Date: June 22nd 2010

sci astro hubble http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble?hl=en

sci astro hubble@googlegroups com

Today's topics:

Daily Report #5118 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/642929b7834b888c?hl=en
Daily Report #5119 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/778b6f3a9fbb9eea?hl=en
Daily Report #5120 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/f9c38bdbc1b1b552?hl=en
Daily Report #5121 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/c8f07cc7f105e3d8?hl=en

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5118

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/642929b7834b888c?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Wed, Jun 16 2010 7:15Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5118

PERIOD COVERED: 5am June 15 - 5am June 16, 2010 (DOY 166/09:00z-167/09:00z)

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 6 6 FGS REAcq 9 9 OBAD with Maneuver 4 4

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

COS/NUV 11538

COS-GTO: Imaging of Mid-UV Emissions from Io in Eclipse

The atmosphere and corona of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io emit light at a wide variety of wavelengths, from FUV neutral O and S lines to SO emission at 1 7 microns These emissions provide important constraints on the distribution and chemistry of Io's atmosphere, and Io's interaction with the Jovian magnetosphere The neutral O and S FUV emissions, shortward of 2000, have been imaged extensively by HST/STIS and visible emissions (from neutral Na, K and O line emission, and SO2 continuum emission) have been imaged by the Galileo, Cassini, and New Horizons spacecraft, but the spatial distribution of emissions in the 2000-3000 region, thought to be dominated by SO2 electron impact continuum emission, has not yet been determined Earlier long-slit observations with STIS indicated strong concentration of 2800? emission over the active volcano Prometheus (Jessup et al 2004), suggesting local volcanic control, but Cassini images suggest that the SO2 continuum seen at longer wavelengths is instead concentrated over the sub-Jovian and anti-Jovian points where there are magnetic connections between Io and the Jovian magnetosphere- the anti-Jovian point is close to Prometheus A series of 200-second integrations taken in Jupiter eclipse should determine whether emission is concentrated over volcanos or over the sub-Jovian point, and should be able to observe motion of the emission due to changing magnetic field orientation if it is magnetically controlled This observation will also provide experience in the use of COS in imaging mode

COS/NUV/FUV 11598

How Galaxies Acquire their Gas: A Map of Multiphase Accretion and Feedback in Gaseous Galaxy Halos

We propose to address two of the biggest open questions in galaxy formation - how galaxies acquire their gas and how they return it to the IGM - with a concentrated COS survey of diffuse multiphase gas in the halos of SDSS galaxies at z = 0 15 - 0 35 Our chief science goal is to establish a basic set of observational facts about the physical state, metallicity, and kinematics of halo gas, including the sky covering fraction of hot and cold material, the metallicity of infall and outflow, and correlations with galaxy stellar mass, type, and color - all as a function of impact parameter from 10 - 150 kpc Theory suggests that the bimodality of galaxy colors, the shape of the luminosity function, and the mass-metallicity relation are all influenced at a fundamental level by accretion and feedback, yet these gas processes are poorly understood and cannot be predicted robustly from first principles We lack even a basic observational assessment of the multiphase gaseous content of galaxy halos on 100 kpc scales, and we do not know how these processes vary with galaxy properties This ignorance is presently one of the key impediments to understanding galaxy formation in general We propose to use the high-resolution gratings G130M and G160M on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to obtain sensitive column density measurements of a comprehensive suite of multiphase ions in the spectra of 43 z < 1 QSOs lying behind 43 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey In aggregate, these sightlines will constitute a statistically sound map of the physical state and metallicity of gaseous halos, and subsets of the data with cuts on galaxy mass, color, and SFR will seek out predicted variations of gas properties with galaxy properties Our interpretation of these data will be aided by state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations of accretion and feedback, in turn providing information to refine and test such models We will also use Keck, MMT, and Magellan (as needed) to obtain optical spectra of the QSOs to measure cold gas with Mg II, and optical spectra of the galaxies to measure SFRs and to look for outflows In addition to our other science goals, these observations will help place the Milky Way's population of multiphase, accreting High Velocity Clouds (HVCs) into a global context by identifying analogous structures around other galaxies Our program is designed to make optimal use of the unique capabilities of COS to address our science goals and also generate a rich dataset of other absorption-line systems

STIS/CC 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CC 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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

STIS/CCD 11849

STIS CCD Hot Pixel Annealing

This purpose of this activity is to repair radiation induced hot pixel damage to the STIS CCD by warming the CCD to the ambient instrument temperature and annealing radiation-damaged pixels

Radiation damage creates hot pixels in the STIS CCD Detector Many of these hot pixels can be repaired by warming the CCD from its normal operating temperature near -83 deg C to the ambient instrument temperature (~ +5 deg C) for several hours The number of hot pixels repaired is a function of annealing temperature The effectiveness of the CCD hot pixel annealing process is assessed by measuring the dark current behavior before and after annealing and by searching for any window contamination effects

STIS/CCD/MA2 11568

A SNAPSHOT Survey of the Local Interstellar Medium: New NUV Observations of Stars with Archived FUV Observations

We propose to obtain high-resolution STIS E230H SNAP observations of MgII and FeII interstellar absorption lines toward stars within 100 parsecs that already have moderate or high-resolution far-UV (FUV), 900-1700 A, observations available in the MAST Archive Fundamental properties, such as temperature, turbulence, ionization, abundances, and depletions of gas in the local interstellar medium (LISM) can be measured by coupling such observations Due to the wide spectral range of STIS, observations to study nearby stars also contain important data about the LISM embedded within their spectra However, unlocking this information from the intrinsically broad and often saturated FUV absorption lines of low-mass ions, (DI, CII, NI, OI), requires first understanding the kinematic structure of the gas along the line of sight This can be achieved with high resolution spectra of high-mass ions, (FeII, MgII), which have narrow absorption lines, and can resolve each individual velocity component (interstellar cloud) By obtaining short (~10 minute) E230H observations of FeII and MgII, for stars that already have moderate or high- resolution FUV spectra, we can increase the sample of LISM measurements, and thereby expand our knowledge of the physical properties of the gas in our galactic neighborhood STIS is the only instrument capable of obtaining the required high resolution data now or in the foreseeable future

