HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class
Science
DAILY REPORT #4824
PERIOD COVERED: 5am April 1 - 5am April 2, 2009 (DOY
091/0900z-092/0900z)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
WFPC2 11794
Cycle 16 Visible 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 conjunction
with previous
internal and external flats to generate new pipeline
superflats. These
Earth flats will complement the Earth flat data obtained
during cycles
4-15.
WFPC2 11797
Supplemental WFPC2 CYCLE 16 Intflat Linearity Check and
Filter Rotation
Anomaly Monitor
Supplemental observations to 11029, to cover period from
Aug 08 to SM4.
Intflat observations will be taken to provide a linearity
check: the
linearity test consists of a series of intflats in F555W,
in each gain
and each shutter. A combination of intflats, visflats, and
earthflats
will be used to check the repeatability of filter wheel motions.
(Intflat sequences tied to decons, visits 1-18 in prop
10363, have been
moved to the cycle 15 decon proposal 11022 for easier
scheduling.)
Note: long-exposure WFPC2 intflats must be scheduled
during ACS anneals
to prevent stray light from the WFPC2 lamps from
contaminating long ACS
external exposures.
Note: These are supplemental observations to cover June to
SM4 (Oct 8
'08) + 6 months.
WFPC2 11944
Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram
We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey
for binaries
among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest
stars in our
part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve
binary systems
that are too faint to observe using ground-based, speckle
or optical
long baseline interferometry, and too close to resolve
with AO. We
propose a SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS
mode observations
of very massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous
blue variables,
nearby low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf stars,
and white
dwarfs. These observations will help us to (1) identify
systems suitable
for follow up studies for mass determination, (2) study
the role of
binaries in stellar birth and in advanced evolutionary
states, (3)
explore the fundamental properties of stars near the main
sequence-brown
dwarf boundary, (4) understand the role of binaries for
X-ray bright
systems, (5) find binaries among ancient and nearby
subdwarf stars, and
(6) help calibrate the white dwarf mass - radius relation.
WFPC2 11974
High-resolution Imaging for 9 Very Bright,
Spectroscopically Confirmed,
Group-scale Lenses
There are large samples of strong lenses that probe small
(galaxy) scale
masses (e.g., SLACS, SQLS, COSMOS). There are also large
samples of
strong lenses that probe large (rich cluster) scale masses
(e.g.,
various rich Abell clusters, the Hennawi et al. 2008 SDSS
sample). The
sample of strong lenses that probe intermediate
(group/cluster-core)
scale masses, however, is sparse, and so any significant
additions to
this sample are important. Here we present a sample of
strong lenses
that not only probe these intermediate scales but are also
quite bright,
since the sample is based almost entirely upon data from
the SDSS, a
relatively shallow and poor-resolution survey, at least in
comparison to
most other strong lens hunting grounds, such as COSMOS and
CFHTLS. What
we lack are the high-resolution imaging data needed to
construct
detailed lensing models, to probe the mass and light
profiles of the
lensing galaxies and their environments, and to
characterize the
morphologies of the lensed (source) galaxies. Only HST can
provide these
data, and so we are proposing here for 81 orbits of deep
WFPC2 F450W,
F606W and F814W imaging, for 9 of our best and brightest
intermediate-scale lensing systems with known
spectroscopic redshifts
and with Einstein radii between 4 and 8 arcsec.
WFPC2 11994
HST Participation in the IYA 100 Hours of Astronomy
As a leader in astronomical imaging and delivering Hubble
science to the
world, the Office of Public Outreach at Space Telescope
Science
Institute wishes to organize a Hubble Space Telescope
participation in
the 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA) event
entitled "100 Hours
of Astronomy." This cornerstone project, which will
be held April 2 - 5,
2009, will bring together observers from all over the
world to use and
look through telescopes to admire the heavens. We will
have a public
voting session that will highlight six astronomical
objects that have
never been viewed with Hubble. Objects have been
preselected to fit in
the field of view of the WFPC2 camera, and that are
observable during
the April viewing window. The voting session will close on
March 1st,
2009, and the most popular candidate will be observed and
released
during the "100 Hours of Astronomy" event.
Observations will be made
with four filters for a composite press release image. We
ask for eight
orbits of Hubble time from the Director's Discretionary
pool of orbits.
This will allow a modest amount of S/N for the candidate
that will be
selected. The archive science data products will become
public at the
time of release.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are
preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)
HSTARS:
11756 - GSAcq (2,1,2) @092/04:03:55z and REAcq
@092/05:37:06z failed to RGA Hold.
Observations affected: WFPC 99-102, Proposal ID# 11974
11757 - GSAcq (2,1,2) scheduled from 092/07:15:54 -
07:23:37 failed to RGA Hold due to
QF2STOPF flag on FGS-2.
Observations affected: WFPC 103-105, Proposal ID# 11974.
11758 - REAcq (2,1,2) scheduled from 092/08:49:01 -
08:56:44. resulted in
Fine Lock Back-up (2,0,2).
Observations possibly affected: WFPC 106-107, Proposal ID# 11974.
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED
SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq
04
02
FGS REAcq
10
09
OBAD with Maneuver
28
28
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)