Notice: Due to the conversion of some ACS WFC or HRC
observations into
WFPC2, or NICMOS observations after
the loss of ACS CCD science
capability in January, there may be an
occasional discrepancy between a
proposal's listed (and correct) instrument
usage and the abstract that
follows it.
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class
Science
DAILY REPORT # 4414
PERIOD COVERED: UT July 27,28,29,
2007 (DOY 208,209,210)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED 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 DARKs. 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.
WFPC2 11314
Calibration of MARCI UV using WFPC2
Ultraviolet imaging is a major unique component of the
MARCI experiment
on MRO. Unfortunately the
calibration of the UV, especially of the 260
nm filter, on MARCI is uncertain
due to various unexpected problems
during laboratory calibration. Two
orbits of WFPC2 observations are
requested to properly calibrate the UV
using simultaneous MRO / HST
observations in a favorable geometry where
HST is "looking over the
shoulder" of MRO.
WFPC2 11307
Completing the ACS Nearby Galaxy
Survey with WFPC2
We are requesting 25 orbits of Director's Discretionary
Time to complete
the primary science goals of our
highly-ranked ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey
Treasury program {ANGST}. Our program lost ~2/3 of its
orbits due to the
ACS failure. Roughly half of these were
restored as a result of an
appeal to the Telescope Time Review
Board which re-scoped the program.
The Board's response to our appeal was explicit in terms
of which
targets were to be observed and how. We
were directed to request
Director's discretionary time for the components of the
appeal which
were not granted by the Review
Board, but which were vital to the
success of the program. The observing
strategy for ANGST is two-fold: to
obtain one deep field per galaxy which
enables derivation of an accurate
ancient star formation history, and to
obtain radial tilings sufficient
for recovering the full star
formation history. The Review Board granted
WFPC2 observations for deep fields in 7 galaxies, but no
time for radial
tilings. However, recovering the full
star formation history of a galaxy
is not possible without additional
radial coverage. We have searched the
archives for observations which may be
used in place of the tilings
{conceding some of the Treasury
goals, but providing significant
constraints on the full star formation
history}, and have identified
suitable observations for all but two of
the galaxies. Here we request
DD time for radial tilings for those last two galaxies.
NIC2 11219
Active Galactic Nuclei in nearby galaxies: a new view of
the origin of
the radio-loud radio-quiet
dichotomy?
Using archival HST and Chandra observations of 34 nearby
early-type
galaxies {drawn from a complete radio
selected sample} we have found
evidence that the radio-loud/radio-quiet
dichotomy is directly connected
to the structure of the inner
regions of their host galaxies in the
following sense: [1] Radio-loud AGN are
associated with galaxies with
shallow cores in their light profiles
[2] Radio-quiet AGN are only
hosted by galaxies with steep cusps.
Since the brightness profile is
determined by the galaxy's evolution,
through its merger history, our
results suggest that the same process
sets the AGN flavor. This
provides us with a novel tool to explore
the co-evolution of galaxies
and supermassive
black holes, and it opens a new path to understand the
origin of the radio-loud/radio-quiet
AGN dichotomy. Currently our
analysis is statistically incomplete as
the brightness profile is not
available for 82 of the 116 targets. Most
galaxies were not observed
with HST, while in some cases the
study is obstructed by the presence of
dust features. We here propose to
perform an infrared NICMOS snapshot
survey of these 82 galaxies. This will
enable us to i} test the reality
of the dichotomic
behavior in a substantially larger sample; ii} extend
the comparison between radio-loud
and radio-quiet AGN to a larger range
of luminosities.
WFPC2 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
WFPC2 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!
WFPC2/NIC3 11188
First Resolved Imaging of Escaping Lyman Continuum
The emission from star-forming galaxies appears to be
responsible for
reionization of the universe at z>6.
However, the models that attempt to
describe the detailed impact of high- redshift galaxies on the
surrounding inter-galactic medium {IGM} are
strongly dependent upon
several uncertain parameters. Perhaps
the most uncertain is the fraction
of HI-ionizing photons produced by
young stars which escape into the
IGM. Most attempts to measure this
"escape fraction" {f_esc} have
produced null results. Recently, a small
subset of z~3 Lyman Break
Galaxies {LBGs} has been found
exhibiting large escape fractions. It
remains unclear however, what
differentiates them from other LBGs.
