Date: August 3rd 2006

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4169

PERIOD COVERED: UT August 2, 2006 (DOY 214)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC 10738

Earth Flats

Sky flats will be obtained by observing the bright Earth with the HRC and WFC These observations will be used to verify the accuracy of the flats currently in the pipeline and to monitor any changes Weekly coronagraphic monitoring is required to assess the changing position of the spots

ACS/HRC 10800

Kuiper Belt Binaries: Probes of Early Solar System Evolution

Binaries in the Kuiper Belt are a scientific windfall: in them we have relatively fragile test particles which can be used as tracers of the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System We propose to continue a Snapshot program using the ACS/HRC that has a demonstrated discovery potential an order of magnitude higher than the HST observations that have already discovered the majority of known transneptunian binaries With this continuation we seek to reach the original goals of this project: to accumulate a sufficiently large sample in each of the distinct populations collected in the Kuiper Belt to be able to measure, with statistical significance, how the fraction of binaries varies as a function of their particular dynamical paths into the Kuiper Belt Today's Kuiper Belt bears the imprints of the final stages of giant-planet building and migration; binaries may offer some of the best preserved evidence of that long-ago era

ACS/HRC/WFC 10758

ACS CCDs daily monitor

This program consists of a set of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD detectors The files, biases and dark will be used to create reference files for science calibration This programme will be for the entire lifetime of ACS Changes from cycle 13:- The default gain for WFC is 2 e- /DN As before bias frames will be collected for both gain 1 and gain 2 Dark frames are acquired using the default gain {2} This program cover the period May, 31 2006- Oct, 1- 2006 The first half of the program has a different proposal number: 10729

ACS/SBC 10736

ACS UV contamination monitor

The observations consist of imaging and spectroscopy with SBC and HRC of the cluster NGC 6681 in order to monitor the temporal evolution of the UV sensitivity of the SBC and the HRC All UV modes except for SBC PR130L will be used

ACS/WFC 10829

Secular Evolution at the End of the Hubble Sequence

The bulgeless disk galaxies at the end of the Hubble Sequence evolve at a glacial pace relative to their more violent, earlier-type cousins The causes of their internal, or secular evolution are important because secular evolution represents the future fate of all galaxies in our accelerating Universe and is a key ingredient to understanding galaxy evolution in lower-density environments at present The rate of secular evolution is largely determined by the stability of the cold ISM against collapse, star formation, and the buildup of a central bulge Key diagnostics of the ISM's stability are the presence of compact molecular clouds and narrow dust lanes Surprisingly, edge-on, pure disk galaxies with circular velocities below 120 km/s do not appear to contain such dust lanes We propose to obtain ACS/WFC F606W images of a well-selected sample of extremely late-type disk galaxies to measure the characteristic scale size of the cold ISM and determine if they possess the unstable, cold ISM necessary to drive secular evolution Our sample has been carefully constructed to include disk galaxies above and below the critical circular velocity of 120 km/s where the dust properties of edge-on disks change so remarkably We will then use surface brightness profiles to search for nuclear star clusters and pseudobulges, which are early indicators that secular evolution is at work, as well as measure the pitch angle of the dust lanes as a function of radius to estimate the central mass concentrations

ACS/WFC 10911

Calibration of ACS F814W Surface Brightness Fluctuations

The surface brightness fluctuations {SBF} method has emerged as the primary distance indicator for mapping local large-scale structures {Virgo, Fornax}, as well as the velocity field out to nearly 15,000 km/s {z < 0 05} This is because other precision distance indicators either lack the requisite depth {Cepheids, TRGB} or are too rare for adequate sampling {supernovae}, while more traditional methods {Tully-Fisher, fundamental plane} lack the necessary precision The SBF method is now being used with great success in several major ACS Wide Field Camera programs However, whereas the band of choice for the nearby structure studies has been F850LP, for the distant large-scale flow studies it is F814W because of its much greater throughput As a result, the current calibration for the more distant studies is inadequate We propose to establish the first systematic calibration of the SBF method in the important F814W ACS WFC bandpass We will do this by measuring SBF in an optimized sample of galaxies in the nearby compact Fornax cluster Given the large amount of effort and HST time being dedicated to F814W SBF measurements, it is imperative that we correct this outstanding calibration problem while time remains For an extremely modest expenditure of orbits, we will remove a significant systematic error and vastly improve the overall accuracy of the ongoing ACS F814W SBF work These data will also greatly enhance the legacy value of the HST archive for future SBF studies

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8794

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 5

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

NIC3 10538

Near-IR Spectrophotometry of 2MASSWJ 1207334-393254B - An Extra-Solar Planetary Mass Companion

We propose to obtain "short" wavelength near-IR diagnostic and characterizing spectra of the very high probability candidate extra-solar giant planet {EGP} companion to 2MASSWJ 1207334-393254 {2M1207}, a young brown dwarf and TW Hydrae Association member Recent NICMOS camera 1 multi-band photometric imaging of the companion candidate, 0 77" {54 AU projected} from 2M1207 - initially detected at longer wavelengths with VLT/NACO - implicate an object of several Jupiter masses based on cooling models of EGPs and the likely age of 2M1207 {~ 8 Myr} Physical companionship of the EGP candidate with 2M1207 has been established at the 99 1% level of confidence via second- epoch NICMOS astrometric observations Diagnostic spectra in the 0 8 to 1 9 micron region {unobtainable from the ground and overlapping the NICMOS imaging observations} will {a} critically inform on the physical nature of the EGP, {b} provide currently non-existing information to test/constrain theoretical models of EGP properties and evolution, and {c} unequivocally confirm the imaging of a bone fide EGP Background light from 2M1207 would normally swamp the EGP spectrum with direct spectral imaging To obviate this, we propose PSF-subtracted grism spectra of the EGP using 2M1207 as its own spectral template via two-orientation high-contrast image subtraction The temporal stability of the HST+NICMOS PSF enables self-subtractions of targets at different field orientations resulting in contrast enhancements of 5 to 6 stellar magnitudes in the circumstellar background at ~ 0 8" at these wavelengths With the grism field oriented to place the EGP "above" and "below" 2M1207 {at two observational epochs} two independent spectra of the EGP will emerge from a difference image This prototypical spectrum will serve to test and improve upon current models of young EGPs which predict flux suppression by molecular absorption in their atmospheres

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

10389 - GSAcq (2,3,3) failed to RGA control

GSAcq (2,3,3) scheduled at 215/07:14:08-07:21:31 failed to acquire lock with QF2STOPF and QSTOP flags set at 07:17:21 BAD RSS values were 1454 20 & 9 13 respectively

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                      SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq 12 11 FGS REacq 01 01 OBAD with Maneuver 26 26

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

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