Date: September 4th 2010

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Today's topics:

Daily Report #5172 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/ef2cdd3ec814414f?hl=en
Daily Report #5173 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/0fb6a7279b7e05e4?hl=en
Daily Report #5174 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/91e73e955f4f73b6?hl=en

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5172

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/ef2cdd3ec814414f?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Wed, Sep 1 2010 8:43Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5172

PERIOD COVERED: 5am August 31 - 5am September 1, 2010 (DOY 243/09:00z-244/09:00z)

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS:

12372 - GSAcq(2,1,1) at 244/06:14:12z and REAcq(2,1,1) at 244/07:45:09z both acquired fine lock backup on FGS 2

Observations possibly affected WFC3 77-81, Proposal ID#11729

FOR DOY 228:

12370 - REAcq(1,2,1) at 228/06:33:05z required two attempts to achieve FL-DV on FGS1 The acquisition was successful

Observations possibly affected: ACS 12 Proposal ID#11996 and STIS 6 Proposal ID#11668

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                   SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSAcq 10 10 FGS REAcq 08 08 OBAD with Maneuver 08 08

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC 11996

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 3)

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 308 orbits (19 25 weeks) from 21 June 2010 to 1 November 2010

WFC3/UVIS 11729

Photometric Metallicity Calibration with WFC3 Specialty Filters

The community has chosen to include several filters in the WFC3 filter complement that have been designed to allow fairly precise estimates of stellar metallicities, and many science programs are enabled by this capability Since these filters do not exactly match those used for this purpose on the ground, however, the mapping of stellar colors to stellar metallicities needs to be calibrated We propose to achieve this calibration through observations of five stellar clusters with well known metallicities We will calibrate several different filter calibrations which will allow future users to determine what filter combination best meets their science needs

STIS/CC/MA 11668

Cosmo-chronometry and Elemental Abundance Distribution of the Ancient Star HE1523-0901

We propose to obtain near-UV HST/STIS spectroscopy of the extremely metal-poor, highly r-process-enhanced halo star HE 1523-0901, in order to produce the most complete abundance distribution of the heaviest stable elements, including platinum, osmium, and lead These HST abundance data will then be used to estimate the initial abundances of the long-lived radioactive elements thorium and uranium, and by comparison with their observed abundances, enable an accurate age determination of this ancient star The use of radioactive chronometers in stars provides an independent lower limit on the age of the Galaxy, which can be compared with alternative limits set by globular clusters and by analysis from WMAP Our proposed observations of HE1523-0901 will also provide significant new information about the early chemical history of the Galaxy, specifically, the nature of the first generations of stars and the types of nucleosynthetic processes that occurred at the onset of Galactic chemical evolution

ACS/WFC3 11604

The Nuclear Structure of OH Megamaser Galaxies

We propose a snapshot survey of a complete sample of 80 OH megamaser galaxies Each galaxy will be imaged with the ACS/WFC through F814W and a linear ramp filter (FR656N or FR716N or FR782N or FR853N) allowing us to study both the spheroid and the gas morphology in Halpha + [N II] We will use the 9% ramps FR647M (5370-7570 angstroms) centered at 7000 angstroms and FR914M (7570-10, 719 angstroms) 8000 angstroms for continuum subtraction for the high and low z objects respectively OH megamaser galaxies (OHMG) form an important class of ultraluminous IR-galaxies (ULIRGs) whose maser lines emit QSO-like luminosities ULIRGs in general are associated with recent mergers but it is often unclear whether their power output is dominated by starbursts or a hidden QSO because of the high absorbing columns which hide their nuclei even at X-ray wavelengths In contrast, OHMG exhibit strong evidence for the presence of an energetically important and recently triggered active nucleus In particular it is clear that much of the gas must have already collapsed to form a nuclear disk which may be the progenitor of a circum-nuclear torus, a key element of the unified scheme of AGN A great advantage of studying OHMG systems over the general ULIRG population, is that the circum-nuclear disks are effectively "fixed" at an inner, edge on, orientation, eliminating varying inclination as a nuisance parameter We will use the HST observations in conjunction with existing maser and spectroscopic data to construct a detailed picture of the circum-nuclear regions of a hitherto relatively neglected class of galaxy that may hold the key to understanding the relationship between galaxy mergers, nuclear star- formation, and the growth of massive black holes and the triggering of nuclear activity

