Date: September 27th 2010

sci astro hubble http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble?hl=en

sci astro hubble@googlegroups com

Today's topics:

Daily Report #5187 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/edb084df4edad36b?hl=en
Daily Report #5188 - 1 messages, 1 author http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/c7f3738027a79d90?hl=en

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5187

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/edb084df4edad36b?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Sep 23 2010 9:30Ã‚Â am From: "Bassford, Lynn"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5187

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 22 - 5am September 23, 2010 (DOY 265/09:00z-266/09:00z)

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 5 5 FGS REAcq 8 8 OBAD with Maneuver 7 7

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC 11996

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 3)

This program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and dark current of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels The recorded frames are used to create bias and dark reference images for science data reduction and calibration This program will be executed four days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of Cycle 17 To facilitate scheduling, this program is split into three proposals This proposal covers 308 orbits (19 25 weeks) from 21 June 2010 to 1 November 2010

COS/NUV/FUV 11598

How Galaxies Acquire their Gas: A Map of Multiphase Accretion and Feedback in Gaseous Galaxy Halos

We propose to address two of the biggest open questions in galaxy formation - how galaxies acquire their gas and how they return it to the IGM - with a concentrated COS survey of diffuse multiphase gas in the halos of SDSS galaxies at z = 0 15 - 0 35 Our chief science goal is to establish a basic set of observational facts about the physical state, metallicity, and kinematics of halo gas, including the sky covering fraction of hot and cold material, the metallicity of infall and outflow, and correlations with galaxy stellar mass, type, and color - all as a function of impact parameter from 10 - 150 kpc Theory suggests that the bimodality of galaxy colors, the shape of the luminosity function, and the mass-metallicity relation are all influenced at a fundamental level by accretion and feedback, yet these gas processes are poorly understood and cannot be predicted robustly from first principles We lack even a basic observational assessment of the multiphase gaseous content of galaxy halos on 100 kpc scales, and we do not know how these processes vary with galaxy properties This ignorance is presently one of the key impediments to understanding galaxy formation in general We propose to use the high-resolution gratings G130M and G160M on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to obtain sensitive column density measurements of a comprehensive suite of multiphase ions in the spectra of 43 z < 1 QSOs lying behind 43 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey In aggregate, these sightlines will constitute a statistically sound map of the physical state and metallicity of gaseous halos, and subsets of the data with cuts on galaxy mass, color, and SFR will seek out predicted variations of gas properties with galaxy properties Our interpretation of these data will be aided by state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations of accretion and feedback, in turn providing information to refine and test such models We will also use Keck, MMT, and Magellan (as needed) to obtain optical spectra of the QSOs to measure cold gas with Mg II, and optical spectra of the galaxies to measure SFRs and to look for outflows In addition to our other science goals, these observations will help place the Milky Way's population of multiphase, accreting High Velocity Clouds (HVCs) into a global context by identifying analogous structures around other galaxies Our program is designed to make optimal use of the unique capabilities of COS to address our science goals and also generate a rich dataset of other absorption-line systems

COS/NUV/FUV/STIS/CCD/MA1 11692

The LMC as a QSO Absorption Line System

We propose to obtain high resolution, high signal-to-noise observations of QSOs behind the Large Magellanic Clouds These QSOs are situated beyond the star forming disk of the galaxy, giving us the opportunity to study the distribution of metals and energy in regions lacking significant star formation In particular, we will derive the metallicities and study the ionization characteristics of LMC gas at impact parameters 3-17 kpc We will compare our results with high-z QSO absorption line systems

FGS 12320

The Ages of Globular Clusters and the Population II Distance Scale

Globular clusters are the oldest objects in the universe whose age can be accurately determined The dominant error in globular cluster age determinations is the uncertain Population II distance scale We propose to use FGS 1r to obtain parallaxes with an accuracy of 0 2 milliarcsecond for 9 main sequence stars with [Fe/H] < -1 5 This will determine the absolute magnitude of these stars with accuracies of 0 04 to 0 06mag This data will be used to determine the distance to 24 metal-poor globular clusters using main sequence fitting These distances (with errors of 0 05 mag) will be used to determine the ages of globular clusters using the luminosity of the subgiant branch as an age indicator This will yield absolute ages with an accuracy 5%, about a factor of two improvement over current estimates Coupled with existing parallaxes for more metal-rich stars, we will be able to accurately determine the age for globular clusters over a wide range of metallicities in order to study the early formation history of the Milky Way and provide an independent estimate of the age of the universe