WFC3/ACS/IR 11731

Studying Cepheid Systematics in M81: H-Band Observations

The local value of the Hubble Constant remains one of the most important constraints in cosmology, but improving on the 10% accuracy of the HST Key Project is challenging No improvements will be convincing until the metallicity dependence is well constrained and blending effects are fully understood M81 and its dwarf companion Holmberg IX are superb laboratories for studying Cepheid systematics because they contain large numbers of bright Cepheids with a good spread in metallicity lying at a common, relatively close distance We have identified 180 12

WFC3/IR 11694

Mapping the Lnteraction Between High-Redshift Galaxies and the Lntergalactic Environment

With the commissioning of the high-throughput large-area camera WFC3/IR, it is possible for the first time to undertake an efficient survey of the rest-frame optical morphologies of galaxies at the peak epoch of star formation in the universe We therefore propose deep WFC3/IR imaging of over 320 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies between redshift 1 6 < z < 3 4 in well-studied fields which lie along the line of sight to bright background QSOs The spectra of these bright QSOs probe the IGM in the vicinity of each of the foreground galaxies along the line of sight, providing detailed information on the physical state of the gas at large galactocentric radii In combination with our densely sampled UV/IR spectroscopy, stellar population models, and kinematic data in these fields, WFC3/IR imaging data will permit us to construct a comprehensive picture of the structure, dynamics, and star formation properties of a large population of galaxies in the early universe and their effect upon their cosmological environment

WFC3/IR 11921

WFC3 IR PSF Wings

The IR PSF wings will be evaluated at 5 field points (near the field center and corners) in two filters (F098M and F160W) to check for image stability Full frame images of a moderately bright, isolated star will be obtained at each field position with a series of increasing exposure times designed to permit construction of a very high SNR PSF with dynamic range sufficient to evaluate the wing intensity to >5 arcsec radius The images will also permit examination of potential straylight effects, electronic cross-talk and image persistence

This is a repeat of SMOV activity WFC3-26 (program 11439 ) The results of the two programs will be compared The data will be analyzed using the code and techniques described in ISR WFC3 2008-41 (Hartig) Profiles of encircled energy will be compared to those obtained from program 11439

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/UV 11906

WFC3 UVIS CCD Gain

The absolute gain of each quadrant of the WFC3 UVIS detector will be measured for the nominal detector readout configuration and at the on-orbit operating temperature

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 11700

Bright Galaxies at z>7 5 with a WFC3 Pure Parallel Survey

The epoch of reionization represents a special moment in the history of the Universe as it is during this era that the first galaxies and star clusters are formed Reionization also profoundly affects the environment where subsequent generations of galaxies evolve Our overarching goal is to test the hypothesis that galaxies are responsible for reionizing neutral hydrogen To do so we propose to carry out a pure parallel WFC3 survey to constrain the bright end of the redshift z>7 5 galaxy luminosity function on a total area of 176 arcmin^2 of sky Extrapolating the evolution of the luminosity function from z~6, we expect to detect about 20 Lyman Break Galaxies brighter than M_* at z~8 significantly improving the current sample of only a few galaxies known at these redshifts Finding significantly fewer objects than predicted on the basis of extrapolation from z=6 would set strong limits to the brightness of M_*, highlighting a fast evolution of the luminosity function with the possible implication that galaxies alone cannot reionize the Universe Our observations will find the best candidates for spectroscopic confirmation, that is bright z>7 5 objects, which would be missed by small area deeper surveys The random pointing nature of the program is ideal to beat cosmic variance, especially severe for luminous massive galaxies, which are strongly clustered In fact our survey geometry of 38 independent fields will constrain the luminosity function like a contiguous single field survey with two times more area at the same depth Lyman Break Galaxies at z>7 5 down to m_AB=26 85 (5 sigma) in F125W will be selected as F098M dropouts, using three to five orbits visits that include a total of four filters (F606W, F098M, F125W, F160W) optimized to remove low-redshift interlopers and cool stars Our data will be highly complementary to a deep field search for high- z galaxies aimed at probing the faint end of the luminosity function, allowing us to disentangle the degeneracy between faint end slope and M_* in a Schechter function fit of the luminosity function We waive proprietary rights for the data In addition, we commit to release the coordinates and properties of our z>7 5 candidates within one month from the acquisition of each field

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5119

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/778b6f3a9fbb9eea?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Jun 17 2010 8:41Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5119

PERIOD COVERED: 5am June 16 - 5am June 17, 2010 (DOY 167/09:00z-168/09:00z)

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

For DOY 159

12305 - GSAcq(1,2,1) at 159/4:46:39z required five attempts to achieve CT-DV on FGS1 The acquisition was successful

Observations possibly affected WFC3 43 & 44, ACS 10-13, Proposal ID#11613

For DOY 163

12306 - GSAcq(1,2,1) at 163/13:05z initially failed FL walk down with scan step limit exceeded on FGS1 The second attempt was successful

Observations possibly affected COS 93-96, Proposal ID#11997; WFC 31 & 61, Proposal ID#11929

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                   SCHEDULED  SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSAcq 9 9 FGS REAcq 6 6 OBAD with Maneuver 4 4

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

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

COS/NUV 11705

Physical Properties of Quasar Outflows: From BALs to Mini-BALs

Accretion disk outflows are important components of quasar environments They might play a major role in facilitating accretion, regulating star formation in the host galaxies and distributing metals to the surrounding gas They reveal themselves most conspicuously via broad absorption lines (BALs), but they appear even more frequently in other guises such as the weaker and narrower "mini-BALs " How are these diverse outflow features related? Are mini-BALs really just "mini" versions of the BALs, or do they represent a fundamentally different type of outflow, with different degrees of ionization, column densities, mass loss rates, physical origins, etc ?