COS/NUV 11540

COS-GTO: Search for Hydrocarbons and Nitriles in Pluto's Atmosphere

Methane is highly abundant in Pluto's atmosphere, and methane photolysis is the starting point for a series of chemical processes that should result in the production of hydrocarbons and nitriles Photochemical modeling of Pluto's atmosphere has suggested that detectable abundances of various hydrocarbons and nitriles should occur on Pluto However, past analysis of 40 orbits of archival HST/FOS data in the mid-UV has only produced upper limits on abundances of C4H2, C6H2, HC3N, and C4N2 We will use COS to obtain spectra from 2060-2460A, including absorption bands of the hydrocarbon diacetylene (C4H2) and the nitrile cyanoacetylene (HC3N) Previously-measured 2-sigma upper limits for these compounds are somewhat below the values computed in the poorly-constrained models; the measurement uncertainties themselves are of the same order as the modeled values By reducing the uncertainties by a factor of a few to several, we aim to detect the presence of these compounds, or to provide more restrictive abundance limits These measurements will provide valuable new data on the nature and chemistry of the Plutonian atmosphere

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CCD 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/MA2 11862

MAMA NUV Flats

This program will obtain NUV-MAMA observations of the STIS internal Deuterium lamp to construct an NUV flat applicable to all NUV modes

WFC3/ACS/IR 11563

Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to <0 2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields

The first generations of galaxies were assembled around redshifts z~7-10+, just 500-800 Myr after recombination, in the heart of the reionization of the universe We know very little about galaxies in this period Despite great effort with HST and other telescopes, less than ~15 galaxies have been reliably detected so far at z>7, contrasting with the ~1000 galaxies detected to date at z~6, just 200-400 Myr later, near the end of the reionization epoch WFC3 IR can dramatically change this situation, enabling derivation of the galaxy luminosity function and its shape at z~7-8 to well below L*, measurement of the UV luminosity density at z~7-8 and z~8-9, and estimates of the contribution of galaxies to reionization at these epochs, as well as characterization of their properties (sizes, structure, colors) A quantitative leap in our understanding of early galaxies, and the timescales of their buildup, requires a total sample of ~100 galaxies at z~7-8 to ~29 AB mag We can achieve this with 192 WFC3 IR orbits on three disjoint fields (minimizing cosmic variance): the HUDF and the two nearby deep fields of the HUDF05 Our program uses three WFC3 IR filters, and leverages over 600 orbits of existing ACS data, to identify, with low contamination, a large sample of over 100 objects at z~7-8, a very useful sample of ~23 at z~8-9, and limits at z~10 By careful placement of the WFC3 IR and parallel ACS pointings, we also enhance the optical ACS imaging on the HUDF and a HUDF05 field We stress (1) the need to go deep, which is paramount to define L*, the shape, and the slope alpha of the luminosity function (LF) at these high redshifts; and (2) the far superior performance of our strategy, compared with the use of strong lensing clusters, in detecting significant samples of faint z~7-8 galaxies to derive their luminosity function and UV ionizing flux Our recent z~7 4 NICMOS results show that wide-area IR surveys, even of GOODS-like depth, simply do not reach faint enough at z~7-9 to meet the LF and UV flux objectives In the spirit of the HDF and the HUDF, we will waive any proprietary period, and will also deliver the reduced data to STScI The proposed data will provide a Legacy resource of great value for a wide range of archival science investigations of galaxies at redshifts z~2- 9 The data are likely to remain the deepest IR/optical images until JWST is launched, and will provide sources for spectroscopic follow up by JWST, ALMA and EVLA

