NASA Hubble Space Telescope Daily Status Report # 3561

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE – Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 3561

PERIOD COVERED: DOYs 58-60

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

NICMOS 9750

The Galactic Bulge Deep Field: A Planetary Transit Survey and Very
Deep Stellar Mass Function

We propose to observe a Galactic bulge field continuously with ACS/WFC
over a 7-day period. We will monitor ~167, 000 F, G, and K dwarfs down
to V=23, in order to detect transits by orbiting Jovian planets. If
the frequency of "hot Jupiters" is similar to that in the solar
neighborhood, we will detect over 100 planets, more than doubling the
number of extrasolar planets known. For the brighter stars with
transits, we will confirm the planetary nature of the companions
through radial- velocity measurements using the 8-m VLT. We will
determine the metallicities of most of the planet-bearing stars as
well as a control sample, through follow-up VLT spectroscopy. The
metallicities of the target stars range over more than 1.5 dex,
allowing for a determination of the dependence of planet frequency
upon metallicity–a crucial element in understanding planet formation.
We will be able to discriminate between the equally numerous disk and
bulge stars via proper motions. Hence we will determine, for the first
time, the frequencies of planets in two entirely different stellar
populations. We will also determine for the first time the
distribution of planetary radii for extrasolar planets for both these
populations. Parallel observations with NICMOS will provide ultra-deep
near-infrared images of a nearby bulge field, which will be used to
determine the stellar luminosity and mass functions down to the
brown-dwarf regime. The data will also be useful for a variety of
spinoff projects, including a census of variable stars and of hot
white dwarfs in the bulge, and the metallicity distribution of bulge
dwarfs.

NICMOS 8791

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration – CR Persistence Part 2

A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of
NICMOS. Dark frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA
contour 23, and every time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50
minutes of coming out of the SAA. The darks will be obtained in
parallel in all three NICMOS Cameras. The POST-SAA darks will be
non-standard reference files available to users with a USEAFTER
date/time mark. The keyword ‘USEAFTER=date/time’ will also be added to
the header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword must be populated
with the time, in addition to the date, because HST crosses the SAA ~8
times per day so each POST-SAA DARK will need to have the appropriate
time specified, for users to identify the ones they need. Both the raw
and processed images will be archived as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally we
expect that all NICMOS science/calibration observations started within
50 minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to remove the CR
persistence from the science images. Each observation will need its
own CRMAP, as different SAA passages leave different imprints on the
NICMOS detectors.

STIS/CCD 10085

STIS Pure Parallel Imaging Program: Cycle 12

This is the default archival pure parallel program for STIS during
cycle 12.

WFPC2 10084

WFII parallel archive proposal

This is the generic target version of the WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallel
program. The program will be used to take parallel images of random
areas of the sky, following the recommendations of the 2002 Parallels
Working Group.

WFPC2 10070

WFPC2 CYCLE 12 Supplemental Darks Part 2/3

This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to
provide data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot
pixels.

ACS/HRC/WFC 10059

CCD Daily Monitor

This program consists of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the
development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD
detectors. This programme will be executed once a day for the entire
lifetime of ACS.

STIS/CCD 10019

CCD Bias Monitor – Part 1

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 10017

CCD Dark Monitor-Part 1

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary
reports of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)

HSTAR 9340: GS Reacquisition (3,2,3) @ 060/04:56:46Z required two
attempts to achieve FL-DV on FGS 2. During first FL walk down, FGS 2
suffered SSLEX. As the second attempt was successful, no science
impact should have been seen. Under investigation.

HSTAR 9341: GS Acquisition (1,2,1) @ 061/09:06:19Z failed to RGA
control due to SRLE on FGS 1 and 2. FHST Map @ 061/09:16:21Z showed
errors of -4.491, 1.737, and -8.966. GS Requisition (1,2,1) @
061/10:38:15Z also failed due to SRLE on FGS 2. Under investigation.

COMPLETED OPS REQs: None

OPS NOTES EXECUTED:
915-2 HSTAR Requirements for FHST Map/Update Failures (Open)

                            SCHEDULED     SUCCESSFUL    FAILURE TIMES
FGS GSacq                14                        13             (see 
HSTAR 9341)
FGS REacq                30                        30
FHST Update              20                        20
LOSS of LOCK

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: None