Date: October 7th 2006

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4213

PERIOD COVERED: UT October 04, 2006 (DOY 277)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/HRC/WFC 10758

ACS CCDs daily monitor

This program consists of a set of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the development of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD detectors The files, biases and dark will be used to create reference files for science calibration This programme will be for the entire lifetime of ACS Changes from cycle 13:- The default gain for WFC is 2 e-/DN As before bias frames will be collected for both gain 1 and gain 2 Dark frames are acquired using the default gain {2} This program cover the period May, 31 2006- Oct, 1-2006 The first half of the program has a different proposal number: 10729

ACS/WFC 10551

Gamma-Ray Bursts from Start to Finish: A Legacy Approach

The progenitors of long-duration GRBs are now known to be massive stars This result lends credence to the collapsar model, where a rotating massive star ends its life leaving a black hole or a highly magnetized neutron star, and confirms its essential aspects The focus of attention now is on the black hole or magnetar engines that power the bursts Somehow these engines create the most highly relativistic and highly collimated outflows that we know of, through mechanisms that no current theory can explain These astrophysical laboratories challenge our understanding of relativistic shocks, of mechanisms for extracting energy from a black hole, and of how physics works in extreme conditions The launch of Swift is bringing us into a new era, where we can make broadband observations that will enable us to study these fascinating physical processes We propose here an ambitious, comprehensive program to obtain the datasets that will become the standard that any successful model for the central engine must explain This programs leverages the HST observations to the maximum extent by our commitment of Swift observations, a Large program at the VLA, and extensive ground-based optical resources By studying the engines and searching for jets in a variety of events, this program will investigate the conditions necessary for the engine and jet formation itself

ACS/WFC 10795

The Largest Galaxies in the Local Universe: New Light on Disk Galaxy Formation?

In the standard scenario of disk galaxy formation in a hierarchical Universe, large disks form late via the accretion of either hot or cold gas Direct observational evidence for such late accretion- driven disk formation has not been forthcoming In this proposal, we describe the discovery of a rare new type of galaxy that may be examples of massive disks in the process of assembly We have identified a sample of three such galaxies selected from the SDSS DR4 They are extremely large {diameters over 100 kpc} and highly luminous systems with amorphous structures {no obvious spiral arms or bulges} They are larger than the largest normal spirals in the survey, and have significantly bluer colors, lower metallicities, lower dust extinctions, higher UV luminosities and higher total star formation rates than the most massive ordinary spirals We request HST images in the rest-frame near-UV and red to provide detailed maps of the underlying structure of these galaxies as well as the distribution of the young stars The interstellar medium of these galaxies is evidently quite different from that of normal large spirals and starburst galaxies and they may be experiencing a different mode of star formation We believe they are worthy of further investigation with the high-resolution imaging capabilities of HST

ACS/WFC 10813

MgII Absorption Line Systems: Galaxy Halos or the Metal-Enriched IGM?

MgII QSO absorption lines detected in the spectra of background QSOs were used over a decade ago to infer that all redshift z > 0 2 galaxies have gaseous halos of radius ~ 60 kpc The actual size of the halo was believed to be proportional to the luminosity of the galaxy However, these conclusions are now much harder to understand in light of the results from numerical simulations which show how gas evolves in the universe These models predict that gas and galaxies merely share the same filamentary structures defined by dark matter If these models are correct, how are MgII systems and galaxies really related? We can better understand the distribution of absorbing gas if we FIRST select galaxies close to QSO sightlines and THEN search for MgII absorption at the redshift of the intervening galaxies This is the antithesis of the original experiments which sought to find absorbing galaxies based on known MgII systems The frequency with which we detect MgII lines from randomly selected galaxies should enable us to better understand if absorption arises in the halos of individual galaxies, or if MgII merely arises in the same IGM that galaxies inhabit We have used ground-based telescopes to indentify twenty z = 0 31-0 55 galaxies within 14-51 kpc of a g < 20 QSO, and to search for MgII absorption at the galaxies' redshifts Surprisingly, we find that only 50% of our QSOs show MgII absorption In this proposal, we seek multi-color ACS images of twelve of the fields to i} correlate the incidence of MgII with galaxy morphology; ii} determine if absorption {or lack thereof} is related to galaxy disks or halos; iii} search for signs of galaxy interactions which may explain the large cross-sections of MgII systems; and iv} look for faint interloping galaxies closer to the line of sight than the one we identified An important component of the program is to observe each field in the SDSS g-, r- and i-bands, to permit an estimate of the photometric redshift of any objects which lie closer to the QSO sightline than the identified galaxy, and which might actually be responsible for the absorption

