Date: June 26th 2006

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4142

PERIOD COVERED: UT June 23,24,25, 2006 (DOY 174,175,176)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 4

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

NIC3 10899

Identifying z>7 galaxies from J-dropouts

NICMOS Parallel Imaging campaigns covered enough sky {250 pointings} with enough sensitivity in the 110W and 160W filters to identify 6 extremely red resolved sources which are prime candidates for J-band dropouts Their complete absence of detectable J band flux can be caused by an opaque Lyman cut-off at z=8-10 We propose to followup these candidates with NICMOS imaging and jointly propose Spitzer IRAC photometry Deep F110W and Spitzer/IRAC 3 5/4 8 micron imaging will confirm if any of these candidates are indeed Lyman Break galaxies observed less than 500 Myrs after the Big Bang Genuine LBGs will remain undetected in F110W, while being detected with flat spectra in the IRAC bands The combined SED will provide information about the stellar mass of these galaxies, and the possible presence of evolved stars or dust reddening The proposed observations will be sensitive enough to detect the F110W flux from galaxies as red as {J-H}=2 8 {AB mags, 5 sigma} If any of the candidates are detected with bluer colors, they will most likely be exceptional "Distant Red Galaxies" at z of 4 to 6 The proposed data will constrain the stellar populations of these extraordinarily red galaxies, which would be candidates for the earliest, most massive galaxies which formed

NIC3 10839

The NICMOS Polarimetric Calibration

Recently, it has been shown that NICMOS possesses an instrumental polarization at a level of 1 2% This completely inhibits the data reduction in a number of previous GO programs, and hampers the ability of the instrument to perform high accuracy polarimetry In all, 90 orbits of HST data are affected, with potentially many more in Cycle 15 We propose to obtain high signal to noise observations of three polarimetric standards at the cardinal roll angles of the NICMOS polarizers for both NIC1 and NIC2 These observations are designed to fully characterize the instrumental polarization in order for NICMOS to reach its full potential by enabling high accuracy polarimetry of sources with polarizations around 1% The residual polarization will also be determined as a function of position and spectral energy distribution Our group will rapidly turn around the required data products and produce reports and software for the accurate representation of the instrumental polarization These items will be presented to STScI and for dissemination among the wider astronomical community

NIC3 10632

Searching for galaxies at z>6 5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

We propose to obtain deep ACS {F606W, F775W, F850LP} imaging in the area of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field NICMOS parallel fields and - through simultaneous parallel observations - deep NICMOS {F110W, F160W} imaging of the ACS UDF area Matching the extreme imaging depth in the optical and near-IR bands will result in seven fields with sufficiently sensitive multiband data to detect the expected typical galaxies at z=7 and 8 Presently no such a field exist Our combined optical and near-IR ultradeep fields will be in three areas separated by about 20 comoving Mpc at z=7 This will allow us to give a first assessment of the degree of cosmic variance If reionization is a process extending over a large redshift interval and the luminosity function doesn't evolve strongly beyond z=6, these data will allow us to identify of the order of a dozen galaxies at 6 56 5 Conversely, finding fewer objects would be an indication that the bulk of reionization is done by galaxies at z=6 By spending 204 orbits of prime HST time we will capitalize on the investment of 544 prime orbits already made on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field {UDF} We have verified that the program as proposed is schedulable and that it will remain so even if forced to execute in the 2-gyro mode The data will be non-proprietary and the reduced images will be made public within 2 months from the completion of the observations

FGS 10612

Binary Stars in Cyg OB2: Relics of Massive Star Formation in a Super-Star Cluster

