Date: September 23rd 2006

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4204

PERIOD COVERED: UT September 21, 2006 (DOY 264)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC 10547

A SNAP Program to Obtain Complete Wavelength Coverage of Interstellar Extinction

We propose a SNAP program to obtain ACS/HRC spectra in the near-UV {PR200L} and near-IR {G800L} for a set of main sequence B stars with available IUE UV spectrophotometry, optical photometry, and 2MASS IR photometry Together with these existing data, the new observations will provide complete photometric and spectrophotometric coverage from 1150 to 11000 A and enable us to produce complete extinction curves from the far-UV to the near-IR, with well- determined values of R{V} The proposed set of 50 program sight lines includes the full range of interstellar extinction curve types and a wide range of color excesses The new data will allow us to examine variability in the near-UV through near-IR spectral regions, including the UV-optical "knee" and the "Very Broad Structure " We will examine the response of these features to different interstellar environments and their relationship to other curve features These are largely unexplored aspects of extinction curves which will provide additional constraints on the properties of interstellar grains The curves will be derived using stellar atmosphere models to represent the intrinsic spectral energy distributions of the program stars, eliminating the need to observe unreddened "standard stars " This approach virtually eliminates "mismatch error", allowing us to derive extinction curves with much higher precision than previously possible In addition, the new spectra will provide higher S/N data for the peak of the 2175 A bump than previously available

ACS/HRC 10556

Neutral Gas at Redshift z=0 5

Damped Lyman-alpha systems {DLAs} are used to track the bulk of the neutral hydrogen gas in the Universe Prior to HST UV spectroscopy, they could only be studied from the ground at redshifts z>1 65 However, HST has now permitted us to discover 41 DLAs at z<1 65 in our previous surveys Followup studies of these systems are providing a wealth of information about the evolution of the neutral gas phase component of the Universe But one problem is that these 41 low-redshift systems are spread over a wide range of redshifts spanning nearly 70% of the age of the Universe Consequently, past surveys for low-redshift DLAs have not been able to offer very good precision in any small redshift regime Here we propose an ACS-HRC- PR200L spectroscopic survey in the redshift interval z=[0 37, 0 7] which we estimate will permit us to discover another 41 DLAs This will not only allow us to double the number of low-redshift DLAs, but it will also provide a relatively high-precision regime in the low-redshift Universe that can be used to anchor evolutionary studies Fortunately DLAs have high absorption equivalent width, so ACS-HRC-PR200L has high-enough resoultion to perform this proposed MgII-selected DLA survey

ACS/SBC 10872

Lyman Continuum Emission in Galaxies at z=1 2

Lyman continuum photons produced in massive starbursts may have played a dominant role in the reionization of the Universe Starbursts are important contributors to the ionizing metagalactic background at lower redshifts as well However, their contribution to the background depends upon the fraction of ionizing radiation that escapes from the intrinsic opacity of galaxies below the Lyman limit Current surveys suggest escape fractions of a few percent, up to 10%, with very few detections {as opposed to upper limits} having been reported No detections have been reported in the epochs between z=0 1 and z=2 We propose to measure the fraction of escaping Lyman continuum radiation from 15 luminous z~1 2 galaxies in the GOODS fields Using the tremendous sensitivity of the ACS Solar-blind Channel, we will reach AB=30 mag , allowing us to detect an escape fraction of 1% We will correlate the amount of escaping radiation with the photometric and morphological properties of the galaxies A non-detection in all sources would imply that QSOs provide the overwhelming majority of ionizing radiation at z=1 3, and it would strongly indicate that the properties of galaxies at higher redshift have to be significantly different for galaxies to dominate reionization The deep FUV images will also be useful for extending the FUV study of other galaxies in the GOODS fields

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 4

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

NIC2 10906

The Fundamental Plane of Massive Gas-Rich Mergers: II The QUEST QSOs

We propose deep NICMOS H-band imaging of a carefully selected sample of 23 local QSOs This program is the last critical element of a comprehensive investigation of the most luminous mergers in the nearby universe, the ultraluminous infrared galaxies {ULIRGs} and the quasars This effort is called QUEST: Quasar / ULIRG Evolutionary STudy The high-resolution HST images of the QUEST QSOs will complement an identical set of images on the ULIRG sample obtained during Cycle 12, an extensive set of ground-based data that include long-slit NIR spectra from a Large VLT Program, and a large set of mid-infrared spectra from a Cycle 1 medium-size program with Spitzer This unique dataset will allow us to derive with unprecedented precision structual, kinematic, and activity parameters for a large unbiased sample of objects spanning the entire ULIRG/QSO luminosity function These data will refine the fundamental plane of massive gas-rich mergers and enable us to answer the following quesitons: {1} Do ultraluminous mergers form elliptical galaxies, and in particular, giant ellipticals? {2} Do ULIRGs evolve into optical bright QSOs? The results from this detailed study of massive mergers in the local universe will be relevant to understanding the basic physical processes involved in creating massive early-type host on the one hand, and growing/feeding embedded massive black holes on the other, in major galaxy mergers This is an important question since 50% of cosmic star formation at high-z and most of the big BHs appear to be formed in this process

WFPC2 10745

WFPC2 CYCLE 14 INTERNAL MONITOR

This calibration proposal is the Cycle 14 routine internal monitor for WFPC2, to be run weekly to monitor the health of the cameras A variety of internal exposures are obtained in order to provide a monitor of the integrity of the CCD camera electronics in both bays {both gain 7 and gain 15 -- to test stability of gains and bias levels}, a test for quantum efficiency in the CCDs, and a monitor for possible buildup of contaminants on the CCD windows These also provide raw data for generating annual super-bias reference files for the calibration pipeline

WFPC2 10915

ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey

Existing HST observations of nearby galaxies comprise a sparse and highly non-uniform archive, making comprehensive comparative studies among galaxies essentially impossible We propose to secure HST's lasting impact on the study of nearby galaxies by undertaking a systematic, complete, and carefully crafted imaging survey of ALL galaxies in the Local Universe outside the Local Group The resulting images will allow unprecedented measurements of: {1} the star formation history {SFH} of a >100 Mpc^3 volume of the Universe with a time resolution of Delta[log{t}]=0 25; {2} correlations between spatially resolved SFHs and environment; {3} the structure and properties of thick disks and stellar halos; and {4} the color distributions, sizes, and specific frequencies of globular and disk clusters as a function of galaxy mass and environment To reach these goals, we will use a combination of wide-field tiling and pointed deep imaging to obtain uniform data on all 72 galaxies within a volume-limited sample extending to ~3 5 Mpc, with an extension to the M81 group For each galaxy, the wide-field imaging will cover out to ~1 5 times the optical radius and will reach photometric depths of at least 2 magnitudes below the tip of the red giant branch throughout the limits of the survey volume One additional deep pointing per galaxy will reach SNR~10 for red clump stars, sufficient to recover the ancient SFH from the color-magnitude diagram This proposal will produce photometric information for ~100 million stars {comparable to the number in the SDSS survey} and uniform multi-color images of half a square degree of sky The resulting archive will establish the fundamental optical database for nearby galaxies, in preparation for the shift of high-resolution imaging to the near-infrared

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: 17926-0 - Eclipse Management, GMT Day 265 (In progress Last step executed = step 4 17922-1 - Patch SOC1 and SOC2 Safing Limits in support of DOY 265 Solar Eclipse event

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                   SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq 05 05 FGS REacq 09 09 OBAD with Maneuver 28 28

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

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