HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science
DAILY
REPORT #5036
PERIOD
COVERED: 5am February 18 - 5am February 19, 2010 (DOY 049/10:00z-050/10:00z)
OBSERVATIONS
SCHEDULED
ACS/WFC3
11882
CCD
Hot Pixel Annealing
All
the data for this program is acquired using internal targets (lamps)
only,
so all of the exposures should be taken during Earth occultation
time
(but not during SAA passages). This program emulates the ACS
pre-flight
ground calibration and post launch SMOV testing (program
8948),
so that results from each epoch can be directly compared.
Extended
Pixel Edge Response (EPER) and First Pixel Response (FPR) data
will
be obtained over a range of signal levels for the Wide Field
Channel
(WFC). The High Resolution Channel (HRC) visits have been
removed
since it could not be repaired during SM4.
COS/NUV/FUV
11522
COS-GTO:
Star Formation/Lyman-Alpha
A
sample of 20 star-forming galaxies will be observed with COS G130M.
The
galaxies were selected from the Kitt Peak International
Spectroscopic
Survey (KISSR) data release and cover a broad range of
luminosity,
oxygen abundance, and reddening. The goal of the program is
to
characterize the Lyman-alpha properties and establish correlations
with
fundamental galaxy properties. Each galaxy will be observed for one
orbit.
COS/NUV/FUV
11727
UV
Spectroscopy of Local Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs: New Clues to Galaxy
Formation
in the Early Universe
Much
of our information about galaxy evolution and the interaction
between
galaxies and the IGM at high-z has been provided by the Lyman
Break
Galaxies (LBGs). However, it is difficult to investigate these
faint
and distant objects in detail. To address this, we have used the
GALEX
All-Sky Imaging Survey and the SDSS to identify for the first time
a
rare population of low- redshift galaxies with properties remarkably
similar
to the high-redshift LBGs. These local "Lyman Break Analogs"
(LBAs)
resemble LBGs in terms of morphology, size, UV luminosity, star
formation
rate, UV surface brightness, stellar mass, velocity
dispersion,
metallicity, and dust content. We are assembling a wide
range
of data on these objects with the goal of using them as local
laboratories
for better understanding the relevant astrophysical
processes
in LBGs. These data include HST imaging (95 orbits in Cy15 and
16),
Spitzer photometry and spectroscopy, Chandra and XMM X-ray imaging
and
spectroscopy, and near-IR integral field spectroscopy (VLT, Keck,
and
Gemini). In this proposal we are requesting the most important
missing
puzzle piece: far-UV spectra with a signal-to-noise and spectral
resolution
significantly better than available for typical LBGs. We will
use
these spectra to study the LBA's galactic winds, probe the processes
that
regulate the escape of Ly-a and Lyman continuum radiation,
determine
chemical abundances for the stars and gas, and constrain the
form
of the high-end of the Initial Mass Function. Adding these new COS
data
will give us vital information about these extraordinary sites of
star
formation in the local universe. In so-doing it will also shed new
light
on the processes that led to the formation of stars, the building
of
galaxies, and the enrichment and heating of the IGM in the early
universe.
S/C/STIS/CC/MA/FUV
11621
SDSS
J1507: The First Halo CV or the First CV Born With a Brown Dwarf
Donor?
The
eclipsing cataclysmic variable (CV) SDSS J1507 has an orbital period
well
below the period minimum obeyed by other CVs. Furthermore, it
contains
a cool, pulsating primary white dwarf (WD) and a sub-stellar
brown-dwarf
(BD) companion. We have now discovered that J1507 is also a
high
proper motion star, with a transverse velocity much higher than
other
CVs. These characteristics can all be reconciled if the system is
the
first Galactic halo CV to be discovered. However, there is one
possible
alternative explanation, according to which the system formed
only
recently from a detached WD-BD binary system. Here, we propose a
definitive
test of these two scenarios by using time-resolved, FUV + NUV
spectroscopy
to determine the metallicity of the system. The outcome of
this
test will have an immediate impact on our understanding of the
Galactic
CV population and of close binary evolution more generally. We
will
also measure the wavelength-dependence of the WD pulsation
amplitudes
in J1507 and determine high precision binary parameters based
on
a combination of spectroscopic modeling and eclipse analysis. As a
result,
J1507 will become the benchmark for theoretical studies of CV
evolution
and the first proper calibrator for models of pulsations in
accreting
WDs.