The Hipparcos database contains only 1 star with [Fe/H] < -1 4 and an absolute magnitude error less than 0 18 mag which is suitable for use in main sequence fitting Previous attempts at main sequence fitting to metal-poor globular clusters have had to rely on theoretical calibrations of the color of the main sequence Our HST parallax program will remove this source of possible systematic error and yield distances to metal-poor globular clusters which are significantly more accurate than possible with the current parallax data The HST parallax data will have errors which are 10 times smaller than the current parallax data Using the HST parallaxes, we will obtain main sequence fitting distances to 11 globular clusters which contain over 500 RR Lyrae stars This will allow us to calibrate the absolute magnitude of RR Lyrae stars, a commonly used Population II distance indicator

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CCD 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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/UV 11605

Obtaining the Missing Links in the Test of Very Low Mass Evolutionary Models with HST

We are proposing for spatially resolved ACS+HRC observations of 11 very low mass binaries spanning late-M, L and T spectral types in order to obtain precise effective temperature measurements for each component All of our targets are part of a program in which we are measuring dynamical masses of very low-mass binaries to an unprecedented precision of 10% (or better) However, without precise temperature measurements, the full scientific value of these mass measurements cannot be realized Together, mass and temperature measurements will allow us to distinguish between brown dwarf evolutionary models that make different assumptions about the interior and atmospheric structure of these ultra-cool objects While dynamical masses can be obtained from the ground in the near-IR, obtaining precise temperatures require access to optical data which, for these sub-arcsecond binaries, can only be obtained from space with Hubble

WFC3/UV 12245

Orbital Evolution and Stability of the Inner Uranian Moons

Nine densely-packed inner moons of Uranus show signs of chaos and orbital instability over a variety of time scales Many moons show measureable orbital changes within a decade or less Long-term integrations predict that some moons could collide in less than one million years One faint ring embedded in the system may, in fact, be the debris left behind from an earlier such collision Meanwhile, the nearby moon Mab falls well outside the influence of the others but nevertheless shows rapid, as yet unexplained, changes in its orbit It is embedded within a dust ring that also shows surprising variability A highly optimized series of observations with WFC3 over the next three cycles will address some of the fundamental open questions about this dynamically active system: Do the orbits truly show evidence of chaos? If so, over what time scales? What can we say about the masses of the moons involved? What is the nature of the variations in Mab's orbit? Is Mab's motion predictable or random? Astrometry will enable us to derive the orbital elements of these moons with 10-km precision This will be sufficient to study the year-by-year changes and, combined with other data from 2003-2007, the decadal evolution of the orbits The pairing of precise astrometry with numerical integrations will enable us to derive new dynamical constraints on the masses of these moons Mass is the fundamental unknown quantity currently limiting our ability to reproduce the interactions within this system This program will also capitalize upon our best opportunity for nearly 40 years to study the unexplained variations in Uranus's faint outer rings

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)

WFC3/UVIS 11908

Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor

Ground testing revealed an intermittent hysteresis type effect in the UVIS detector (both CCDs) at the level of ~1%, lasting hours to days Initially found via an unexpected bowtie- shaped feature in flatfield ratios, subsequent lab tests on similar e2v devices have since shown that it is also present as simply an overall offset across the entire CCD, i e , a QE offset without any discernable pattern These lab tests have further revealed that overexposing the detector to count levels several times full well fills the traps and effectively neutralizes the bowtie Each visit in this proposal acquires a set of three 3x3 binned internal flatfields: the first unsaturated image will be used to detect any bowtie, the second, highly exposed image will neutralize the bowtie if it is present, and the final image will allow for verification that the bowtie is gone

WFC3/UVIS 11914

UVIS Earth Flats

This program is an experimental path finder for Cycle 18 calibration Visible-wavelength flat fields will be obtained by observing the dark side of the Earth during periods of full moon illumination The observations will consist of full-frame streaked WFC3 UVIS imagery: per 22- min total exposure time in a single "dark-sky" orbit, we anticipate collecting 7000 e/pix in F606W or 4500 e/pix in F814W To achieve Poisson S/N > 100 per pixel, we require at least 2 orbits of F606W and 3 orbits of F814W