Several models attempt to explain how such a large
fraction of ionizing
continuum can escape through the HI and
dust in the ISM {eg. "chimneys"
created by SNe
winds, globular cluster formation, etc.}, each producing
unique signatures which can be
observed with resolved imaging of the
escaping Lyman continuum. We propose a
deep, high resolution WFPC2 image
of the ionizing continuum {F336W}
and the rest-frame 1500 Angstrom
continuum {F606W} of five of the six known
LBGs with large escape
fractions. These LBGs
all fit within a single WFPC2 pointing, yielding
high observing efficiency.
Additionally, they all have z~3.1 or higher,
the optimal redshift
range for probing the Lyman Continuum region with
available WFPC2 filters. These factors
make our proposed sample
especially suitable for follow- up. With
these data we will discern the
mechanisms responsible for producing large
escape fractions, and
therefore gain insight into the process
of reionization.
WFPC2 11176
Location and the Origin of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts
During the past decade extraordinary progress has been
made in
determining the origin of long- duration
gamma-ray bursts. It has been
conclusively shown that these objects derive
from the deaths of massive
stars. Nonetheless, the origin of
their observational cousins,
short-duration gamma-ray bursts {SGRBs} remains a mystery. While SGRBs
are widely thought to result from
the inspiral of compact binaries, this
is a conjecture. A number of hosts
of SGRBs have been identified, and
have been used by some to argue that
SGRBs derive primarily from an
ancient population {~ 5 Gyr}; however, it is not known whether this
conclusion more accurately reflects
selection biases or astrophysics.
Here we propose to employ a variant of a technique that we
pioneered and
used to great effect in elucidating
the origins of long-duration bursts.
We will examine the degree to which SGRB locations trace
the red or blue
light of their hosts, and thus old or
young stellar populations. This
approach will allow us to study the
demographics of the SGRB population
in a manner largely free of the
distance dependent selection effects
which have so far bedeviled this
field, and should give direct insight
into the age of the SGRB progenitor
population.
NIC2 11152
Probing the compact dust disk of a nearby Classical T Tauri Star
BP Psc is a high Galactic
latitude {b = -57}, bright, IRAS source that
generally has been classified as a T Tauri star but little studied to
date. We have carried out a multiwavelength ground-based study of this
object and find that it is most likely
a ~10 Myr classical T Tauri
star
surrounded by a gas and dust disk, and
less than 100 pc from Earth,
making it one of the oldest and
closest such stars known. Near-IR AO
images and IR photometry show it is
surrounded by an compact {0.2"},
almost-edge-on, optically thick disk of dust
with a wide range of
temperatures. We propose a multiwavelength polarimetric
study of the
compact disk to support quantitative
modeling to recover disk and dust
parameters. We also propose coronagraphic imaging to search for larger-
scale dust structures invisible in
ground-based images, and narrowband
imaging of an outflow jet and
associated Herbig-Haro objects to study
their structure and determine a kinematic distance of the system. A
massive compact disk surrounding an
isolated 10 Myr star is a unique
environment for planet formation, and its
proximity to Earth allows HST
to study it in detail.
WFPC2 11118
Investigating Near-Equinox Atmospheric Change on Uranus
Uranus is approaching its 7 December 2007 equinox, when we
will be able
to observe the entire northern
hemisphere for the first time with modern
cameras. The large seasonal phase shift
expected from its long radiative
time constant implies that it should
now exhibit nearly maximal
hemispheric contrast, and should be in the
process of reversing. Many
changes already observed, such as the
development of the first
visible-wavelength dark spot, discovered in Cycle
15, and the fading of
the south polar cap may be
indicative of the expected reversal. We
propose a detailed characterization of
Uranus' current seasonal response
with a 7-orbit program consisting of
1 orbit of NICMOS imaging of cloud
bands and 6 orbits of WFPC2 imaging
using both broadband and narrow-band
filters capable of tracking dark and
bright discrete cloud features.
Filters between 0.467 and 1.87 microns will provide
vertical sensing
depths scanning through the pressure
range where the putative methane
and deeper H2S clouds might
plausibly exist and provide strong
constraints on their contributions and
parent gas mixing ratios. These
observations have unique combinations of
spectral range and resolution
with needed temporal and spatial resolution
not available from
groundbased observations. Only HST is
capable of investigating the
Uranus dark spot.
WFPC2 11100
Two new `bullets' for MOND: revealing the properties of
dark matter in
massive merging clusters
The principal objective of this proposal is to study the
physical nature
of dark matter by using two,
massive, newly-identified merging clusters
of galaxies. As shown by the
pioneering example of the ``bullet
cluster'' {1E0657-56}, such systems are
ideal laboratories for detecting
dark matter and distinguishing
between cold dark matter {CDM} and other
scenarios {e.g. self- interacting dark
matter}. Our limit on the
self-interaction cross-section of dark matter
relies on the assumption
of a normal pre-merger
mass-to-light ratios, and a small impact
parameter during the collision of the two
clusters. In order to mitigate
any possible systematic effects, it
is vital to extend this work to
other, similar systems. With detailed
observations of new systems, the
systematic uncertainties in the dark
matter cross section calculations
can be improved substantially,
allowing us to move from rough order of
magnitude estimates to measurements with
quantifiable uncertainties that
can be compared usefully with the
predictions from numerical
simulations. Our targets are two extraordinary, high-redshift, merging
galaxy clusters recently discovered by
the Massive Cluster Survey
{MACS}. This survey is by far the best
matched to this study, since it
selects medium redshift
{optimal for gravitational lensing studies} and
X-ray luminous {hence massive} objects. We have selected
the best
candidates with clear evidence for
considerable offsets between the hot
X-ray emitting gas and optically luminous stellar
material. The two most
striking examples are the targets of
this proposal. To pin down the
position of the dark matter component we
require high resolution,
absolutely calibrated mass maps. The
combination of weak and strong
lensing measurements is needed to
attain this goal. This can only be
achieved with the excellent resolving
power of the HST {in combination
with wide-field, multicolor Subaru
data already in hand}. We therefore
request multicolor HST/WFPC2
observations of the two merging clusters.
The combination of constraints from multiply lensed images {identified
via morphology and color
information} and high-resolution weak lensing
data will allow us to construct,
self-consistently, their mass
distribution from the very centers to the
outskirts. Gravitational
lensing thus provides a unique tool
transforming these clusters into
dark matter laboratories. They will
supply us with answers as to the
nature and properties of dark matter,
and how it shapes galaxies and
galaxy clusters and their evolution
through cosmic time.
WFPC2 11079
Treasury Imaging of Star Forming Regions in the Local
Group:
Complementing the GALEX and NOAO Surveys
We propose to use WFPC2 to image the most interesting
star-forming
regions in the Local Group galaxies, to
resolve their young stellar
populations. We will use a set of filters
including F170W, which is
critical to detect and characterize the
most massive stars, to whose hot
temperatures colors at longer wavelengths
are not sensitive. WFPC2's
field of view ideally matches the
typical size of the star-forming
regions, and its spatial resolution
allows us to measure individual
stars, given the proximity of these
galaxies. The resulting H-R diagrams
will enable studies of star-
formation properties in these regions,
which cover largely differing metallicities {a factor of 17, compared to
the factor of 4 explored so far}
and characteristics. The results will
further our understanding of the
star-formation process, of the
interplay between massive stars and
environment, the properties of dust,
and will provide the key to
interpret integrated measurements of
star-formation indicators {UV, IR, Halpha} available for several
hundreds more distant galaxies. Our
recent deep surveys of these
galaxies with GALEX {FUV, NUV} and
ground-based imaging {UBVRI, Halpha,
[OIII] and [SII]} provided the identification of the most
relevant SF
sites. In addition to our scientific
analysis, we will provide catalogs
of HST photometry in 6 bands,
matched corollary ground-based data, and
UV, Halpha and IR integrated
measurements of the associations, for
comparison of integrated star-formation
indices to the resolved
populations. We envisage an EPO component.
WFPC2 11033
Full Moon Earth Flats Closeout
Flat field exposures will be obtained by observing the
moonlit Earth
with the broadband WFPC2 filters
F606W and F814W, which saturate in the
minimum exposure time on the sunlit
Earth. These observations will be
used to improve the flats currently
in the pipeline and are part of the
WFPC2 closeout operations. Because CTE effects are large
for star flats
and small for full field
illumination, Earth flats are the superior
technique.
WFPC2 10583
Resolving the LMC Microlensing
Puzzle: Where Are the Lensing Objects
?
We are requesting 32 HST orbits to help ascertain the
nature of the
population that gives rise to the observed
set of microlensing events
towards the LMC. The SuperMACHO project is an ongoing ground-based
survey on the CTIO 4m that has
demonstrated the ability to detect LMC
microlensing events in real-time via frame
subtraction. The improvement
in angular resolution and
photometric accuracy available from HST will
allow us to 1} confirm that the
detected flux excursions arise from LMC
source stars rather than extended
objects {such as for background
supernovae or AGN}, and 2} obtain reliable baseline flux
measurements
for the objects in their unlensed state. The latter measurement is
important to resolve degeneracies
between the event timescale and
baseline flux, which will yield a
tighter constraint on the microlensing
optical depth.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are
preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal
performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS:
#10918 REacq(1,2,1) failed to RGA Control (Gyro Control).
REacq(1,2,1) scheduled at 209/13:56:20
- 14:04:25 failed to RGA Hold due
to (QF1STOPF) stop flag indication
on FGS-1. Pre-acq OBADs
showed (RSS)
attitude correction values of 888.95 and
17.77 arcseconds. Prior
GSAcq(1,2,1) of 209/12:40:12 was
successful. Post-acq OBAD/MAP had (RSS) value of
10.04 arcseconds.
REacq(1,2,1) at 209/15:33:00 was
successful. Upon acquisition of signal
at 209/17:23:59, HST was in Gyro
Control with QF1STOPF and STOP flags
set. REacq(1,2,1) at 209/17:08:53
failed to RGA Hold.
#10919 GSAcq(1,3,3) results in fine lock backup (1,0,1).
Upon acquisition of signal at 209/19:08:11, the GSAcq(1,3,3)
scheduled
at 209/18:49:46 - 18:57:51 had
resulted in fine lock backup (1,0,1)
using FGS-1 due to (QF3STOPF) stop
flag indication on the secondary
FGS-3. Pre-acq
OBADs (RSS) attitude correction values not available
due
to LOS. Post-acq
OBAD/MAP showed (RSS) value of 13.60 arcseconds.
Subsequent REacq(1,3,3) scheduled at 209/20:24:07 resulted in fine lock
backup (1,0,1) using FGS-1 due to
QF3STOPF stop flag indication on
FGS-3. Pre-acq
OBADs were successful.
#10920 GSAcq (1,2,1) failed to RGA Hold (Gyro Control)
AT AOS 209/22:27:15 GSAcq (1,2,1) had failed to RGA Hold (Gyro Control)
with stop flags "QSTOP &
QF1STOPF".
OBAD #1 & 2 data unavailable until engineering data
dump is
accomplished. OBAD MAP: v1 6.30, V2 -0.41,
V3 1.11, RSS 6.41.
At AOS 210/01:04:16 REAcq (1,2,1) scheduled from 209/23:32:20-23:39:50
had failed to RGA Hold (Gyro
Control) with stop flags "QSTOP &
QF1STOPF". OBAD data unavailable
due to LOS.
REAcq (1,2,1)
scheduled from 210/01:08:14-01:15:44 failed to RGA Hold
(Gyro Control) with stop flags
"QSTOP & QF1STOPF". FGS 1 reached a PMT
count high of 6393.00244.
OBAD #1: V1 -71.68, V2 -770.33, V3 -15.23, RSS 773.81 OBAD
#2: V1 2.32,
V2 0.99, V3 -12.84, RSS 13.08 OBAD MAP: not scheduled
Note: The same guide star pair used in HSTAR 10918
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 22 21
FGS REacq 20 16
OBAD with Maneuver
84 84
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
-
____________________________________________________________
Lynn F. Bassford
Hubble Space Telescope
CHAMP
Lockheed Martin
NASA GSFC PH#: 301-286-2876
"The Hubble Space Telescope is the
astronomical observatory and key to unlocking the most cosmic mysteries of the
past, present and future." - 7/26/6