We propose HST-COS spectroscopy to make the first quantitative assessment of the outflow physical conditions across the full range of weak/narrow mini-BALs to strong/broad BALs Our strategy is to measure key diagnostic lines (SVI, OVI, CIII, SIV, PV, etc ) at 930A - 1130A (rest- frame) in a sample of 7 outflow quasars with known mini-BALs through weak BALs We will then 1) combine the COS data with ground-based spectra of the same quasars to include more lines (CIV, SiIV) at longer wavelengths, and 2) include in our analysis a nearly identical UV/optical dataset obtained previously for a sample of quasars with strong BALs Our study of this combined dataset will be an essential next step toward a more global understanding of quasar outflows

COS/NUV/FUV 11698

The Structure and Dynamics of Virgo's Multi-Phase Intracluster Medium

The dynamical flows of the intracluster medium (ICM) are largely unknown We propose to map the spatial and kinematic distribution of the warm ICM of the nearby Virgo cluster using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph 15 sightlines at a range of impact parameters within the virial radius of the cluster (0 2 - 1 7 Mpc) will be probed for Lyman-alpha absorption and the data compared to blind HI, dust and x-ray surveys to create a multi-phase map of the cluster's ICM Absorption line sightlines are commonly 40-100 kpc from a galaxy, allowing the flow of baryons between galaxies and the ICM to be assessed The velocity distribution of the absorbers will be directly compared to simulations and used to constrain the turbulent motions of the ICM This proposal will result in the first map of a cluster's warm ICM and provide important tests for our theoretical understanding of cluster formation and the treatment of gas cooling in cosmological simulations

COS/NUV/FUV 11720

Detailed Analysis of Carbon Atmosphere White Dwarfs

We propose to obtain UV spectra for the newly discovered white dwarf stars with a carbon- dominated atmosphere Model calculations show that these stars emit most of their light in the UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum and that an accurate determination of the flux in this region is crucial for an accurate determination of the atmospheric parameters It will also provide a unique opportunity to test the atomic data and broadening theory in stellar conditions never met before This will play a primordial role in our path to understand the origin of these objects as well to obtain a better understanding of the evolution of stars in general The principal objective we hope to achieve with these observations are 1) obtain accurate surface gravity/mass for these stars, 2) constrain/determine the abundance of other elements (O, He, Mg, Ne etc ), especially oxygen, 3) verify the accuracy of the various theoretical atomic data used in the model calculations, 4) understand the origin and evolution of carbon atmosphere white dwarfs, in particular whether progenitor stars as massive as 10 5 solar masses can produce white dwarfs, rather than supernovae We propose to observe 5 objects chosen carefully to cover the range of observed properties among carbon atmosphere white dwarfs (effective temperature, surface gravity, abundance of hydrogen/helium and magnetic field)

COS/NUV/FUV 11727

UV Spectroscopy of Local Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs: New Clues to Galaxy Formation in the Early Universe

Much of our information about galaxy evolution and the interaction between galaxies and the IGM at high-z has been provided by the Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) However, it is difficult to investigate these faint and distant objects in detail To address this, we have used the GALEX All-Sky Imaging Survey and the SDSS to identify for the first time a rare population of low- redshift galaxies with properties remarkably similar to the high-redshift LBGs These local "Lyman Break Analogs" (LBAs) resemble LBGs in terms of morphology, size, UV luminosity, star formation rate, UV surface brightness, stellar mass, velocity dispersion, metallicity, and dust content We are assembling a wide range of data on these objects with the goal of using them as local laboratories for better understanding the relevant astrophysical processes in LBGs These data include HST imaging (95 orbits in Cy15 and 16), Spitzer photometry and spectroscopy, Chandra and XMM X-ray imaging and spectroscopy, and near-IR integral field spectroscopy (VLT, Keck, and Gemini) In this proposal we are requesting the most important missing puzzle piece: far-UV spectra with a signal-to-noise and spectral resolution significantly better than available for typical LBGs We will use these spectra to study the LBA's galactic winds, probe the processes that regulate the escape of Ly-a and Lyman continuum radiation, determine chemical abundances for the stars and gas, and constrain the form of the high-end of the Initial Mass Function Adding these new COS data will give us vital information about these extraordinary sites of star formation in the local universe In so-doing it will also shed new light on the processes that led to the formation of stars, the building of galaxies, and the enrichment and heating of the IGM in the early universe

STIS/CC 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CC 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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

STIS/CCD 11849

STIS CCD Hot Pixel Annealing

This purpose of this activity is to repair radiation induced hot pixel damage to the STIS CCD by warming the CCD to the ambient instrument temperature and annealing radiation-damaged pixels

WFC3/ACS/IR 11731

Studying Cepheid Systematics in M81: H-Band Observations

WFC3/IR 11696

Infrared Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time

We propose to use the unique power of WFC3 slitless spectroscopy to measure the evolution of cosmic star formation from the end of the reionization epoch at z>6 to the close of the galaxy- building era at z~0 3 Pure parallel observations with the grisms have proven to be efficient for identifying line emission from galaxies across a broad range of redshifts The G102 grism on WFC3 was designed to extend this capability to search for Ly-alpha emission from the first galaxies Using up to 250 orbits of pure parallel WFC3 spectroscopy, we will observe about 40 deep (4-5 orbit) fields with the combination of G102 and G141, and about 20 shallow (2-3 orbit) fields with G141 alone

Our primary science goals at the highest redshifts are: (1) Detect Lya in ~100 galaxies with z>5 6 and measure the evolution of the Lya luminosity function, independent of of cosmic variance; 2) Determine the connection between emission line selected and continuum-break selected galaxies at these high redshifts, and 3) Search for the proposed signature of neutral hydrogen absorption at re-ionization At intermediate redshifts we will (4) Detect more than 1000 galaxies in Halpha at 0 5

To identify single-line Lya emitters, we will exploit the wide 0 8--1 9um wavelength coverage of the combined G102+G141 spectra All [OII] and [OIII] interlopers detected in G102 will be reliably separated from true LAEs by the detection of at least one strong line in the G141 spectrum, without the need for any ancillary data We waive all proprietary rights to our data and will make high-level data products available through the ST/ECF

