HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science
DAILY
REPORT #5045
PERIOD
COVERED: 5am March 3 - 5am March 4, 2010 (DOY 062/10:00z-063/10:00z)
OBSERVATIONS
SCHEDULED
ACS/WFC
11995
CCD
Daily Monitor (Part 2)
This
program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and dark
current
of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels. The
recorded
frames are used to create bias and dark reference images for
science
data reduction and calibration. This program will be executed
four
days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of Cycle 17. To
facilitate
scheduling, this program is split into three proposals. This
proposal
covers 320 orbits (20 weeks) from 1 February 2010 to 20 June
2010.
ACS/WFC
12016
The
Stars and Edge-on Disks of PDS 144: An Intermediate-Mass Analog of
Wide
T Tauri Multiple Stars
High-Inclination
PMS stars are optimally oriented to measure disk size,
height,
to detect jets, and to directly probe disk composition. Placing
these
data into evolutionary context requires dates for the systems and
measurements
of L bol, and extinction. For such stars, X-ray data
provide
L x, but also N(H) and the total extinction. FUV data measures L
UV,
and constrains the shape of the extinction curve. Recent studies
have
suggested that the frequency of Jovian-mass planets is higher for
systems
with intermediate-mass stars, due to disk mass or composition.
While
suitable low mass YSOs are well-represented in the Chandra and HST
archives,
similar data are lacking for higher mass systems. We propose
joint
Chandra and HST imaging of PDS 144 to fill this gap.
COS/FUV/STIS/CCD/MA1
11592
Testing
the Origin(s) of the Highly Ionized High-Velocity Clouds: A
Survey
of Galactic Halo Stars at z>3 kpc
Cosmological
simulation predicts that highly ionized gas plays an
important
role in the formation and evolution of galaxies and their
interplay
with the intergalactic medium. The NASA HST and FUSE missions
have
revealed high-velocity CIV and OVI absorption along extragalactic
sightlines
through the Galactic halo. These highly ionized high-velocity
clouds
(HVCs) could cover 85% of the sky and have a detection rate
higher
than the HI HVCs. Two competing, equally exciting, theories may
explain
the origin of these highly ionized HVCs: 1) the "Galactic"
theory,
where the HVCs are the result of feedback processes and trace
the
disk-halo mass exchange, perhaps including the accretion of matter
condensing
from an extended corona; 2) the "Local Group" theory, where
they
are part of the local warm-hot intergalactic medium, representing
some
of the missing baryonic matter of the Universe. Only direct
distance
determinations can discriminate between these models. Our group
has
found that some of these highly ionized HVCs have a Galactic origin,
based
on STIS observations of one star at z<5.3 kpc. We propose an HST
FUV
spectral survey to search for and characterize the high velocity NV,
CIV,
and SiIV interstellar absorption toward 24 stars at much larger
distances
than any previous searches (4<d<21 kpc, 3<|z|<13 kpc). COS
will
provide atomic to highly ionized species (e.g.,OI, CII, CIV, SiIV)
that
can be observed at sufficient resolution (R~22, 000) to not only
detect
these highly ionized HVCs but also to model their properties and
understand
their physics and origins. This survey is only possible
because
of the high sensitivity of COS in the FUV spectral range.
COS/NUV
11896
NUV
Spectroscopic Sensitivity Monitoring
The
purpose of this proposal is to monitor sensitivity of each NUV
grating
mode to detect any changes due to contamination or other causes.
STIS/CCD
11612
Eta
Carinae's Continuing Instability and Recovery - The 2009 Event
Eta
Carinae is the only really observable example of structural recovery
from
a massive giant eruption, a "supernova imposter' event. Moreover it
is
the only well-observed star above 100 Msun, and its
5.5-year-recurrent
spectroscopic events provide extraordinary clues to
its
surface instability. This truly unique combination of attributes
makes
it valuable for understanding the most massive stars. A fresh
development
arose a few years ago: the star has brightened much faster
than
before, and appears to have entered a rapid stage in its
post-eruption
recovery.
A
spectroscopic event will occur at 2009.0, soon after the planned HST
servicing
mission. Because of the recent secular trend, this event is
expected
to differ from its well-observed 2003.5 predecessor. The
differences
will be very important, because they offer clues to very-
massive-star
structural instabilities that can't be observed in any
other
known way.
Some
of the needed observations require HST's high spatial resolution
and
UV coverage. We propose an efficient, well-chosen set of STIS and
ACS
observations around the critical time. If the servicing mission is
too
late for the event, then a subset of the observations will still be
merited.