For UVIS narrowband filters, exposures of 1 sec typically do not saturate on the sunlit Earth, so we will take sunlit Earth flats for three of the more-commonly used narrowband filters in Cycle 17 plus the also-popular long-wavelength quad filters, for which we get four filters at once

Why not use the Sunlit Earth for the wideband visible-light filters? It is too bright in the visible for WFC3 UVIS minimum exposure time of 0 5 sec Similarly, for NICMOS the sunlit-Earth is too bright which saturates the detector too quickly and/or induces abnormal behaviors such as super-shading (Gilmore 1998, NIC 098-011) In the narrowband visible and broadband near- UV its not too bright (predictions in Cox et al 1987 "Standard Astronomical Sources for HST: 6 Spatially Flat Fields " and observations in ACS Program 10050)

Other possibilities? Cox et al 's Section II D addresses many other possible sources for flat fields, rejecting them for a variety of reasons A remaining possibility would be the totally eclipsed moon Such eclipses provide approximately 2 hours (1 HST orbit) of opportunity per year, so they are too rare to be generically useful An advantage of the moon over the Earth is that the moon subtends less than 0 25 square degree, whereas the Earth subtends a steradian or more, so scattered light and light potentially leaking around the shutter presents additional problems for the Earth Also, we're unsure if HST can point 180 deg from the Sun

============================================================================== TOPIC: Daily Report #5188

http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/t/c7f3738027a79d90?hl=en

== 1 of 1 == Date: Fri, Sep 24 2010 8:17Ã‚Â am From: "Cooper, Joe"

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5188

PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 23 - 5am September 24, 2010 (DOY 266/09:00z-267/09:00z)

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: 18924-0 - Genslew for proposal 12312 (slot #1) @ 267/0620z 18925-0 - Genslew for proposal 12312 (slot #2) @ 267/0622z 18926-0 - Genslew for proposal 12312 (slot #3) @ 267/0625z 18927-1 - Genslew for proposal 12312 (slot #4) @ 267/0627z 18928-0 - Genslew for proposal 12312 (slot #5) @ 267/0630z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                   SCHEDULED  SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSAcq 6 6 FGS REAcq 6 6 OBAD with Maneuver 8 8

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC3 11734

The Hosts of High Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosive events known, acting as beacons to the high redshift universe Long duration GRBs have their origin in the collapse of massive stars and thus select star forming galaxies across a wide range of redshift Due to their bright afterglows we can study the details of GRB host galaxies via absorption spectroscopy, providing redshifts, column densities and metallicities for galaxies far too faint to be accessible directly with current technology We have already obtained deep ground based observations for many hosts and here propose ACS/WFC3 and WFC3 observations of the fields of bursts at z>3 which are undetected in deep ground based images These observations will study the hosts in emission, providing luminosities and morphologies and will enable the construction of a sample of high-z galaxies with more detailed physical properties than has ever been possible before

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD

STIS/CCD 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

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/S/C 11929

IR Dark Current Monitor

Analyses of ground test data showed that dark current signals are more reliably removed from science data using darks taken with the same exposure sequences as the science data, than with a single dark current image scaled by desired exposure time Therefore, dark current images must be collected using all sample sequences that will be used in science observations These observations will be used to monitor changes in the dark current of the WFC3-IR channel on a day-to-day basis, and to build calibration dark current ramps for each of the sample sequences to be used by Gos in Cycle 17 For each sample sequence/array size combination, a median ramp will be created and delivered to the calibration database system (CDBS)

WFC3/UV 12215

Searching for the Missing Low-Mass Companions of Massive Stars

Recent results on binary companions of massive O stars appear to indicate that the distribution of secondary masses is truncated at low masses It thus mimics the distribution of companions of G dwarfs and also the Initial Mass Function (IMF), except that it is shifted upward by a factor of 20 in mass These results, if correct, provide a distribution of mass ratios that hints at a strong constraint on the star-formation process However, this intriguing result is derived from a complex simulation of data which suffer from observational incompleteness at the low-mass end

We propose a snapshot survey to test this result in a very direct way HST WFC3 images of a sample of the nearest Cepheids (which were formerly B stars of ~5 Msun) will search for low-mass companions down to M dwarfs We will confirm any companions as young stars, and thus true physical companions, through follow-up Chandra X-ray images Our survey will show clearly whether the companion mass distribution is truncated at low masses, but at a mass much higher than that of the IMF or G dwarfs

