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 # 4476
PERIOD
COVERED: UT October 25, 2007 (DOY 298)
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.
NIC3
11068
NICMOS
A-Star Spectrophotometric Observations
Now
that the Cohen A-star fluxes have been verified in the IR by the
four
cycle 14 NICMOS grism observations from program 10754, verification
of
four more of these Cohen SEDs will be done in Cycle 15. All 8 stars
are
selected from the Spitzer IRAC photometric calibration target lists,
{Tables
1-2} in Reach et al. 2005, PASP, 117,978; and all 8 A-stars are
near
the north ecliptic pole, ie near the JWST continuous viewing zone.
The
baseline plan for JWST NIRSpec calibration is to use the Cohen
modeled
flux beyond the 2.5micron NICMOS limit. Because of intrinsic
variation
within the same spectral type there is some statistical
scatter
expected in the precision of the Cohen flux extrapolation that
is
based on models. Thus, the ensemble JWST flux calibration based on an
average
over 8 stars should be sqrt{8} more accurate than a sensitivity
based
on just one A-star. In addition to JWST calibration, this program
supports
spectrophotometric cross calibration of HST and Spitzer. The
targets
are chosen to be faint enough for unsaturated observations with
JWST
NIRSpec, yet still bright enough for high signal to noise in
relatively
short observations with HST+NICMOS and with Spitzer+IRAC.
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
11022
WFPC2
Cycle 15 Decontaminations and Associated Observations
This
proposal is for the WFPC2 decons. Also included are instrument
monitors
tied to decons: photometric stability check, focus monitor,
pre-
and post-decon internals {bias, intflats, kspots, & darks}, UV
throughput
check, VISFLAT sweep, and internal UV flat check.
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
11194
Beyond
the Bullet: Direct Detection of Dark Matter in Merging Galaxy
Clusters
Our
comparison of the distribution of baryons {stars and gas} and mass
{from
weak lensing} in the "Bullet" Cluster has recently yielded
concrete
evidence for dark matter independent of basic assumptions
regarding
the nature of the gravitational force. The one incomplete
aspect
of the argument relates to potential, although highly unlikely,
coincidences
{special alignments along the line of sight, and/or
fortuitous
canceling in non-standard gravitational models} that can
always
be invoked against results derived from the study of one object.
Therefore,
we propose to complete this line of investigations by
increasing
the size of our sample with observations of an additional
cluster.
Here we propose to obtain HST WFPC2 imaging mosaics around the
cores
of the cluster to detect at high significance if the weak
gravitational
lensing mass peaks are routinely displaced from the X-ray
plasma
clouds and aligned with the galaxy concentrations in interacting
clusters.
With a relatively modest allocation of time, we seek to
complete
a significant step toward the eventual resolution of the dark
matter
question.
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
09
09
FGS
REacq
04
04
OBAD
with Maneuver
28
28
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS: (None)