WFC3/UVIS 11630

Monitoring Active Atmospheres on Uranus and Neptune

We propose Snapshot observations of Uranus and Neptune to monitor changes in their atmospheres on time scales of weeks and months, as we have been doing for the past seven years Previous Hubble Space Telescope observations (including previous Snapshot programs 8634, 10170, 10534, and 11156), together with near-IR images obtained using adaptive optics on the Keck Telescope, reveal both planets to be dynamic worlds which change on time scales ranging from hours to (terrestrial) years Uranus equinox occurred in December 2007, and the northern hemisphere is becoming fully visible for the first time since the early 1960s HST observations during the past several years (Hammel et al 2005, Icarus 175, 284 and references therein) have revealed strongly wavelength-dependent latitudinal structure, the presence of numerous visible-wavelength cloud features in the northern hemisphere, at least one very long- lived discrete cloud in the southern hemisphere, and in 2006 the first clearly defined dark spot seen on Uranus Long term ground-based observations (Lockwood and Jerzekiewicz, 2006, Icarus 180, 442; Hammel and Lockwood 2007, Icarus 186, 291) reveal seasonal brightness changes that seem to demand the appearance of a bright northern polar cap within the next few years Recent HST and Keck observations of Neptune (Sromovsky et al 2003, Icarus 163, 256 and references therein) show a general increase in activity at south temperate latitudes until 2004, when Neptune returned to a rather Voyager-like appearance with discrete bright spots rather than active latitude bands Further Snapshot observations of these two dynamic planets will elucidate the nature of long-term changes in their zonal atmospheric bands and clarify the processes of formation, evolution, and dissipation of discrete albedo features

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

WFC3/UVIS/IR 11644

A Dynamical-Compositional Survey of the Kuiper Belt: A New Window Into the Formation of the Outer Solar System

The eight planets overwhelmingly dominate the solar system by mass, but their small numbers, coupled with their stochastic pasts, make it impossible to construct a unique formation history from the dynamical or compositional characteristics of them alone In contrast, the huge numbers of small bodies scattered throughout and even beyond the planets, while insignificant by mass, provide an almost unlimited number of probes of the statistical conditions, history, and interactions in the solar system To date, attempts to understand the formation and evolution of the Kuiper Belt have largely been dynamical simulations where a hypothesized starting condition is evolved under the gravitational influence of the early giant planets and an attempt is made to reproduce the current observed populations With little compositional information known for the real Kuiper Belt, the test particles in the simulation are free to have any formation location and history as long as they end at the correct point Allowing compositional information to guide and constrain the formation, thermal, and collisional histories of these objects would add an entire new dimension to our understanding of the evolution of the outer solar system While ground based compositional studies have hit their flux limits already with only a few objects sampled, we propose to exploit the new capabilities of WFC3 to perform the first ever large-scale dynamical-compositional study of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and their progeny to study the chemical, dynamical, and collisional history of the region of the giant planets The sensitivity of the WFC3 observations will allow us to go up to two magnitudes deeper than our ground based studies, allowing us the capability of optimally selecting a target list for a large survey rather than simply taking the few objects that can be measured, as we have had to do to date We have carefully constructed a sample of 120 objects which provides both overall breadth, for a general understanding of these objects, plus a large enough number of objects in the individual dynamical subclass to allow detailed comparison between and within these groups These objects will likely define the core Kuiper Belt compositional sample for years to come While we have many specific results anticipated to come from this survey, as with any project where the field is rich, our current knowledge level is low, and a new instrument suddenly appears which can exploit vastly larger segments of the population, the potential for discovery -- both anticipated and not -- is extraordinary

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

ACS/WFC/WFC3/UVI 11613

GHOSTS: Stellar Outskirts of Massive Spiral Galaxies

We propose to continue our highly successful GHOSTS HST survey of the resolved stellar populations of nearby, massive disk galaxies using SNAPs These observations provide star counts and color-magnitude diagrams 2-3 magnitudes below the tip of the Red Giant Branch of the outer disk and halo of each galaxy We will measure the metallicity distribution functions and stellar density profiles from star counts down to very low average surface brightnesses, equivalent to ~32 V-mag per square arcsec

This proposal will substantially improve our unique sampling of galaxy outskirts Our targets cover a range in galaxy mass, luminosity, inclination, and morphology As function of these galaxy properties this survey provides: - the most extensive, systematic measurement of radial light profiles and axial ratios of the diffuse stellar halos and outer disks of spiral galaxies; - a comprehensive analysis of halo metallicity distributions as function of galaxy type and position within the galaxy; - an unprecedented study of the stellar metallicity and age distribution in the outer disk regions where the disk truncations occur; - the first comparative study of globular clusters and their field stellar populations

We will use these fossil records of the galaxy assembly process to test halo formation models within the hierarchical galaxy formation scheme

COS/FUV 11997

FUV Internal/External Wavelength Scale Monitor

This program monitors the offsets between the wavelength scale set by the internal wavecal versus that defined by absorption lines in external targets This is accomplished by observing two external targets in the SMC: SK191 with G130M and G160M and Cl* NGC 330 ROB B37 with G140L (SK191 is too bright to be observed with G140L) The cenwaves observed in this program are a subset of the ones used during Cycle 17 Observing all cenwaves would require a considerably larger number of orbits Constraints on scheduling of each target are placed so that each target is observed once every ~2-3 months Observing the two targets every month would also require a considerably larger number of orbits

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5120

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/f9c38bdbc1b1b552?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Fri, Jun 18 2010 9:16Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5120

PERIOD COVERED: 5am June 17 - 5am June 18, 2010 (DOY 168/09:00z-169/09:00z)

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 6 6 FGS REAcq 9 9 OBAD with Maneuver 5 5

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC3 11593

Dynamical Masses of the Coolest Brown Dwarfs

T dwarfs are excellent laboratories to study the evolution and the atmospheric physics of both brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets To date, only a single T dwarf binary has a dynamical mass determination, and more are sorely needed The prospects of measuring more dynamical masses over the next decade are limited to 6 known short-period T dwarf binaries We propose here to obtain Long-Term HST/ACS monitoring for the 3 of the 6 binaries which cannot be resolved with AO from the ground Upon completion, our program will substantially increase the number of T dwarf dynamical mass measurements and thereby provide key benchmarks for testing theoretical models of ultracool objects

COS/FUV 11686

The Cosmological Impact of AGN Outflows: Measuring Absolute Abundances and Kinetic Luminosities

