular clusters, 47 Tuc and NGC 2419, to previous measurements with other telescopes/instruments. 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). WFC3/UVIS/IR 11702 Search for Very High-z Galaxies with WFC3 Pure Parallel WFC3 will provide an unprecedented probe to the early universe beyond the current redshift frontier. Here we propose a pure parallel program using this new instrument to search for Lyman-break galaxies at 6.5< z<8.8 and to probe the epoch of reionization, a hallmark event in the history of the early universe. We request 200 orbits, spreading over 30 ~ 50 high Galactic latitude visits (|b|>20deg) that last for 4 orbits and longer, resulting a total survey area of about 140~230 square arcminute. Based on our understanding of the new HST parallel observation scheduling process, we believe that the total number of long-duration pure parallel visits in Cycle 17 should be sufficient to accommodate our program. We waive all proprietary rights to our data, and will also make the enhanced data products public in a timely manner.
(1) We will use both the UVIS and the IR channels, and do not need to seek optical data from elsewhere.
(2) Our program will likely triple the size of the probable candidate samples at z~7 and z~8, and will complement other targeted programs aiming at the similar redshift range.
(3) Being a pure parallel program, our survey will only make very limited demand on the scarce HST resources. More importantly, as the pure parallel pointings will be at random sight-lines, our program will be least affected by the bias due to the large scale structure (“cosmic variance”).
(4) We aim at the most luminous LBG population, and will address the bright-end of the luminosity function at z~8 and z~7. We will constrain the value of L* in particular, which is critical for understanding the star formation process and the stellar mass assembly history in the first few hundred million years of the universe.
(5) The candidates from our survey, most of which will be the brightest ones that any surveys would be able to find, will have the best chance to be spectroscopically confirmed at the current 8–10m telescopes.
(6) We will also find a large number of extremely red, old galaxies at intermediate redshifts, and the fine spatial resolution offered by the WFC3 will enable us constrain their formation history based on the study of their morphology, and hence shed light on their connection to the very early galaxies in the universe.