WFC3/ACS/IR 11647

A Deep Exploration of Classes of Long Period Variable Stars in M31

We propose a thrifty but information-packed investigation with WFC3/IR F160W and F110W providing crucial information about Long Period Variables in M31, at a level of detail that has recently allowed the discovery of new variable star classes in the Magellanic Clouds, a very different stellar population These observations are buttressed by an extensive map of the same fields with ACS and WFC3 exposures in F555W and F814W, and a massive ground- based imaging patrol producing well-sampled light curves for more than 400,000 variable stars Our primary goal is to collect sufficient NIR data in order to analyze and classify the huge number of long-period variables in our catalog (see below) through Period Luminosity (P/L) diagrams We will produce accurate P/L diagrams for both the bulge and a progression of locations throughout the disk of M31 These diagrams will be similar in quality to those currently in the Magellanic Clouds, with their lower metallicity, radically different star formation history, and larger spread in distance to the variables M31 offers an excellent chance to study more typical disk populations, in a manner which might be extended to more distant galaxies where such variables are still visible, probing a much more evenly spread progenitor age distribution than cepheids (and perhaps useful as a distance scale alternative or cross- check) Our data will also provide a massive and unique color-magnitude dataset; we expect that this study will produce several important results, among them a better understanding of P/L and P/L-color relations for pulsating variables which are essential to the extragalactic distance ladder We will view these variables at a common distance over a range of metallicities (eliminating the distance-error vs metallicity ambiguity between the LMC and SMC), allow further insight into possible faint-variable mass-loss for higher metallicities, and in general produce a sample more typical of giant disk galaxies predominant in many studies

WFC3/ACS/IR 11840

Identifying the Host Galaxies for Optically Dark Gamma-Ray Bursts

We propose to use the high spatial resolution of Chandra to obtain precise positions for a sample of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) with no optical afterglows, where the optical light is suppressed relative to the X-ray flux These bursts are likely to be highly obscured and may have different environments from the optically bright GRBs Our Chandra observations will (unlike Swift XRT positions) allow for the unique identification of a host galaxy To locate these host galaxies we will follow up our Chandra positions with deep optical and IR observations with HST The ultimate aim is to understand any differences between the host galaxies of optically dark and bright GRBs, and how these affect the use of GRBs as tracers of starformation and galaxy evolution at high redshift

WFC3/ACS/UVIS 11684

The First Proper Motion Measurement for M31: Dynamics and Mass of the Local Group

We will perform observations to determine the proper motion of the Andromeda galaxy M31, which has been sought for almost a century without success While challenging, this measurement has now become possible due to the availability of existing deep ACS/WFC images of several M31 fields The requested second epoch images will yield the average shift of the M31 stars with respect to compact galaxies in the background Our observing strategy uses six different fields (three primary and three coordinated parallel) with two different instruments (ACS and WFC3) to provide a maximum handle on possible systematic effects The expected result will be sufficiently accurate to: (a) discriminate between different histories for the dynamics of the Local Group; (b) constrain the mass distribution of the Local Group; (c) determine the details of the expected future merger between M31 and the Milky Way; (d) infer the past interaction history between M31 and M33; (e) constrain the internal proper motion kinematics of the M31 spheroid, outer disk, and tidal stream; and (f) obtain a pilot estimate of the M31 distance through the method of rotational parallax

WFC3/IR/ACS/WFC 11663

Formation and Evolution of Massive Galaxies in the Richest Environments at 1 5 < z < 2 0

We propose to image seven 1 5

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/IR/S/C 12089

Persistence - Part 2

The IR detectors on WFC3, like other IR detectors, trap charge when exposed to sources near or above the full well of the detector diodes This charge leaks out, producing detectable afterglow images for periods which can last for several hours, depending on the amount of over exposure These visits, which consist of tungsten lamp exposures of varying durations followed by darks, are intended to provide a better calibration of persistence over the full area of the IR detector of WFC3

WFC3/UV 12237

Orbits, Masses, Densities, and Colors of Two Transneptunian Binaries

Binaries are the key to learning many crucial bulk properties of transneptunian objects (TNOs) including their masses Perhaps the most interesting mass-dependent property of a TNO is its bulk density, which provides unique information about its bulk composition and interior structure Densities have so far only been measured for a handful of binary TNO systems This proposal seeks to determine orbits and thus masses of two more binary TNOs, both of which are also to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths by the Herschel spacecraft Combining the masses from Hubble with the sizes from Herschel will enable us to compute their densities We will also obtain multi-wavelength photometric colors of the individual components of each binary system It is imperative to link colors to the physical properties measurable in binary systems in order to use the remnant planetesimals in today's Kuiper belt to learn more about the early history of our own solar system, and more generally about how planetesimals form in nebular disks and subsequently evolve