STIS/CCD
11844
CCD
Dark Monitor Part 1
The
purpose of this proposal is to monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.
STIS/CCD
11846
CCD
Bias Monitor-Part 1
The
purpose of this proposal is to 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.
WFC3/IR
11202
The
Structure of Early-type Galaxies: 0.1-100 Effective Radii
The
structure, formation and evolution of early-type galaxies is still
largely
an open problem in cosmology: how does the Universe evolve from
large
linear scales dominated by dark matter to the highly non-linear
scales
of galaxies, where baryons and dark matter both play important,
interacting,
roles? To understand the complex physical processes
involved
in their formation scenario, and why they have the tight
scaling
relations that we observe today (e.g. the Fundamental Plane), it
is
critically important not only to understand their stellar structure,
but
also their dark-matter distribution from the smallest to the largest
scales.
Over the last three years the SLACS collaboration has developed
a
toolbox to tackle these issues in a unique and encompassing way by
combining
new non-parametric strong lensing techniques, stellar
dynamics,
and most recently weak gravitational lensing, with
high-quality
Hubble Space Telescope imaging and VLT/Keck spectroscopic
data
of early-type lens systems. This allows us to break degeneracies
that
are inherent to each of these techniques separately and probe the
mass
structure of early-type galaxies from 0.1 to 100 effective radii.
The
large dynamic range to which lensing is sensitive allows us both to
probe
the clumpy substructure of these galaxies, as well as their
low-density
outer haloes. These methods have convincingly been
demonstrated,
by our team, using smaller pilot-samples of SLACS lens
systems
with HST data. In this proposal, we request observing time with
WFC3
and NICMOS to observe 53 strong lens systems from SLACS, to obtain
complete
multi-color imaging for each system. This would bring the total
number
of SLACS lens systems to 87 with completed HST imaging and
effectively
doubles the known number of galaxy-scale strong lenses. The
deep
HST images enable us to fully exploit our new techniques, beat down
low-number
statistics, and probe the structure and evolution of early-
type
galaxies, not only with a uniform data-set an order of magnitude
larger
than what is available now, but also with a fully-coherent and
self-consistent
methodological approach!
WFC3/IR
11696
Infrared
Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
We
propose to use the unique power of WFC3 slitless spectroscopy to
measure
the evolution of cosmic star formation from the end of the
reionization
epoch at z>6 to the close of the galaxy- building era at
z~0.3.Pure
parallel observations with the grisms have proven to be
efficient
for identifying line emission from galaxies across a broad
range
of redshifts. The G102 grism on WFC3 was designed to extend this
capability
to search for Ly-alpha emission from the first galaxies.
Using
up to 250 orbits of pure parallel WFC3 spectroscopy, we will
observe
about 40 deep (4-5 orbit) fields with the combination of G102
and
G141, and about 20 shallow (2-3 orbit) fields with G141 alone.
Our
primary science goals at the highest redshifts are: (1) Detect Lya
in
~100 galaxies with z>5.6 and measure the evolution of the Lya
luminosity
function, independent of of cosmic variance; 2) Determine the
connection
between emission line selected and continuum-break selected
galaxies
at these high redshifts, and 3) Search for the proposed
signature
of neutral hydrogen absorption at re-ionization. At
intermediate
redshifts we will (4) Detect more than 1000 galaxies in
Halpha
at 0.5<z<1.8 to measure the evolution of the extinction-corrected
star
formation density across the peak epoch of star formation. This is
over
an order-of-magnitude improvement in the current statistics, from
the
NICMOS Parallel grism survey. (5) Trace ``cosmic downsizing" from
0.5<z<2.2;
and (6) Estimate the evolution in reddening and metallicty in
star-
forming galaxies and measure the evolution of the Seyfert
population.