AGN outflows are increasingly invoked as a major contributor to the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes, their host galaxies, the surrounding IGM, and cluster cooling flows Our HST/COS proposal will determine reliable absolute chemical abundances in six AGN outflows, which influences several of the processes mentioned above To date there is only one such determination, done by our team on Mrk 279 using 16 HST/STIS orbits and 100 ksec of FUSE time The advent of COS and its high sensitivity allows us to choose among fainter objects at redshifts high enough to preclude the need for FUSE This will allow us to determine the absolute abundances for six AGN (all fainter than Mrk 279) using only 40 HST COS orbits This will put abundances studies in AGN on a firm footing, an elusive goal for the past four decades In addition, prior FUSE observations of four of these targets indicate that it is probable that the COS observations will detect troughs from excited levels of C III These will allow us to measure the distances of the outflows and thereby determine their kinetic luminosity, a major goal in AGN feedback research

We will use our state of the art column density extraction methods and velocity-dependent photoionization models to determine the abundances and kinetic luminosity Previous AGN outflow projects suffered from the constraints of deciding what science we could do using ONE of the handful of bright targets that were observable With COS we can choose the best sample for our experiment As an added bonus, most of the spectral range of our targets has not been observed previously, greatly increasing the discovery phase space

COS/NUV/FUV 11598

How Galaxies Acquire their Gas: A Map of Multiphase Accretion and Feedback in Gaseous Galaxy Halos

COS/NUV/FUV 11698

The Structure and Dynamics of Virgo's Multi-Phase Intracluster Medium

FGS 11704

The Ages of Globular Clusters and the Population II Distance Scale

Globular clusters are the oldest objects in the universe whose age can be accurately determined The dominant error in globular cluster age determinations is the uncertain Population II distance scale We propose to use FGS 1R to obtain parallaxes with an accuracy of 0 2 milliarcsecond for 9 main sequence stars with [Fe/H] < -1 5 This will determine the absolute magnitude of these stars with accuracies of 0 04 to 0 06mag This data will be used to determine the distance to 24 metal-poor globular clusters using main sequence fitting These distances (with errors of 0 05 mag) will be used to determine the ages of globular clusters using the luminosity of the subgiant branch as an age indicator This will yield absolute ages with an accuracy of 5%, about a factor of two improvement over current estimates Coupled with existing parallaxes for more metal-rich stars, we will be able to accurately determine the age for globular clusters over a wide range of metallicities in order to study the early formation history of the Milky Way and provide an independent estimate of the age of the universe

The Hipparcos database contains only 1 star with [Fe/H] < -1 4 and an absolute magnitude error less than 0 18 mag which is suitable for use in main sequence fitting Previous attempts at main sequence fitting to metal-poor globular clusters have had to rely on theoretical calibrations of the color of the main sequence Our HST parallax program will remove this source of possible systematic error and yield distances to metal-poor globular clusters which are significantly more accurate than possible with the current parallax data The HST parallax data will have errors which are 10 times smaller than the current parallax data Using the HST parallaxes, we will obtain main sequence fitting distances to 11 globular clusters which contain over 500 RR Lyrae stars This will allow us to calibrate the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars, a commonly used Population II distance indicator

S/C 12046

COS FUV DCE Memory Dump

Whenever the FUV detector high voltage is on, count rate and current draw information is collected, monitored, and saved to DCE memory Every 10 msec the detector samples the currents from the HV power supplies (HVIA, HVIB) and the AUX power supply (AUXI) The last 1000 samples are saved in memory, along with a histogram of the number of occurrences of each current value

In the case of a HV transient (known as a "crackle" on FUSE), where one of these currents exceeds a preset threshold for a persistence time, the HV will shut down, and the DCE memory will be dumped and examined as part of the recovery procedure However, if the current exceeds the threshold for less than the persistence time (a "mini-crackle" in FUSE parlance), there is no way to know without dumping DCE memory By dumping and examining the histograms regularly, we will be able to monitor any changes in the rate of "mini-crackles" and thus learn something about the state of the detector

STIS/CC 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CC 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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/IR 11696

Infrared Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time

WFC3/IR 11915

IR Internal Flat Fields

This program is the same as 11433 (SMOV) and depends on the completion of the IR initial alignment (Program 11425) This version contains three instances of 37 internal orbits: to be scheduled early, middle, and near the end of Cycle 17, in order to use the entire 110-orbit allocation

In this test, we will study the stability and structure of the IR channel flat field images through all filter elements in the WFC3-IR channel Flats will be monitored, i e to capture any temporal trends in the flat fields and delta flats produced High signal observations will provide a map of the pixel-to-pixel flat field structure, as well as identify the positions of any dust particles

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11714

Snapshot Survey for Planetary Nebulae in Local Group Globular Clusters

Planetary nebulae (PNe) in globular clusters (GCs) raise a number of interesting issues related to stellar and galactic evolution The number of PNe known in Milky Way GCs, four, is surprisingly low if one assumes that all stars pass through a PN stage However, it is likely that the remnants of stars now evolving in galactic GCs leave the AGB so slowly that any ejected nebula dissipates long before the star becomes hot enough to ionize it Thus there should not be ANY PNe in Milky Way GCs--but there are four! It has been suggested that these Pne are the result of mergers of binary stars within GCs, i e , that they are descendants of blue stragglers The frequency of occurrence of PNe in external galaxies poses more questions, because it shows a range of almost an order of magnitude

I propose a SNAPshot survey aimed at discovering PNe in the GC systems of Local Group galaxies outside the Milky Way These clusters, some of which may be much younger than their counterparts in our galaxy, might contain many more PNe than those of our own galaxy I will use the standard technique of emission-line and continuum imaging, which easily discloses PNe This proposal continues a WFPC2 program started in Cycle 16, but with the more powerful WFC3 As a by-product, the survey will also produce color-magnitude diagrams for numerous clusters for the first time, reaching down to the horizontal branch