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

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 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 #5173

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/0fb6a7279b7e05e4?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Sep 2 2010 4:16Ã‚Â pm From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5173

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 1 - 5am September 2, 2010 (DOY 244/09:00z-245/09:00z)

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 9 9 FGS REAcq 6 6 OBAD with Maneuver 9 9

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC 11996

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 3)

COS/FUV 12216

Taming the Invisible Monster with COS: Eclipse Spectroscopy of Epsilon Aurigae

We request three single orbit COS observations of the enigmatic binary epsilon Aurigae This 27-year binary will be in total eclipse during all of 2010 and into spring 2011 COS observations are needed in order to (1) confirm, via higher S/N UV spectroscopy, the FUSE observation that a B5V star lurks inside the eclipse-causing dust disk, (2) obtain temperature and density diagnostics of the line of sight columns during eclipse for inclusion in the ongoing, panchromatic studies of this rare event, and (3) allow, in coordination with Spitzer Space Telescope observations, a detailed view of the "invisible" large eclipsing dust disk surrounding the B star Only COS has the full UV wavelength coverage to sample two of the three components in this binary (the F and B stars) with the SNR to accomplish our scientific goals

FGS 12321

The Parallax of the Planet Host Star XO-3

We will use HST+FGS to measure the parallax of the transiting planet host star XO-3 The resulting accurate distance measurement will provide the most accurate radius determination to date for this massive extrasolar planet (XO-3b), allowing us to critically test current giant extrasolar planet structure models These observations will also constrain the amount of heating that may be produced inside XO-3b by tides raised on the planet as it moves through its 3 2 d eccentric (e ~ 0 22) orbit

NIC2/WFC3/IR 11219

Active Galactic Nuclei in Nearby Galaxies: A New View of the Origin of the Radio-Loud Radio-Quiet Dichotomy?

Using archival HST and Chandra observations of 34 nearby early-type galaxies (drawn from a complete radio selected sample) we have found evidence that the radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy is directly connected to the structure of the inner regions of their host galaxies in the following sense: [1] Radio-loud AGN are associated with galaxies with shallow cores in their light profiles [2] Radio-quiet AGN are only hosted by galaxies with steep cusps Since the brightness profile is determined by the galaxy's evolution, through its merger history, our results suggest that the same process sets the AGN flavor This provides us with a novel tool to explore the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes, and it opens a new path to understand the origin of the radio-loud/radio-quiet AGN dichotomy Currently our analysis is statistically incomplete as the brightness profile is not available for 82 of the 116 targets Most galaxies were not observed with HST, while in some cases the study is obstructed by the presence of dust features We here propose to perform an infrared NICMOS snapshot survey of these 82 galaxies This will enable us to i) test the reality of the dichotomic behavior in a substantially larger sample; ii) extend the comparison between radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN to a larger range of luminosities

STIS/CCD 11567

Boron Abundances in Rapidly Rotating Early-B Stars

Models of rotation in early-B stars predict that rotationally driven mixing should deplete surface boron abundances during the main-sequence lifetime of many stars However, recent work has shown that many boron depleted stars are intrinsically slow rotators for which models predict no depletion should have occurred, while observations of nitrogen in some more rapidly rotating stars show less mixing than the models predict Boron can provide unique information on the earliest stages of mixing in B stars, but previous surveys have been biased towards narrow-lined stars because of the difficulty in measuring boron abundances in rapidly rotating stars The two targets observed as part of our Cycle 13 SNAP program 10175, just before STIS failed, demonstrate that it is possible to make useful boron abundance measurements for early-B stars with Vsin(i) above 100 km/s We propose to extend that survey to a large enough sample of stars to allow statistically significant tests of models of rotational mixing in early-B stars

STIS/CCD 11843

STIS CCD Performance Monitor

This activity measures the baseline performance and commandability of the CCD subsystem Only primary amplifier D is used Bias and Flatfield exposures are taken in order to measure bias level, read noise, CTE, and gain Numerous bias frames are taken to permit construction of "superbias" frames in which the effects of read noise have been rendered negligible Full frame and binned observations are made, with binning factors of 2 x 1, 1 x 2, 2 x 2 Bias frames are taken in subarray readouts to check the bias level for ACQ and ACQ/PEAK observations All exposures are internals