ACS/WFC 10824

Measuring the Shape and Orientation of the Galactic Dark-Matter Halo using Hypervelocity Stars

We propose to obtain high-resolution images of five hypervelocity stars in the Galactic halo in order to establish the first-epoch astrometric frame for them, as a part of a long-term program to measure precise proper motions The origin of these recently discovered stars, all with positive radial velocities above 540 km/s, is consistent only with being ejected from the deep potential well of the massive black hole at the Galactic center The deviations of their space motions from purely radial trajectories probe the departures from spherical symmetry of the Galactic potential, mainly due to the triaxiality of the dark-matter halo Reconstructing the full three-dimensional space motion of the hypervelocity stars, through astrometric proper motions, provides a unique opportunity to measure the shape and orientation of the dark halo The hypervelocity stars allow measurement of the potential up to 75 kpc from the center, independently of and at larger distances than are afforded by tidal streams of satellite galaxies such as the Sagittarius dSph galaxy HVS3 may be associated with the LMC, rather then the Galactic center, and would therefore present a case for a supermassive black hole at the center of the LMC We request one orbit with ACS/WFC for each of the five hypervelocity stars to establish their current positions relative to background galaxies We will request a repeated observation of these stars in Cycle 17, which will conclusively measure the astrometric proper motions

ACS/WFC 10886

The Sloan Lens ACS Survey: Towards 100 New Strong Lenses

As a continuation of the highly successful Sloan Lens ACS {SLACS} Survey for new strong gravitational lenses, we propose one orbit of ACS-WFC F814W imaging for each of 50 high- probability strong galaxy-galaxy lens candidates These observations will confirm new lens systems and permit immediate and accurate photometry, shape measurement, and mass modeling of the lens galaxies The lenses delivered by the SLACS Survey all show extended source structure, furnishing more constraints on the projected lens potential than lensed-quasar image positions In addition, SLACS lenses have lens galaxies that are much brighter than their lensed sources, facilitating detailed photometric and dynamical observation of the former When confirmed lenses from this proposal are combined with lenses discovered by SLACS in Cycles 13 and 14, we expect the final SLACS lens sample to number 80--100: an approximate doubling of the number of known galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses and an order-of-magnitude increase in the number of optical Einstein rings By virtue of its homogeneous selection and sheer size, the SLACS sample will allow an unprecedented exploration of the mass structure of the early-type galaxy population as a function of all other observable quantities This new sample will be a valuable resource to the astronomical community by enabling qualitatively new strong lensing science, and as such we will waive all but a short {3-month} proprietary period on the observations

ACS/WFC/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

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8794

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 5

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

NIC2 10852

Coronagraphic Polarimetry with NICMOS: Dust grain evolution in T Tauri stars

The formation of planetary systems is intimately linked to the dust population in circumstellar disks, thus understanding dust grain evolution is essential to advancing our understanding of how planets form By combining {1} the coronagraphic polarimetry capabilities of NICMOS, {2} powerful 3-D radiative transfer codes, and {3} observations of objects known to span the Class II-III stellar evolutionary phases, we will gain crucial insight into dust grain growth By observing objects representative of a known evolutionary sequence of YSOs, we will be able to investigate how the dust population evolves in size and distribution during the crucial transition from a star+disk system to a system containing planetesimals When combine with our previous study on dust grain evolution in the Class I-II phase, the proposed study will help to establish the fundamental time scales for the depletion of ISM-like grains: the first step in understanding the transformation from small submicron sized dust grains, to large millimeter sized grains, and untimely to planetary bodies

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

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

HSTARS: 10460 - GSAcq (2,3,2) failed to RGA Hold due to stop flags on FGS-2

Upon acquisition of signal at 277/21:00:30, the GSAcq(2,3,2) scheduled at 277/20:50:55 - 20:58:59 was observed to have failed to RGA Hold due to stop flags (QF2STOPF) and (STOP) on FGS-2 Pre-acquisition OBADs had (RSS) attitude error corrections values of 4590 88 and 3 17 arcseconds Post-acquisition OBAD/MAP had 3-axis (RSS) value of 14 87 a-s

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                      SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq 09 08 FGS REacq 05 05 OBAD with Maneuver 28 28

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

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