WFC3/UVIS 11732

The Temperature Profiles of Quasar Accretion Disks

We can now routinely measure the size of quasar accretion disks using gravitational microlensing of lensed quasars At optical wavelengths we observe a size and scaling with black hole mass roughly consistent with thin disk theory but the sizes are larger than expected from the observed optical fluxes One solution would be to use a flatter temperature profile, which we can study by measuring the wavelength dependence of the disk size over the largest possible wavelength baseline Thus, to understand the size discrepancy and to probe closer to the inner edge of the disk we need to extend our measurements to UV wavelengths, and this can only be done with HST For example, in the UV we should see significant changes in the optical/UV size ratio with black hole mass We propose monitoring 5 lenses spanning a broad range of black hole masses with well-sampled ground based light curves, optical disk size measurements and known GALEX UV fluxes during Cycles 17 and 18 to expand from our current sample of two lenses We would obtain 5 observations of each target in each Cycle, similar to our successful strategy for the first two targets

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11908

Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11912

UVIS Internal Flats

This proposal will be used to assess the stability of the flat field structure for the UVIS detector throughout the 15 months of Cycle 17 The data will be used to generate on-orbit updates for the delta-flat field reference files used in the WFC3 calibration pipeline, if significant changes in the flat structure are seen

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5121

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/c8f07cc7f105e3d8?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Mon, Jun 21 2010 7:02Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5121

PERIOD COVERED: 5am June 18 - 5am June 21, 2010 (DOY 169/09:00z-172/09:00z)

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

12308 - GSAcq(1,2,1) at 169/23:17:55z acquired fine lock backup on FGS 1 following scan step limit exceeded on FGS 1

Observations possibly affected: ACS 52, proposal ID#11593

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                  SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSAcq 24 24 FGS REAcq 23 23 OBAD with Maneuver 18 18

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC 11995

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 2)

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11924

WFC3/UVIS External and Internal CTE Monitor

CCD detector Charge Transfer Inefficiency (CTI)-induced losses in photometry and astrometry will be measured using observations of the rich open cluster NGC6791 and with the EPER (Extended Pixel Edge Response) method using tungsten lamp flat field exposures Although we do not expect to see CTE effects at the outset of Cycle 17, this CTE monitoring program is the first of a multi-cycle program to monitor and establish CTE-induced losses with time We expect to measure CTE effects with a precision comparable to the ACS measurements

WFC3/UVIS 11912

UVIS Internal Flats

WFC3/UVIS 11908

Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11907

UVIS Cycle 17 Contamination Monitor

The UV throughput of WFC3 during Cycle 17 is monitored via weekly standard star observations in a subset of key filters covering 200-600nm and F606W, F814W as controls on the red end The data will provide a measure of throughput levels as a function of time and wavelength, allowing for detection of the presence of possible contaminants

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

STIS/CC 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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

STIS/CC 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

COS/NUV/FUV 11742

Probing HeII Reionization with GALEX-selected Quasar Sightlines and HST/COS

We propose spectroscopic observations with COS of eight z~3 QSOs that we found to be bright in the far ultraviolet Our aim is to study intergalactic absorption caused by the onset of the He II Lyman forest Several lines of evidence suggest that helium reionization occurred at z~3 Understanding this process is critical for a complete picture of the intergalactic medium and its evolution; it also gives clues to hydrogen reionization at z>6 The only direct means of assessing He II reionization is through far-UV observations of the He II Lyman alpha forest Only 6 sightlines are known to date where this is feasible, despite extensive surveys Our program is designed to double the number of available sightlines To this effect, we cross-correlated all known z>2 73 quasars with UV source lists from the GALEX satellite The selected quasars were all significantly detected in the far UV by GALEX, and their UV colors are similar to those of already known quasars with transparent sightlines Spectra obtained with COS will allow us to compile the first comprehensive sample of He II absorption spectra probing similar redshifts, enabling a systematic investigation of the He II reionization epoch and the spectral shape of the UV background

COS/NUV/FUV 11720

Detailed Analysis of Carbon Atmosphere White Dwarfs

WFC3/IR 11708

Determining the Sub-stellar IMF in the Most Massive Young Milky Way Cluster, Westerlund 1

Despite over 50 years of active research, a key question in galactic astronomy remains unanswered: is the initial mass function (IMF) of stars and sub-stellar objects universal, or does it depend on initial conditions? The answer has profound consequences for the evolution of galaxies as well as a predictive theory of star formation Work to date suggests that certain environments (high densities, e g Elmegreen 2004; low metallicity, e g Larson 2005) should produce a top-heavy IMF, and there are hints from unresolved star-bursts that this might be the case Yet, there is no clear evidence for an IMF that differs from that characterizing the Galactic field stars in a resolved stellar population down to one solar mass Westerlund 1 is the most massive young star cluster known in the Milky Way With an estimated mass of 5x10^4 Msun, an age of 3-5 Myr, and located at a distance of 3-4 kpc, it presents a unique opportunity to test whether the IMF in such a cluster deviates from the norm well down into the brown dwarf regime We propose WFC3 near-IR imaging to probe the IMF down to 40 Jupiter masses The data will enable use to: 1) provide a stringent test of the universality of the IMF under conditions approximating those of star-bursts; 2) search for primordial or dynamic mass segregation in the clusters; and 3) assess whether the cluster is likely to remain bound (as a massive open cluster) or disperse into the field We will obtain images in the F125W, F160W, and F139M filters The F139M filter covers a strong water absorption feature and the color F125W/F139M is a powerful temperature diagnostic in the range 2800-4000 K This information will enable us to: a) confirm membership for low mass stars suspected on the basis of their position in the color-magnitude diagram; b) place the members in the HR diagram; and c) estimate the masses and ages of cluster members for low-mass stars and sub-stellar objects This new capability offered with the WFC3 (through a novel combination of filter complement, high spatial resolution, and large field of view) will enable us to make a fundamental test of whether the IMF is universal on a unique resolved stellar population, as well as assess the clusters structure, dynamics, and ultimate fate

WFC3/UVIS/IR 11702

Search for Very High-z Galaxies with WFC3 Pure Parallel

WFC3 will provide an unprecedented probe to the early universe beyond the current redshift frontier Here we propose a pure parallel program using this new instrument to search for Lyman-break galaxies at 6 520deg) that last for 4 orbits and longer, resulting a total survey area of about 140~230 square arcminute Based on our understanding of the new HST parallel observation scheduling process, we believe that the total number of long-duration pure parallel visits in Cycle 17 should be sufficient to accommodate our program We waive all proprietary rights to our data, and will also make the enhanced data products public in a timely manner