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CCD 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/MA/WFC3/UV 11665

The Formation Mechanisms of Extreme Horizontal Branch Stars

Blue hook stars are a class of hot (~35, 000 K) subluminous extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars that have been recently discovered using HST ultraviolet images of the massive globular clusters omega Cen and NGC 2808 These stars occupy a region of the HR diagram that is unexplained by canonical stellar evolution theory Using new theoretical evolutionary and atmospheric models, we have shown that the blue hook stars are very likely the progeny of stars that undergo extensive internal mixing during a late helium core flash on the white dwarf cooling curve This "flash mixing" produces an enormous enhancement of the surface helium and carbon abundances (relative to the abundance pattern that existed on the main sequence), which suppresses the observed flux in the far-UV Because stars born with a high helium abundance are more likely to evolve into hot horizontal branch stars, flash mixing is more likely to occur in those massive clusters capable of helium self-enrichment However, a high initial helium abundance, by itself, is not sufficient to explain the presence of a blue hook population - flash mixing of the envelope is also required

We propose far-UV spectroscopy of normal and subluminous EHB stars in NGC 2808 that will unambiguously test this new formation mechanism These observations will easily detect the helium and carbon enhancements predicted by flash mixing and will therefore determine if flash mixing represents a new evolutionary channel for populating the hot end of the EHB More generally, our observations will help to clarify the role of helium self-enrichment in producing blue horizontal branch morphologies and multiple main sequences in massive globular clusters Finally, these results will provide new insight into the origin and abundance anomalies of the hot helium-rich subdwarf B and O stars in the Galactic field

WFC3/ACS/IR 11647

A Deep Exploration of Classes of Long Period Variable Stars in M31

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

WFC3/UV 12237

Orbits, Masses, Densities, and Colors of Two Transneptunian Binaries

WFC3/UVIS 11729

Photometric Metallicity Calibration with WFC3 Specialty Filters

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

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 11912

UVIS Internal Flats

WFC3/UVIS 11914

UVIS Earth Flats

This program is an experimental path finder for Cycle 18 calibration Visible-wavelength flat fields will be obtained by observing the dark side of the Earth during periods of full moon illumination The observations will consist of full-frame streaked WFC3 UVIS imagery: per 22- min total exposure time in a single "dark-sky" orbit, we anticipate collecting 7000 e/pix in F606W or 4500 e/pix in F814W To achieve Poisson S/N > 100 per pixel, we require at least 2 orbits of F606W and 3 orbits of F814W

For UVIS narrowband filters, exposures of 1 sec typically do not saturate on the sunlit Earth, so we will take sunlit Earth flats for three of the more-commonly used narrowband filters in Cycle 17 plus the also-popular long-wavelength quad filters, for which we get four filters at once

Why not use the Sunlit Earth for the wideband visible-light filters? It is too bright in the visible for WFC3 UVIS minimum exposure time of 0 5 sec Similarly, for NICMOS the sunlit-Earth is too bright which saturates the detector too quickly and/or induces abnormal behaviors such as super-shading (Gilmore 1998, NIC 098-011) In the narrowband visible and broadband near- UV its not too bright (predictions in Cox et al 1987 "Standard Astronomical Sources for HST: 6 Spatially Flat Fields " and observations in ACS Program 10050)

Other possibilities? Cox et al 's Section II D addresses many other possible sources for flat fields, rejecting them for a variety of reasons A remaining possibility would be the totally eclipsed moon Such eclipses provide approximately 2 hours (1 HST orbit) of opportunity per year, so they are too rare to be generically useful An advantage of the moon over the Earth is that the moon subtends less than 0 25 square degree, whereas the Earth subtends a steradian or more, so scattered light and light potentially leaking around the shutter presents additional problems for the Earth Also, we're unsure if HST can point 180 deg from the Sun

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5174

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/91e73e955f4f73b6?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Fri, Sep 3 2010 9:23Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5174

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 2 - 5am September 3, 2010 (DOY 245/09:00z-246/09:00z)

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 8 8 FGS REAcq 8 8 OBAD with Maneuver 6 6

