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distribution of the HST Daily Report will cease on ~10/15/10. The
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heading "HST Daily Report."
Reports
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will
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From
the switchover date forward, Daily Reports will be issued 7 days a
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instead of M-F only.
HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science
DAILY
REPORT #5195
PERIOD
COVERED: 8:00pm October 4 - 7:59pm October 5, 2010 (DOY
277/00:00z-277/23:59z)
FLIGHT
OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant
Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports
of
potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS:
12448
- SDF fails to properly output science data following software
change starting at 277/0143z
Observations possibly affected: WFC3 26-17, Proposal ID#12307;
WFC3 8,
Proposal ID#11929; WFC3 19-20, 22-24, 30-34 Proposal ID#12215;
WFC3 21,
Proposal ID#12215; WFC3 9-11, 13-18 Proposal ID#12348; WFC3 4-7
Proposal
ID#11905; WFC3 28-29, 32 Proposal ID#11700; WFC 1-6 Proposal
ID#11582;
WFC 1, 8-14 Proposal ID#11996; WFC 15-18 Proposal ID#12209; COS
30-35
Proposal ID#11741; STIS 3-4 Proposal ID#11845; STIS 5-7 Proposal
ID#11847;
STIS 1-2 Proposal ID#11849
12450
- GSAcq(1,2,1) at 277/18:04z results in fine lock back (1,0,1), stop
flag on FGS-1 at 277/1807z
Observations possibly affected: WFC3 26-27, Proposal ID#12307
COMPLETED
OPS REQUEST:
18933-1
Inhibit NSSC-1 ATP pointer@277/19:08z
COMPLETED
OPS NOTES: (None)
Scheduled
Successful
FGS
GSAcq
8
8
FGS
REAcq
8
8
OBAD
with Maneuver 8
8
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS:
FLASH
SIC&DH ATP pointer halted
In response to the failure of the SDF to properly output science data at
277/19:10 the NSSC-1 ATP was inhibited and SDF input enabled via Ops Request
18933. This will facilitate the recovery of the remaining science data in
the SIs and interception of the reprocessed SMS.
OBSERVATIONS
SCHEDULED:
COS/FUV
11895
FUV
Detector Dark Monitor
Monitor
the FUV detector dark rate by taking long science exposures
without
illuminating the detector. The detector dark rate and spatial
distribution
of counts will be compared to pre-launch and SMOV data in
order
to verify the nominal operation of the detector. Variations of
count
rate as a function of orbital position will be analyzed to find
dependence
of dark rate on proximity to the SAA. Dependence of dark rate
as
function of time will also be tracked.
COS/FUV
12169
The
Frequency and Chemical Composition of Planetary Debris Discs around
Young
White Dwarfs
Throughout
the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that the
most
plausible scenario to explain the metal-pollution observed in ~20%
of
all cool white dwarfs is accretion from rocky debris material -
suggesting
that these white dwarfs may have had, or may still have
terrestial
planets as well. This hypothesis is corroborated through the
infrared
detection of circumstellar dust around the most heavily
polluted
white dwarfs. Traditionally, the detection of metal pollution
is
done in the optical using the Ca H/K lines, leading to a strong bias
against
hot/young white dwarfs. Hence, most of our knowledge about the
late
evolution of planetary systems is based on white dwarfs with
cooling
ages >0.5Gyr. We propose an HST/COS ultraviolet spectroscopic
snapshot
survey to carry out the first systematic investigation of the
fraction
of metal-pollution among young (20-100Myr) white dwarfs,
probing
the correlation with white dwarf (and hence progenitor) mass,
and
determining the Si/H, C/H, and potentially N/H and O/H abundance
ratios
of their circumstellar debris material.
COS/FUV
12212
What
are the Locations and Kinematics of Mass Outflows in AGN?
Mass
outflows of ionized gas in AGN, first revealed through blueshifted
UV
and X-ray absorption lines, are likely important feedback mechanisms
for
the enrichment of the IGM, self-regulation of black-hole growth, and
formation
of structure in the early Universe. To understand the origin,
dynamics,
and impact of the outflowing absorbers on their surroundings,
we
need to know their locations (radial positions and polar angles with
respect
to the AGN rotation axes) and kinematics (radial and transverse
velocities).
We will use COS high-resolution spectra of 11 Seyfert 1
galaxies
to derive velocity-dependent covering factors, ionic column
densities,
number densities (via metastable lines or variability), and
ionization
parameters (via photoionization models) of the UV absorbers,
and
thereby determine their radial locations as we have done for NGC
4151.
We will use absorption variability over time scales of up to ~20
years,
to determine transverse velocities and detect changes in radial
velocities.
We will use STIS G430M long-slit spectra and WFC3 [OIII]
images
to resolve the kinematics of the narrow-line region (NLR) and
determine
the inclinations of the AGN, to investigate the connection
between
nuclear absorption and NLR emission outflows and their
dependence
on polar angle.
WFC3/UV
12324
The
Temperature Profiles of Quasar Accretion Disks
We
can now routinely measure the size of quasar accretion disks using
gravitational
microlensing of lensed quasars. At optical wavelengths we
observe
a size and scaling with black hole mass roughly consistent with
thin
disk theory but the sizes are larger than expected from the
observed
optical fluxes. One solution would be to use a flatter
temperature
profile, which we can study by measuring the wavelength
dependence
of the disk size over the largest possible wavelength
baseline.
Thus, to understand the size discrepancy and to probe closer
to
the inner edge of the disk we need to extend our measurements to UV
wavelengths,
and this can only be done with HST. For example, in the UV
we
should see significant changes in the optical/UV size ratio with
black
hole mass. We propose monitoring 5 lenses spanning a broad range
of
black hole masses with well-sampled ground based light curves,
optical
disk size measurements and known GALEX UV fluxes during Cycles
17
and 18 to expand from our current sample of two lenses. We would
obtain
5 observations of each target in each Cycle, similar to our
successful
strategy for the first two targets.