HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class
Science
DAILY REPORT #4848
PERIOD COVERED: 5am May 5 - 5am May 6, 2009 (DOY
125/0900z-126/0900z)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
S/C 4974
TRTTEST
The Transient Response Test is for the periodic
performance monitoring
of the FGS 2R servo A mechanism.
WFPC2 11327
Red Leaks
The aim of this program is to measure the red leaks in the
8 WFPC2 UV???
filters (F122M, F300W, F255W, F218W, F185W, F170W, F160BW,
F122M). We
will use red crossing filters to isolate and directly
measure the leaks.
No observations of this kind have ever been performed with
WFPC2 to
check the red leaks in the UV filters, most of them being
extensively
used by GO/GTO programs. A previous calibration program
has only imaged
spectrophotometric standard stars with UV filters (no
filter crossing)
thus the red leak is hard to measure using this data. The
throughput
curves for some of the UV filters (F300W, F255W, F218W,
F185W) in
synphot have incomplete information, some of them have
gaps in the
measurements as wide as 3000A.
WFPC2 11603
A Comprehensive Study of Dust Formation in Type II
Supernovae with HST,
Spitzer and Gemini
The recent discovery of three extremely bright Type II
SNe, (2007it,
2007oc, 2007od) gives us a unique opportunity to combine
observations
with HST, Spitzer and Gemini to study the little
understood dust
formation process in Type II SNe. Priority 1 Spitzer Cycle
5 and band 1
Gemini 2008A time has already been approved for this
project. Since
late-time Type II SNe are faint and tend to be in crowded
fields, we
need the high sensitivity and high spatial resolution of
ACS/HRC and
NICMOS/NIC2 for these observations. This project is
motivated by the
recent detection of large amounts of dust in high redshift
galaxies. The
dust in these high-z galaxies must come from young,
massive stars so
Type II SNe could be potential sources. The mechanism and
the efficiency
of dust condensation in Type II SN ejecta are not well
understood,
largely due to the lack of observational data. We plan to
produce a
unique dataset, combining spectroscopy and imaging in the
visible, near-
and mid-IR covering the key phase, 400-700 days after
maximum when dust
is known to form in the SN ejecta. Therefore, we are
proposing for
coordinated HST/NOAO observations (HST ACS/HRC,
NICMOS/NIC2 &
Gemini/GMOS and TReCS) which will be combined with our
Spitzer Cycle 5
data to study these new bright SNe. The results of this
program will
place strong constraints on the formation of dust seen in
young high
redshift (z>5) galaxies.
WFPC2 11793
WFPC2 Cycle 16 Internal Monitor
This calibration proposal is the Cycle 15 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 11987
The Recent Star Formation History of SINGS Galaxies
The Spitzer Legacy project SINGS provided a unique view of
the current
state of star formation and dust in a sample of galaxies
of all Hubble
types. This multi-wavelength view allowed the team to
create current
star formation diagnostics that are independent of the
dust content and
increased our understanding of the dust in galaxies. Even
so, using the
SINGS data alone we can only make rough estimates of the
recent star
formation history of these galaxies. The lack of U-band
observations
means that it is impossible to estimate the ages of young
clusters. In
addition, the low resolution of the Spitzer and
ground-based
observations means that what appear to be individual
Spitzer sources can
actually be composed of many individual clusters with
varying ages. In
this proposal we plan to address this missing area in
SINGS by obtaining
high-resolution WFPC2 UBVI observations to accurately find
and determine
the ages of the young stellar clusters in a subset of the
SINGS
galaxies. These observations will greatly enhance the
legacy value of
the SINGS observations while also directly answering
questions
pertaining to star formation in galaxies.
WFPC2 11988
Searching for Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Globular
Clusters via
Proper Motions
The unambiguous detection of an intermediate mas black
hole (IMBH) in a
globular star cluster would be a major achievement for the
Hubble Space
Telescope. It is critical to know whether or not IMBHs
exist in the
centers of clusters in order to understand the dynamical
evolution of
dense stellar systems. Also, n IMBH detection would prove
the existence
of BHs in an entirely new mass range. Observationally, the
search has
been hampered by the low number of stars with known
velocities in the
central few arcseconds. This limits measurements of the
stellar velocity
dispersion in the region where the gravitational influence
of any IMBH
would be felt. Existing IMBH claims in the literature have
all been
called into question, and have all been based on
line-of-sight
velocities from spectroscopy. In cycle 13, we obtained
ACS/HRC
observations for 5 nearby Galactic globular clusters for a
new proper
motion study. Here, we request WFPC2/PC observations of
these clusters,
all of which are observable in Feb-May 2009. This 4 year
baseline will
allow us to measure the proper motions of stars into the
very center of
each cluster, and either detect or place firm constraints
on the
presence of an IMBH. In addition, we will determine
whether or not the
clusters rotate or show any anisotropy in their motions.
Our small (<75
orbit) program meets the criteria of addressing high
impact science
(IMBH detection) using innovative methods (proper
motions).
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are
preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)
HSTARS:
11789 - GSAcq (1,2,2) scheduled at 126/01:42:58 failed due
to search radius
limit exceeded. REAcq (1,2,2) scheduled from 126/03:05:51 - 03:13:22,
26/04:47 - 04:54:47 and from 126/06:29:15 - 06:36:46 all failed to RGA
Hold.
Observation affected: WFPC 120 - 123, Proposal ID# 11987
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
18422-1 - TRTT #22 Execution @ 125/1432z
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED
SUCCESSFUL
FGS
GSAcq
03
02
FGS REAcq
07
04
OBAD with Maneuver
24
24
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
The last planned execution of the FGS-2R Transient
Response Trending Test was
successfully completed at 125/14:23z via Ops Request 18422.