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC3 11599

Distances of Planetary Nebulae from SNAPshots of Resolved Companions

Reliable distances to individual planetary nebulae (PNe) in the Milky Way are needed to advance our understanding of their spatial distribution, birthrates, influence on galactic chemistry, and the luminosities and evolutionary states of their central stars (CSPN) Few PNe have good distances, however One of the best ways to remedy this problem is to find resolved physical companions to the CSPN and measure their distances by photometric main- sequence fitting We have previously used HST to identify and measure probable companions to 10 CSPN, based on angular separations and statistical arguments only We now propose to use HST to re-observe 48 PNe from that program for which additional companions are possibly present We then can use the added criterion of common proper motion to confirm our original candidate companions and identify new ones in cases that could not confidently be studied before We will image the region around each CSPN in the V and I bands, and in some cases in the B band Field stars that appear close to the CSPN by chance will be revealed by their relative proper motion during the 13+ years since our original survey, leaving only genuine physical companions in our improved and enlarged sample This study will increase the number of Galactic PNe with reliable distances by 50 percent and improve the distances to PNe with previously known companions

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CCD 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/MA/WFC3/UV 11665

The Formation Mechanisms of Extreme Horizontal Branch Stars

WFC3/ACS/IR 11563

Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to <0 2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields

WFC3/ACS/IR 11840

Identifying the Host Galaxies for Optically Dark Gamma-Ray Bursts

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 11678

Resolved H alpha star formation in two lensed galaxies at z=0 9

We will obtain H alpha narrow-band images of two galaxies at z=0 912 that have been gravitationally lensed by the galaxy cluster Abell 2390 H alpha falls squarely into the F126N filter, and both galaxies fit in a single WFC3 field of view Because these two galaxies are magnified by factors of 6 7 (+-0 4) and 12 6 (+-0 8), WFC3 IR pixels probe spatial scales of 150 and 80 pc (Without lensing, the WFC3 pixels probe 1 kpc scales at these redshifts ) Thus, these two galaxies provide a rare chance to examine, in detail and at high S/N, the spatial distribution of star formation in average galaxies at z=1

After lensing deprojection, we will study the spatial distribution of star formation, the star-forming disk properties and nuclear contribution, as well as the distribution of extinction (from the archival F55W to H-alpha ratio map) We will also compare integrated extinction--corrected H alpha to Spitzer-derived diagnostics of star formation rate

WFC3/UV 12296

HST Observations of Astrophysically Important Visual Binaries

We propose to continue three long-term programs All three consist of astrometry of close visual binaries, with the primary goal of determining dynamical masses for 3 important main-sequence stars and 6 white dwarfs (WDs) A secondary aim is to set limits on third bodies in the systems down to planetary mass Since all 3 programs needed to be proposed for Cycle 18 continuation, we are simplifying the review process by combining them into a single proposal Three of our 5 targets are naked-eye stars with much fainter companions that are very difficult to image from the ground Our other 2 targets are double WDs, whose small separations and faintness likewise make them difficult to measure using ground-based techniques

The bright stars, to be imaged with WFC3, are: (1) Procyon (P = 40 9 yr), for which our first HST images yielded an accurate angular separation of the bright F star and its much fainter WD companion Combined with ground-based astrometry of the bright star, our observation significantly revised downward the derived masses, and brought Procyon A into much better agreement with theoretical evolutionary masses With the continued monitoring proposed here, we will obtain masses to an accuracy of better than 1%, providing a testbed for theories of both Sun-like stars and WDs (2) Sirius (P = 50 1 yr), an A-type star also having a faint WD companion, Sirius B, the nearest and brightest of all WDs (3) Mu Cas (P = 21 0 yr), a nearby metal-deficient G dwarf for which accurate masses will lead to the stars' helium contents, with cosmological implications

The faint double WDs, to be observed with FGS, are: (1) G 107-70 (P = 18 8 yr), and (2) WD 1818+126 (P = 12 7 yr) Our astrometry of these systems will add 4 accurate masses to the handful of WD masses that are directly known from dynamical measurements The FGS measurements will also provide precise parallaxes for the systems, a necessary ingredient in the mass determinations

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11914

UVIS Earth Flats

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

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