STIS/CCD
11703
The
Nature of the Black Hole in a NGC 4472 Globular Cluster and the
Origin
of Its Broad [OIII] Emission
We
propose to use STIS to obtain optical spectroscopy at high spatial
resolution
of the black hole-hosting globular cluster RZ2109 in the
Virgo
elliptical NGC 4472. This is motivated by our very recent
discovery
broad [OIII] 4959, 5007 emission with a width of several
thousand
km/s in this globular cluster. The STIS spectroscopy will
enable
us to determine if the very broad [OIII] emission is due to
material
driven at high velocity from the central accreting black hole
across
the globular cluster, or if the velocity widths are due to
gravitational
motions very close to the central black hole. In the
former
case, the [OIII] emission should extend over a few-tenths of an
arcsecond
and be spatially resolved by HST and STIS, while in the latter
case,
the emission lines will be unresolved. Distinguishing between
these
two possibilities will allow us to - 1) determine whether the
black
hole is of intermediate mass or a stellar mass, and thereby
whether
the black hole mass - sigma relation extends to globular cluster
masses,
2) test models of black hole formation and evolution in dense
stellar
systems, and 3) address the nature of accretion in the high
luminosity
black-hole X-ray source, and constrain the feedback processes
from
luminous black holes into their surrounding medium in dense stellar
systems.
STIS/CCD
11844
CCD
Dark Monitor Part 1
The
purpose of this proposal is to monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.
STIS/CCD
11846
CCD
Bias Monitor-Part 1
The
purpose of this proposal is to monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2,
2x1,
and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1x1 at gain = 4, to build up
high-S/N
superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns.
WFC3/ACS/UVIS
11877
HST
Cycle 17 and Post-SM4 Optical Monitor
This
program is the Cycle 17 implementation of the HST Optical
Monitoring
Program.
The
36 orbits comprising this proposal will utilize ACS (Wide Field
Channel)
and WFC3 (UVIS Channel) to observe stellar cluster members in
parallel
with multiple exposures over an orbit. Phase retrieval
performed
on the PSF in each image will be used to measure primarily
focus,
with the ability to explore apparent coma, and astigmatism
changes
in WFC3.
The
goals of this program are to: 1) monitor the overall OTA focal
length
for the purposes of maintaining focus within science tolerances
2)
gain experience with the relative effectiveness of phase retrieval on
WFC3/UVIS
PSFs 3) determine focus offset between the imagers and
identify
any SI-specific focus behavior and dependencies
If
need is determined, future visits will be modified to interleave
WFC3/IR
channel and STIS/CCD focii measurements.
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
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
11908
Cycle
17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor
Ground
testing revealed an intermittent hysteresis type effect in the
UVIS
detector (both CCDs) at the level of ~1%, lasting hours to days.
Initially
found via an unexpected bowtie-shaped feature in flatfield
ratios,
subsequent lab tests on similar e2v devices have since shown
that
it is also present as simply an overall offset across the entire
CCD,
i.e., a QE offset without any discernable pattern. These lab tests
have
further revealed that overexposing the detector to count levels
several
times full well fills the traps and effectively neutralizes the
bowtie.
Each visit in this proposal acquires a set of three 3x3 binned
internal
flatfields: the first unsaturated image will be used to detect
any
bowtie, the second, highly exposed image will neutralize the bowtie
if
it is present, and the final image will allow for verification that
the
bowtie is gone.
WFC3/UVIS/IR
11909
UVIS
Hot Pixel Anneal
The
on-orbit radiation environment of WFC3 will continually generate new
hot
pixels. This proposal performs the procedure required for repairing
those
hot pixels in the UVIS CCDs. During an anneal, the two-stage
thermo-electric
cooler (TEC) is turned off and the four-stage TEC is
used
as a heater to bring the UVIS CCDs up to ~20 deg. C. As a result of
the
CCD warmup, a majority of the hot pixels will be fixed; previous
instruments
such as WFPC2 and ACS have seen repair rates of about 80%.
Internal
UVIS exposures are taken before and after each anneal, to allow
an
assessment of the procedure's effectiveness in WFC3, provide a check
of
bias, global dark current, and hot pixel levels, as well as support
hysteresis
(bowtie) monitoring and CDBS reference file generation. One
IR
dark is taken after each anneal, to provide a check of the IR
detector.
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: (None)
COMPLETED
OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS
GSAcq
06
06
FGS
REAcq
09
09
OBAD
with Maneuver 06 06
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS: (None)