For hundreds of spectra we will be able to measure one or
even
two line pair ratios -- in particular, the Balmer decrement and
[OII]/[OIII]
are sensitive to gas reddening and metallicity. As a bonus,
the
G102 grism offers the possibility of detecting Lya emission at
z=7-8.8.
To
identify single-line Lya emitters, we will exploit the wide
0.8--1.9um
wavelength coverage of the combined G102+G141 spectra. All
[OII]
and [OIII] interlopers detected in G102 will be reliably separated
from
true LAEs by the detection of at least one strong line in the G141
spectrum,
without the need for any ancillary data. We waive all
proprietary
rights to our data and will make high-level data products
available
through the ST/ECF.
WFC3/IR
11915
IR
Internal Flat Fields
This
program is the same as 11433 (SMOV) and depends on the completion
of
the IR initial alignment (Program 11425). This version contains three
instances
of 37 internal orbits: to be scheduled early, middle, and near
the
end of Cycle 17, in order to use the entire 110-orbit allocation.
In
this test, we will study the stability and structure of the IR
channel
flat field images through all filter elements in the WFC3-IR
channel.
Flats will be monitored, i.e. to capture any temporal trends in
the
flat fields and delta flats produced. High signal observations will
provide
a map of the pixel-to-pixel flat field structure, as well as
identify
the positions of any dust particles.
WFC3/IR
11926
IR
Zero Points
We
will measure and monitor the zeropoints through the IR filters using
observations
of the white dwarf standard stars, GD153, GD71 and GD191B2B
and
the solar analog standard star, P330E. Data will be taken monthly
during
Cycle 17. Observations of the star cluster, NGC 104, are made
twice
to check color transformations. We expect an accuracy of 2% in the
wide
filter zeropoints relative to the HST photometric system, and 5% in
the
medium- and narrow-band filters.
WFC3/IR
11930
IR
Gain Measurement
The
gain of the IR channel of WFC3 will be measured using a series of
internal
flat fields. Using knowledge gained from ground testing, we
propose
to collect flat field ramps which will be used to create photon
transfer
curves and give a measure of the gain. By using two filters
centered
at similar wavelengths but differing bandwidths, we will be
able
to search for any flux- dependent changes in the the measure of the
gain.
WFC3/UVIS
11594
A
WFC3 Grism Survey for Lyman Limit Absorption at z=2
We
propose to conduct a spectroscopic survey of Lyman limit absorbers at
redshifts
1.8 < z < 2.5, using WFC3 and the G280 grism. This proposal
intends
to complete an approved Cycle 15 SNAP program (10878), which was
cut
short due to the ACS failure. We have selected 64 quasars at 2.3 < z
<
2.6 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectroscopic Quasar Sample, for
which
no BAL signature is found at the QSO redshift and no strong metal
absorption
lines are present at z > 2.3 along the lines of sight. The
survey
has three main observational goals. First, we will determine the
redshift
frequency dn/dz of the LLS over the column density range 16.0 <
log(NHI)
< 20.3 cm^-2. Second, we will measure the column density
frequency
distribution f(N) for the partial Lyman limit systems (PLLS)
over
the column density range 16.0 < log(NHI) < 17.5 cm^-2. Third, we
will
identify those sightlines which could provide a measurement of the
primordial
D/H ratio. By carrying out this survey, we can also help
place
meaningful constraints on two key quantities of cosmological
relevance.
First, we will estimate the amount of metals in the LLS using
the
f(N), and ground based observations of metal line transitions.
Second,
by determining f(N) of the PLLS, we can constrain the amplitude
of
the ionizing UV background at z~2 to a greater precision. This survey
is
ideal for a snapshot observing program, because the on-object
integration
times are all well below 30 minutes, and follow-up
observations
from the ground require minimal telescope time due to the
QSO
sample being bright.
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).
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
9
9
OBAD
with Maneuver 6
6
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS: (None)