We propose to make a high angular resolution SNAP survey of the massive stars in the nearby, super-star cluster Cyg OB2 We will use FGS1r TRANS mode observations to search for astrometric companions in the separation range of 0 01 to 1 00 arcsec and in the magnitude difference range smaller than 4 magnitudes The observations will test the idea that the formation of very massive stars involves mergers and the presence of nearby companions Discovery of companions to massive stars in this relatively nearby complex will provide guidance in the interpretation of apparently supermassive stars in distant locations The search for companions will also be important for verification of fundamental parameters derived from spectroscopy, adjustments to main sequence fitting and distance estimations, determining third light contributions of eclipsing binaries, identifying wide colliding wind binaries, studying the relationship between orbital and spin angular momentum, and discovering binaries amenable to future mass determinations The massive star environment in Cyg OB2 may be similar to the kinds found in the earliest epoch of star formation, so that a study of the role of binaries in Cyg OB2 will help us understand the formation processes of the first stars in the Universe

NIC2 10527

Imaging Scattered Light from Debris Disks Discovered by the Spitzer Space Telescope Around 20 Sun-like Stars

We propose to use the high contrast capability of the NICMOS coronagraph to image a sample of newly discovered circumstellar disks associated with sun-like stars These systems were identified by their strong thermal infrared emission with the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the Spitzer Legacy Science program titled, "The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems {FEPS} " Modelling of the thermal excess emission in the form of spectral energy distributions alone cannot distinguish between narrowly confined high opacity disks and broadly distributed, low opacity disks However, our proposed NICMOS observations can, by imaging the light scattered from this material Even non- detections will place severe constraints on the disk geometry, ruling out models with high optical depth Unlike previous disk imaging programs, our program contains a well defined sample of solar mass stars covering a range of ages from ~10Myrs to a few Gyrs, allowing us to study the evolution of disks from primordial to debris for the first time These results will greatly improve our understanding of debris disks around Sun- like stars at stellar ages nearly 10x older than any previous investigation Thus we will have fit a crucial piece into the puzzle concerning the formation and evolution of our own solar system

NIC1 10143

Ultracool companions to the nearest L dwarfs

We propose to conduct the most sensitive survey to date for low mass companions to nearby L dwarfs We will use NICMOS to image targets drawn from a volume-complete sample of 70 L dwarfs within 20 parsecs The combination of infrared imaging and proximity will allow us to search for T dwarf companions at separations as small as 1 6 AU This is crucial, since no ultracool binaries are currently known with separations exceeding 15 AU Only 10 dwarfs in this sample have previous HST observations primarily at optical wavelengths With the increased sensitivity of our survey, we will provide the most stringent test to date of brown dwarf models which envisage formation as ejected stellar embryos In addition, our observations will be capable of detecting binaries with mass ratios as low as 0 3, and will therefore also test the apparent preference for equal-mass ultracool binaries Finally, our observations offer the best prospect to date of detecting companions significantly cooler than the coolest t dwarf currently known

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS: 10320 - GSacq(2,1,2) failed to RGA control @ 175/14:05:46z During LOS GSacq(2,1,2) scheduled at 175/14:05:46 failed to RGA control At AOS only stop flags QF2STOPF and QSTOP where flagging

10321 - GSacq(1,2,1) failed to RGA control @ 175/20:50:33z GSacq(1,2,1) scheduled at 175/20:50:33 failed to RGA control due to stop flag on FGS 2 At AOS(20:55:04) only stop flags QF2STOPF and QSTOP where flagging The OBAD2 at 20:45:25 showed erros of V1=9 81, V2=3 62, V3=11 69, RSS=15 69 The Map at 20:57:49 showed erros of V1=-6 80, V2=-2 47, V3=5 04,RSS=8 82

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: 1341-3 - NCC TEST message use, reference HSTAR #9828 @ 174/18:08z 1386-4 - User Class for Quick Updated Proc's (CCS-H) @ 175/04:29z 1409-0 - Mnemonic Display Utility Work Around (CCS-H) @ 175/04:29z

                      SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL      FAILURE TIMES

FGS GSacq 31 29 Hstar# 10320 & 10321 FGS REacq 08 08 OBAD with Maneuver 77 77

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

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