(1) We will use both the UVIS and the IR channels, and do not need to seek optical data from elsewhere

(2) Our program will likely triple the size of the probable candidate samples at z~7 and z~8, and will complement other targeted programs aiming at the similar redshift range

(3) Being a pure parallel program, our survey will only make very limited demand on the scarce HST resources More importantly, as the pure parallel pointings will be at random sight-lines, our program will be least affected by the bias due to the large scale structure ("cosmic variance")

(4) We aim at the most luminous LBG population, and will address the bright-end of the luminosity function at z~8 and z~7 We will constrain the value of L* in particular, which is critical for understanding the star formation process and the stellar mass assembly history in the first few hundred million years of the universe

(5) The candidates from our survey, most of which will be the brightest ones that any surveys would be able to find, will have the best chance to be spectroscopically confirmed at the current 8--10m telescopes

(6) We will also find a large number of extremely red, old galaxies at intermediate redshifts, and the fine spatial resolution offered by the WFC3 will enable us constrain their formation history based on the study of their morphology, and hence shed light on their connection to the very early galaxies in the universe

COS/NUV/FUV 11698

The Structure and Dynamics of Virgo's Multi-Phase Intracluster Medium

WFC3/IR 11696

Infrared Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time

COS/FUV 11687

SNAPing Coronal Iron

This is a Snapshot Survey to explore two forbidden lines of highly ionized iron in late-type coronal sources Fe XII 1349 (T~ 2 MK) and Fe XXI 1354 (T~ 10 MK) -- well known to Solar Physics -- have been detected in about a dozen cool stars, mainly with HST/STIS The UV coronal forbidden lines are important because they can be observed with velocity resolution of better than 15 km/s, whereas even the state-of-the-art X-ray spectrometers on Chandra can manage only 300 km/s in the kilovolt band where lines of highly ionized iron more commonly are found The kinematic properties of hot coronal plasmas, which are of great interest to theorists and modelers, thus only are accessible in the UV at present The bad news is that the UV coronal forbidden lines are faint, and were captured only in very deep observations with STIS The good news is that 3rd-generation Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, slated for installation in HST by SM4, in a mere 25 minute exposure with its G130M mode can duplicate the sensitivity of a landmark 25-orbit STIS E140M observation of AD Leo, easily the deepest such exposure of a late-type star so far Our goal is to build up understanding of the properties of Fe XII and Fe XXI in additional objects beyond the current limited sample: how the lineshapes depend on activity, whether large scale velocity shifts can be detected, and whether the dynamical content of the lines can be inverted to map the spatial morphology of the stellar corona (as in "Doppler Imaging'') In other words, we want to bring to bear in the coronal venue all the powerful tricks of spectroscopic remote sensing, well in advance of the time that this will be possible exploiting the corona's native X-ray radiation The 1290-1430 band captured by side A of G130M also contains a wide range of key plasma diagnostics that form at temperatures from below 10, 000 K (neutral lines of CNO), to above 200, 000 K (semi-permitted O V 1371), including the important bright multiplets of C II at 1335 and Si IV at 1400; yielding a diagnostic gold mine for the subcoronal atmosphere Because of the broad value of the SNAP spectra, beyond the coronal iron project, we waive the normal proprietary rights

COS/FUV 11686

The Cosmological Impact of AGN Outflows: Measuring Absolute Abundances and Kinetic Luminosities

WFC3/ACS/IR 11677

Is 47 Tuc Young? Measuring its White Dwarf Cooling Age and Completing a Hubble Legacy

With this proposal we will firmly establish the age of 47 Tuc from its cooling white dwarfs 47 Tuc is the nearest and least reddened of the metal-rich disk globular clusters It is also the template used for studying the giant branches of nearby resolved galaxies In addition, the age sensitive magnitude spread between the main sequence turnoff and horizontal branch is identical for 47 Tuc, two bulge globular clusters and the bulge field population A precise relative age constraint for 47 Tuc, compared to the halo clusters M4 and NGC 6397, both of which we recently dated via white dwarf cooling, would therefore constrain when the bulge formed relative to the old halo globular clusters Of particular interest is that with the higher quality ACS data on NGC 6397, we are now capable with the technique of white dwarf cooling of determining ages to an accuracy of +/-0 4 Gyrs at the 95% confidence level Ages derived from the cluster turnoff are not currently capable of reaching this precision The important role that 47 Tuc plays in galaxy formation studies, and as the metal-rich template for the globular clusters, makes the case for a white dwarf cooling age for this metal-rich cluster compelling

Several recent analyses have suggested that 47 Tuc is more than 2 Gyrs younger than the Galactic halo Others have suggested an age similar to that of the most metal poor globular clusters The current situation is clearly uncertain and obviously a new approach to age dating this important cluster is required

With the observations of 47 Tuc, this project will complete a legacy for HST It will be the third globular cluster observed for white dwarf cooling; the three covering almost the full metallicity range of the cluster system Unless JWST has its proposed bluer filters (700 and 900 nm) this science will not be possible perhaps for decades until a large optical telescope is again in space Ages for globular clusters from the main sequence turnoff are less precise than those from white dwarf cooling making the science with the current proposal truly urgent

ACS/WFC3 11670

The Host Environments of Type Ia Supernovae in the SDSS Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Supernova Survey has discovered nearly 500 type Ia supernovae and created a large, unique, and uniform sample of these cosmological tools As part of a comprehensive study of the supernova hosts, we propose to obtain Hubble ACS images of a large fraction of these galaxies Integrated colors and spectra will be measured from the ground, but we require high-resolution HST imaging to provide accurate morphologies and color information at the site of the explosion This information is essential in determining the systematic effects of population age on type Ia supernova luminosities and improving their reliability in measuring dark energy Recent studies suggest two populations of type Ia supernovae: a class that explodes promptly after star-formation and one that is delayed by billions of years Measuring the star-formation rate at the site of the supernova from colors in the HST images may be the best way to differentiate between these classes