WFC3/UV/ACS/WFC 12311

Multiple Stellar Populations in Galactic Globular Clusters

This is a proposal to bring the unique new properties of WFC3 to bear on the most exciting recent development in stellar populations: multiple generations of stars in globular clusters From our vantage point in the midst of these developments, we feel that the present-day situation merits a concentration on increasing the depth of knowledge in clusters that are already known to have multiple populations, rather than merely increasing the list of clusters with perplexing peculiarities We are therefore proposing to look for a clear splitting of the main sequence (and other sequences) of 47 Tuc, M4, M22, NGC 1851, and NGC 6752, and quantify them The main-sequence study will cast particular light on the question of helium enrichment Coupling the requested F275W data with F814W images available from the archive will allow us to follow the multiple sequences in the color magnitude diagram from the main sequence to the horizontal branch and asymptotic giant branch, and therefore constrain the effects of enhanced He and CNO on their evolution

WFC3/UV/IR 12256

The Ultraviolet and Optical Counterparts of the Intermediate Mass Black Hole Candidate ESO 243-49 HLX-1

We request imaging observations of the record breaking hyper-luminous X-ray source and intermediate mass black hole candidate HLX-1 in the galaxy ESO 243-49, in order to investigate the nature of recent detections of UV emission and an optical counterpart HLX-1 is currently the best candidate for an intermediate mass black hole, the possible building blocks of super-massive black holes found in the centres of galaxies UV emission possibly associated with the X-ray source position was recently detected in lower resolution observations with the Swift and GALEX satellites If this emission can be tied to HLX-1 and is point-like in nature, it will likely be dominated by emission from a hot accretion disc By obtaining UV photometry we will be able to place constraints upon the temperature of the disc and therefore the mass of the black hole The optical counterpart may be related to disc emission, though it is also possible that it is associated with a globular cluster or nucleated dwarf galaxy By obtaining photometry of the counterpart in near-infrared to UV wavelengths we will be able to construct a broad-band SED, which will allow us to place firm constraints on the environment around this intriguing object

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

WFC3/UVIS 11914

UVIS Earth Flats

WFC3/UVIS/IR 11702

Search for Very High-z Galaxies with WFC3 Pure Parallel

WFC3 will provide an unprecedented probe to the early universe beyond the current redshift frontier Here we propose a pure parallel program using this new instrument to search for Lyman-break galaxies at 6 520deg) that last for 4 orbits and longer, resulting a total survey area of about 140~230 square arcminute Based on our understanding of the new HST parallel observation scheduling process, we believe that the total number of long-duration pure parallel visits in Cycle 17 should be sufficient to accommodate our program We waive all proprietary rights to our data, and will also make the enhanced data products public in a timely manner

(1) We will use both the UVIS and the IR channels, and do not need to seek optical data from elsewhere

(2) Our program will likely triple the size of the probable candidate samples at z~7 and z~8, and will complement other targeted programs aiming at the similar redshift range

(3) Being a pure parallel program, our survey will only make very limited demand on the scarce HST resources More importantly, as the pure parallel pointings will be at random sight-lines, our program will be least affected by the bias due to the large scale structure ("cosmic variance")

(4) We aim at the most luminous LBG population, and will address the bright-end of the luminosity function at z~8 and z~7 We will constrain the value of L* in particular, which is critical for understanding the star formation process and the stellar mass assembly history in the first few hundred million years of the universe

(5) The candidates from our survey, most of which will be the brightest ones that any surveys would be able to find, will have the best chance to be spectroscopically confirmed at the current 8--10m telescopes

(6) We will also find a large number of extremely red, old galaxies at intermediate redshifts, and the fine spatial resolution offered by the WFC3 will enable us constrain their formation history based on the study of their morphology, and hence shed light on their connection to the very early galaxies in the universe

==============================================================================

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sci astro hubble" group

To post to this group, visit http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble?hl=en

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sci astro hubble+unsubscribe@googlegroups com

To change the way you get mail from this group, visit: http://groups google com/group/sci astro hubble/subscribe?hl=en

To report abuse, send email explaining the problem to abuse@googlegroups com

============================================================================== Google Groups: http://groups google com/?hl=en

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/HST_REPORTS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: