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 #
4464
PERIOD COVERED: UT October 09, 2007 (DOY 282)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
ACS/SBC WFPC2 11175
UV Imaging to Determine the Location of Residual Star
Formation in
Galaxies Recently Arrived on the Red Sequence
We have identified a sample of low-redshift
{z = 0.04 - 0.10} galaxies
that are candidates for recent
arrival on the red sequence. They have
red optical colors indicative of
old stellar populations, but blue
UV-optical colors that could indicate the presence of a
small quantity
of continuing or very recent star
formation. However, their spectra lack
the emission lines that
characterize star-forming galaxies. We propose
to use ACS/SBC to obtain high-
resolution imaging of the UV flux in
these galaxies, in order to determine
the spatial distribution of the
last episode of star formation.
WFPC2 imaging will provide B, V, and I
photometry to measure the main stellar
light distribution of the galaxy
for comparison with the UV imaging,
as well as to measure color
gradients and the distribution of
interstellar dust. This detailed
morphological information will allow us to
investigate the hypothesis
that these galaxies have recently
stopped forming stars and to compare
the observed distribution of the
last star formation with predictions
for several different mechanisms
that may quench star formation in
galaxies.
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793
NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 4
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 DARKSs. 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.
NIC2 11143
NICMOS imaging of submillimeter
galaxies with CO and PAH redshifts
We propose to obtain F110W and F160W imaging of 10 z~2.4 submillimeter
galaxies {SMGs}
whose optical redshifts have been confirmed by the
detection of millimeter CO and/or
mid-infrared PAH emission. With the
4000A break falling within/between the two imaging
filters, we will be
able to study these sources'
spatially resolved stellar populations
{modulo extinction} in the
rest-frame optical. SMGs' large luminosities
appear to be due largely to
merger-triggered starbursts; high-resolution
NICMOS imaging will help us understand the stellar masses,
mass ratios,
and other properties of the merger
progenitors, valuable information in
the effort to model the mass
assembly history of the universe.
NIC2 11155
Dust Grain Evolution in Herbig Ae Stars: NICMOS Coronagraphic
Imaging
and Polarimetry
We propose to take advantage of the sensitive coronagraphic capabilities
of NICMOS to obtain multiwavelength coronagraphic
imaging and
polarimetry of primordial dust disks around
young intermediate-mass
stars {Herbig
Ae stars}, in order to advance our understanding of
how
dust grains are assembled into
larger bodies. Because the polarization
of scattered light is strongly
dependent on scattering particle size and
composition, coronagraphic
imaging polarimetry with NICMOS provides a
uniquely powerful tool for measuring
grain properties in spatially
resolved circumstellar
disks. It is widely believed that planets form
via the gradual accretion of planetesimals in gas-rich, dusty
circumstellar disks, but the connection
between this suspected process
and the circumstellar
disks that we can now observe around other stars
remains very uncertain. Our proposed
observations, together with
powerful 3-D radiative
transfer codes, will enable us to quantitatively
determine dust grain properties as a
function of location within disks,
and thus to test whether dust
grains around young stars are in fact
growing in size during the putative
planet-formation epoch. HST imaging
polarimetry of Herbig
Ae stars will complement and extend existing
polarimetric studies of disks around
lower-mass T Tauri stars and debris
disks around older main-sequence stars.
When combined with these
previous studies, the proposed research
will help us establish the
influence of stellar mass on the growth
of dust grains into larger
planetesimals, and ultimately to planets. Our
results will also let us
calibrate models of the thermal emission
from these disks, a critical
need for validating the properties
of more distant disks inferred on the
basis of spectral information alone.
NIC3 11082
NICMOS Imaging of GOODS: Probing the Evolution of the
Earliest Massive
Galaxies, Galaxies Beyond Reionization, and the High Redshift
Obscured
Universe
(uses ACS/SBC and WFPC2)
Deep near-infrared imaging provides the only avenue
towards
understanding a host of astrophysical
problems, including: finding
galaxies and AGN at z > 7, the
evolution of the most massive galaxies,
the triggering of star formation in
dusty galaxies, and revealing
properties of obscured AGN. As such, we
propose to observe 60 selected
areas of the GOODS North and South
fields with NICMOS Camera 3 in the
F160W band pointed at known massive M > 10^11 M_0
galaxies at z > 2
discovered through deep Spitzer imaging.
The depth we will reach {26.5
AB at 5 sigma} in H_160 allows us to study the internal
properties of
these galaxies, including their sizes
and morphologies, and to
understand how scaling relations such as
the Kormendy relationship
evolved. Although NIC3 is out of focus
and undersampled, it is currently
our best opportunity to study these
galaxies, while also sampling enough
area to perform a general NIR survey
1/3 the size of an ACS GOODS field.
These data will be a significant resource, invaluable for
many other
science goals, including discovering
high redshift galaxies at z > 7,
the evolution of galaxies onto the
Hubble sequence, as well as examining
obscured AGN and dusty star formation at
z > 1.5. The GOODS fields are
the natural location for HST to
perform a deep NICMOS imaging program,
as extensive data from space and
ground based observatories such as
Chandra, GALEX, Spitzer, NOAO, Keck, Subaru, VLT, JCMT,
and the VLA are
currently available for these regions.
Deep high-resolution
near-infrared observations are the one
missing ingredient to this
survey, filling in an important gap to
create the deepest, largest, and
most uniform data set for studying
the faint and distant universe. The
importance of these images will increase
with time as new facilities
come on line, most notably WFC3 and
ALMA, and for the planning of future
JWST observations.
WFPC2 11178
Probing Solar System History with Orbits, Masses, and
Colors of
Transneptunian Binaries
The recent discovery of numerous transneptunian
binaries {TNBs} opens a
window into dynamical conditions in
the protoplanetary disk where they
formed as well as the history of
subsequent events which sculpted the
outer Solar System and emplaced them
onto their present day heliocentric
orbits. To date, at least 47 TNBs have been discovered, but only about a
dozen have had their mutual orbits
and separate colors determined,
frustrating their use to investigate
numerous important scientific
questions. The current shortage of data
especially cripples scientific
investigations requiring statistical
comparisons among the ensemble
characteristics. We propose to obtain
sufficient astrometry and
photometry of 23 TNBs
to compute their mutual orbits and system masses
and to determine separate primary
and secondary colors, roughly tripling
the sample for which this
information is known, as well as extending it
to include systems of two near-equal
size bodies. To make the most
efficient possible use of HST, we will
use a
optimally schedule our observations.
WFPC2 11227
The orbital period for an ultraluminous
X-ray source in NGC1313
The ultraluminous X-ray sources
{ULXs} are extragalactic point sources
with luminosities that exceed the Eddington luminosity for conventional
stellar-mass black holes by factors of 10 -
100. It has been hotly
debated whether the ULXs
are just common stellar-mass black hole sources
with beamed emission or whether they
are sub-Eddington sources that are
powered by the long-sought intermediate
mass black holes {IMBH}. To
firmly decide this question, one must
obtain dynamical mass measurements
through photometric and spectroscopic
monitoring of the secondaries of
these system. The crucial first step
is to establish the orbital period
of a ULX, and arguably the best
way to achieve this goal is by
monitoring its ellipsoidal light curve.
The extreme ULX NGC1313 X-2
provides an outstanding target for an
orbital period determination
because its relatively bright optical
counterpart {V = 23.5} showed a
15% variation between two HST
observations separated by three months.
This level of variability is consistent with that expected
for a tidally
distorted secondary star. Here we propose
a set of 20 imaging
observations with HST/WFPC2 to define the
orbital period. This would be
the first photometric measurement
of the orbital period of a ULX binary.
Subsequently, we will propose to obtain spectroscopic
observations to
obtain its radial velocity amplitude
and thereby a dynamical estimate of
its mass.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are
preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal
performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS:
#11017
REAcq(2,1,1) Failed due to Scan step
Limit Exceeded on FGS3 @282/1256z
At
282/12:56:00 REAcq (2,1,1)
scheduled from 282/12:53:02-13:00:11
failed due to Scan Step Limit Exceeded on FGS 2.
OBAD #1: V1 -507.67, V2 -727.65, V3 220.50,
RSS 914.23
OBAD #2: V1 0.31, V2 0.80, V3 0.22, RSS
0.89
OBAD MAP: Not scheduled
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 08 08
FGS REacq 07 06
OBAD with Maneuver
30 30
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
-
____________________________________________________________
Lynn F. Bassford
Hubble Space Telescope
CHAMP
CHAMP Flight Operations Team Manager
Lockheed Martin Mission Services (LMMS)
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