WFC3/UVIS 11657

The Population of Compact Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Disk

We propose to secure narrow- and broad-band images of compact planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Galactic Disk to study the missing link of the early phases of post-AGB evolution Ejected AGB envelopes become PNe when the gas is ionized PNe expand, and, when large enough, can be studied in detail from the ground In the interim, only the HST capabilities can resolve their size, morphology, and central stars Our proposed observations will be the basis for a systematic study of the onset of morphology Dust properties of the proposed targets will be available through approved Spitzer/IRS spectra, and so will the abundances of the alpha- elements We will be able thus to explore the interconnection of morphology, dust grains, stellar evolution, and populations The target selection is suitable to explore the nebular and stellar properties across the galactic disk, and to set constraints on the galactic evolutionary models through the analysis of metallicity and population gradients

ACS/WFC 11655

Dynamics of the Galactic Bulge/bar

We request second-epoch ACS observations of four star fields in the Galactic bar These will allow us to measure proper motions for tens of thousands of stars well below the turnoff, to construct a dynamical model for the bulge/bar (in combination with data already in hand from other HST fields, and from VLT spectroscopy), and hence to take a unique look at the internal dynamical structure of the central regions of our Galaxy By relating the kinematics with stellar population we can elucidate the formation history of the bulge and bar, and their relation to the surrounding Galactic disk This is a resubmission of an approved Cycle 15 proposal that was hit by the ACS malfunction

STIS/CC/MA 11609

NGC 6266: The Smoking Gun of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Galactic Globular Clusters?

The existence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in star clusters has been predicted by a variety of theoretical arguments and, more recently, by several large, realistic sets of collisional N-body simulations Establishing their presence or absence at the centers of globular clusters would profoundly impact our understanding of problems ranging from the formation and long-term dynamical evolution of stellar systems, to the nature of the seeds and the growth mechanisms of the supermassive black holes (BHs) that inhabit the centers of most large, luminous galaxies Observationally, the unambiguous signature of a massive central BH would be the discovery of central, unresolved X-ray or radio emission that is not consistent with more common stellar-mass accreting objects or pulsars Yet, due to the largely uncertain details of accretion modeling, a precise mass determination of a central BH must necessarily come from stellar dynamics This goal has not been achieved to date at the centers of Galactic globular clusters because of lack of adequate data as well as the use of too simplified methods of analysis This situation can be overcome today through the combination of HST proper-motion measurements and state-of-the-art dynamical models specifically designed to take full advantage of this type of dataset In this project, we will use two HST orbits to obtain another epoch of observations of NGC 6266 This cluster has photometric and structural properties that are consistent with current theoretical expectations for a cluster harboring an IMBH Even more importantly, it is the only Galactic globular cluster for which there exists a detection of radio emission coincident with the cluster's core, and with a flux density that appears to rule out a stellar or binary origin The goal of our project is to obtain proper motion measurements to either confirm an IMBH in this cluster and measure its mass, or to set limits to its mass and existence

ACS/WFC3 11593

Dynamical Masses of the Coolest Brown Dwarfs

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

WFC3/IR 11591

Are Low-Luminosity Galaxies Responsible for Cosmic Reionization?

Our group has demonstrated that massive clusters, acting as powerful cosmic lenses, can constrain the abundance and properties of low-luminosity star-forming sources beyond z~6; such sources are thought to be responsible for ending cosmic reionization The large magnification possible in the critical regions of well-constrained clusters brings sources into view that lie at or beyond the limits of conventional exposures such as the UDF We have shown that the combination of HST and Spitzer is particularly effective in delivering the physical properties of these distant sources, constraining their mass, age and past star formation history Indirectly, we therefore gain a valuable glimpse to yet earlier epochs Recognizing the result (and limitations) of blank field surveys, we propose a systematic search through 10 lensing clusters with ACS/F814W and WFC3/[F110W+F160W] (in conjunction with existing deep IRAC data) Our goal is to measure with great accuracy the luminosity function at z~7 over a range of at least 3 magnitude, based on the identification of about 50 lensed galaxies at 6 5

STIS/CCD/MA2 11568

A SNAPSHOT Survey of the Local Interstellar Medium: New NUV Observations of Stars with Archived FUV Observations

WFC3/UVIS 11565

A Search for Astrometric Companions to Very Low-Mass, Population II Stars

We propose to carry out a Snapshot search for astrometric companions in a subsample of very low-mass, halo subdwarfs identified within 120 parsecs of the Sun These ultra-cool M subdwarfs are local representatives of the lowest-mass H burning objects from the Galactic Population II The expected 3-4 astrometric doubles that will be discovered will be invaluable in that they will be the first systems from which gravitational masses of metal-poor stars at the bottom of the main sequence can be directly measured

COS/NUV/FUV 11555

Transition Region and Chromospheric Activity on Low Metallicity Arcturus Moving Group `Alien' Dwarfs

How does low metallicity affect the heating and resultant temperature structure of the chromospheres, transition regions, and coronae of old solar-like dwarf stars?

The Arcturus Moving Group is very likely a remnant of the merger of a dwarf galaxy with the Milky Way Galaxy in the distant (~ 7- 8 Gyr) past This kinematically distinct group has members that are located very close to the Sun, allowing study of stellar activity on very old, low metallicity stars that typically would not be possible We propose to obtain COS G140L spectra of four dwarf star members of the Arcturus Moving Group to measure the fluxes of their transition region and upper chromospheric emission lines and to investigate the effects of low metallicity on the outer atmospheric radiative losses and temperature structure Our targets have metallicities of ~ 20% solar or less, spectral types F9 - M4, and are at distances less than 25 pc from the Sun COS is the only UV spectrograph that is capable of registering the FUV spectra of these stars in a reasonable number of HST orbits

==============================================================================

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sci astro hubble" group

To post to this group, visit http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble?hl=en

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sci astro hubble+unsubscribe@googlegroups com

To change the way you get mail from this group, visit: http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/subscribe?hl=en

To report abuse, send email explaining the problem to abuse@googlegroups com

============================================================================== Google Groups: http://groups google com/?hl=en

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/HST_REPORTS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: