Date: May 3rd 2006

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4105

PERIOD COVERED: UT May 02, 2006 (DOY 122)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC 10738

Earth Flats

Sky flats will be obtained by observing the bright Earth with the HRC and WFC These observations will be used to verify the accuracy of the flats currently in the pipeline and to monitor any changes Weekly coronagraphic monitoring is required to assess the changing position of the spots

ACS/HRC/WFC 10514

Kuiper Belt Binaries: Probes of Early Solar System Evolution

Binaries in the Kuiper Belt are a scientific windfall: in them we have relatively fragile test particles which can be used as tracers of the early dynamical evolution of the outer Solar System We propose a Snapshot program using the ACS/HRC that has a potential discovery efficiency an order of magnitude higher than the HST observations that have already discovered the majority of known transneptunian binaries By more than doubling the number of observed objects in dynamically hot and cold subpopulations we will be able to answer, with statistical significance, the question of whether these groups differ in the abundance of binaries as a result of their particular dynamical paths into the Kuiper Belt Today's Kuiper Belt bears the imprints of the final stages of giant-planet building and migration; binaries may offer some of the best preserved evidence of that long-ago era

ACS/HRC/WFC 10734

ACS CCD Flash Calibration

This activity provides a set of CCD FLASH exposure reference images for each current level/shutter-side/detector combination, for the pair of FLASH LEDs on the instrument side currently in use It also tests the short-term repeatability at the shortest FLASH exposure times that are expected to be used {1 0 sec}

ACS/SBC 10568

Ultraviolet spectrum of the binary millisecond pulsar J0437-4715

PSR J0437-4715 is the nearest and the brightest millisecond {recycled} pulsar, and the only one detected at near-optical wavelengths We detected it with the HST STIS/FUV-MAMA detector and found that its FUV spectrum is consistent with being emitted from the neutron star surface with a temperature of about 0 1 MK, surprisingly high for such an old object We also found evidence of an emission line at 1372 A, tentatively interpreted as a Zeeman component of the hydrogen Ly-alpha line in a magnetic field of 700 MG Unfortunately, the spectrum was imaged in a region of strong detector background, which strongly hampered the spectral analyses We propose to re-observe the pulsar with the ACS/SBC in FUV and ACS/HRC in NUV to obtain the spectrum of the pulsar in a broad UV range The spectral analysis will allow us to measure the temperature of the full neutron star surface and probe the heating mechanisms operating in old neutron stars Confirmation of the spectral line would lead to a first direct measuremnt of the magnetic field and the radius of a spin-powered neutron star and uniquely constrain the equation of state of superdense matter The NUV spectrum will also probe the magnetospheric emission and the thermal structure of the cool white dwarf companion

ACS/WFC 10587

Measuring the Mass Dependence of Early-Type Galaxy Structure

We propose two-color ACS-WFC Snapshot observations of a sample of 118 candidate early- type gravitational lens galaxies Our lens-candidate sample is selected to yield {in combination with earlier results} an approximately uniform final distribution of 40 early-type strong lenses across a wide range of masses, with velocity dispersions {a dynamical proxy for mass} ranging from 125 to 300 km/s The proposed program will deliver the first significant sample of low-mass gravitational lenses All of our candidates have known lens and source redshifts from Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, and all are bright enough to permit detailed photometric and stellar- dynamical observation We will constrain the luminous and dark-matter mass profiles of confirmed lenses using lensed-image geometry and lens-galaxy structural/photometric measurements from HST imaging in combination with dynamical measurements from spatially resolved ground-based follow-up spectroscopy Hence we will determine, in unprecedented detail, the dependence of early-type galaxy mass structure and mass-to-light ratio upon galaxy mass These results will allow us to directly test theoretical predictions for halo concentration and star-formation efficiency as a function of mass and for the existence of a cuspy inner dark- matter component, and will illuminate the structural explanation behind the fundamental plane of early-type galaxies The lens-candidate selection and confirmation strategy that we propose has been proven successful for high-mass galaxies by our Cycle 13 Snapshot program {10174} The program that we propose here will produce a complementary and unprecedented lens sample spanning a wide range of lens-galaxy masses

ACS/WFC 10775

An ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters

We propose to conduct an ACS/WFC imaging survey of Galactic globular clusters We will construct the most extensive and deepest set of photometry and astrometry to-date for these systems reaching a main sequence mass of ~0 2 solar mass with S/N >= 10 We will combine these data with archival WFPC2 and STIS images to determine proper motions for the stars in our fields The resultant cleaned cluster CMDs will allow us to study a variety of scientific questions These include [but are not limited to] 1} the determination of cluster ages and distances 2} the construction of main sequence mass functions and the issue of mass segregation 3} the internal motions and dynamical evolution of globular clusters, and 4} absolute cluster motions, orbits, and the Milky Way gravitational potential We anticipate that the unique resource provided by the proposed treasury archive will play a central role in the field of globular cluster studies for decades, with a stature comparable to that of the Hubble Deep Field for high redshift studies

NICMOS 8791

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 2

A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of NICMOS Dark frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA contour 23, and every time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50 minutes of coming out of the SAA The darks will be obtained in parallel in all three NICMOS Cameras The POST-SAA darks will be non-standard reference files available to users with a USEAFTER date/time mark The keyword 'USEAFTER=date/time' will also be added to the header of each POST-SAA DARK frame The keyword must be populated with the time, in addition to the date, because HST crosses the SAA ~8 times per day so each POST-SAA DARK will need to have the appropriate time specified, for users to identify the ones they need Both the raw and processed images will be archived as POST-SAA DARKSs Generally we expect that all NICMOS science/calibration observations started within 50 minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to remove the CR persistence from the science images Each observation will need its own CRMAP, as different SAA passages leave different imprints on the NICMOS detectors

NICS3 10754

Spectrophotometric Standards for Cross-Observatory Calibration

This program will obtain NICMOS spectrophotometry of four main sequence A stars and four K giants, each selected from the Spitzer IRAC photometric calibration target and/or candidate calibration target lists These observations will supplement existing HST observations of DA white dwarfs and solar analogs, and will provide a broad base of stellar types for spectrophotometric cross calibration of HST, Spitzer, and eventually JWST The targets are chosen to be faint enough for unsaturated observations with JWST NIRSPEC, yet still bright enough for high signal to noise in relatively short observations with HST+NICMOS and with Spitzer+IRAC

WFPC2 10745

WFPC2 CYCLE 14 INTERNAL MONITOR

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

WFPC2 10749

Earth Flats

This proposal monitors flatfield stability This proposal obtains sequences of Earth streak flats to construct high quality flat fields for the WFPC2 filter set These flat fields will allow mapping of the OTA illumination pattern and will be used in conjuction with previous internal and external flats to generate new pipeline superflats These Earth flats will complement the Earth flat data obtained during cycles 4-13

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS: 10247 - ACS 935 - Semaphone Timeout @ 122/11:35:07z

At 122/11:35:07, ACS 935 "Semaphone Timeout" status buffer message P=35 (octal) was received during ACS Obs This is a routine status buffer message Results when the Take Data Flag goes down during CCD Post-Flash or a Filter Wheel, Fold Mechanism, or Calibration door move Message received during DARK,ACS/WFC,ACCUM,0 50S (122/11:29:57) per CTMLine report

10248 - GSAcq(2,1,1) failed to RGA Control @ 123/02:28:06z

The GSAcq(2,1,1) scheduled at 123/02:28:06 - 02:36:11 failed to RGA control due to stop flag (QF2STOPF) on FGS-2 Pre-acquisition OBADs both succeded OBAD2 at 123/02:23:46 had attitude correction total (RSS) value of 10 23 arcseconds Post-acquisition OBAD/MAP at 123/02:36:10 had (RSS) value of 9 48 arcseconds

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: 17747-1 - Battery 2 Capacity Test Script & 5 Battery Pressure Limit COP thru steps 18)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                      SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL      FAILURE TIMES

FGS GSacq 08 07 Hstar # 10248 FGS REacq 04 04 OBAD with Maneuver 22 22

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

Battery 2 Capacity Test Flash Report

Commanding for the Battery 2 Capacity Test started as scheduled on DOY 122/1042GMT (5/2 at 6:42 am) with setting the Battery Pressure Test for a 5-battery system Battery 2 was taken off-line and the discharge began at 1331GMT (5/2 at 9:31 am)

Battery 2 discharge switched from the high rate to the low rate resistor at 2006/122/22:30 GMT (6:30 pm local) Following completion of the discharge, which is expected to occur around 124/1330 GMT (5/04 at 9:30 am), Battery 2 will be placed back online in hardware during orbit night On the second orbit night pass following switching the battery back to solar array section 2, the first Elevated VTFE Macro will be executed A second Elevated VTFE boost is scheduled two orbits after the termination of the first boost On 125/1630 GMT (5/05 at 12:30 pm), Battery 2 will be placed back on-line in FSW

Battery 2 low rate discharge continues nominally EPS SEs will continue to monitor the test's progress

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