HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science
DAILY
REPORT # 4515
PERIOD
COVERED: UT December 27, 2007 (DOY 361)
OBSERVATIONS
SCHEDULED
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3
11330
NICMOS
Cycle 16 Extended Dark
This
takes a series of Darks in parallel to other instruments.
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3
8795
NICMOS
Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 6
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 i
mages.
Each observation will need its own CRMAP, as different SAA
passages
leave different imprints on the NICMOS detectors.
NIC3
11064
CYCLE
15 NICMOS SPECTROPHOTOMETRY CALIBRATION PROGRAM
Now
that the spectrophotometric capabilities of the NICMOS grism have
been
established, cycle 15 observations are needed to refine the
sensitivity
estimates, to check for sensitivity loss with time, to
improve
the accuracy of the linearity correction, to improve the
secondary
flux standards by re-observation, and to expand the G206 data
set
now that the sky subtraction technique has been shown to produce
useful
fluxes for some of the fainter secondary standards. These faint
secondary
IR standards will be a significant step towards establishing
flux
standards for JWST, as well as for SNAP, Spitzer, and
observe
the 3 primary WDs GD71, G191B2b, & GD153 twice each, once at the
beginning
and once near the end of the 18 month cycle. To date, we have
only
2 observation of each star, while the corresponding STIS data set
for
these primary standards ranges from 6 to 23 obs. No observations
exist
for GD71 or GD153 with G206, so that the current G206 sensitivity
is
defined solely by G191B2B. Purposes: Refine sensitivities, measure
sens
losses. Orbits: 2 for each of 6 visits = 12 2. Re-observe WD1057 &
WD1657
plus another P041C lamp-on visit to improve the scatter in the
non-lin
measurements per Fig. 8 of NIC ISR 2006-02. The WD stars require
2
orbits each, while the lamp-on test is done in one. The very faintest
and
most crucial standard WD1657 has 2 good visits already, so to
substantially
improve the S/N, two visits of two orbits are needed.
Include
G206 for P041C in the lamp-off baseline part of that orbit.
Orbits:
WD1057-2, WD1657-4, P041C-1 --> 7 3. Re-observe 9 secondary
standards
to improve S/N of the faint ones and to include G206 for all
9.
BD+17 {3 obs} is not repeated in this cycle. Four are bright enough
to
do in one orbit: VB8, 2M0036+18, P330E, and P177D. Orbits:2*5+4=14
Grand
Total orbits over 18 month cycle 15 is 12+6+14=32 {Roelof will
submit
the P041C lamp-on visit in a separate program.}
WFPC2
11124
The
Origin of QSO Absorption Lines from QSOs
We
propose using WFPC2 to image the fields of 10 redshift z ~ 0.7
foreground
{FG} QSOs which lie within ~29-151 kpc of the sightlines to
high-z
background {BG} QSOs. A surprisingly high fraction of the BG QSO
spectra
show strong MgII {2796,2803} absorption lines at precisely the
same
redshifts as the FG QSOs. The high resolution capabilities of WFPC2
are
needed to understand the origin of these absorption systems, in two
ways.
First, we wish to explore the FG QSO environment as close as
possible
to the position of the BG QSO, to search for interloping group
or
cluster galaxies which might be responsible for the absorption, or
irregularly
shaped post-merger debris between the FG and BG QSO which
may
indicate the presence of large amount of disrupted gas along a
sightline.
Similarly, high resolution images are needed to search for
signs
of tidal interactions between any galaxies which might be found
close
to the FG QSO. Such features might provide evidence of young
merging
events causing the start of QSO duty cycles and producing
outflows
from the central AGN. Such winds may be responsible for the
observed
absorption lines. Second, we seek to measure the intrinsic
parameters
of the FG QSO host galaxy, such as luminosity and morphology,
to
correlate with the properties of the MgII absorption lines. We wish
to
observe each field through the F814W filter, close to the rest-frame
B-band
of the FG QSO. These blue data can reveal enhanced star formation
regions
close to the nucleus of the host galaxy, which may be indicative
of
galaxy mergers with the FG QSO host. The FG QSO environment offers
quite
a different set of phenomena which might be responsible for MgII
absorption,
providing an important comparison to studies of MgII
absorption
from regular field galaxies.
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!
FLIGHT
OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant
Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports
of
potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)
HSTARS:
11123
- REAcq2,3,2) failed to RGA Hold (Gyro Control)
REAcq(2,3,2) scheduled at 361/16:02:00 - 16:10:05 failed to RGA
Hold due
to a Search Radius Limit Exceeded Error on FGS-2. ESB 1805
(T2G_MOVING)TARGET_DETECTED) was received at 361/16:02:39
post-OBAD2.
One ESB "a05" (FGS Coarse Track failed-Search Radius
Limit Exceeded) was
received at 361/16:07:34. Pre-acquisition OBAD1 attitude
correction
value not available due to LOS. Pre-acq OBAD2 had (RSS) value of
44.61
arcseconds. Post-acq OBAD/MAP had (RSS) value of 194.34
arcseconds. At
361/16:14:07 Equation F3SOB flagged indicating Stuck-on-Bottom.
(OPS
REQUEST 17597-9) FHST Stuck-on-Bottom Macro was executed at
361/16:18:49. F3SOB was back in bounds at 361/16:19:12.
Subsequent REAcq(2,3,2)scheduled at 361/17:38:42 was successful.
COMPLETED
OPS REQUEST:
17597-9
- FHST Stuck-on-Bottom Macro Execution
COMPLETED
OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED
SUCCESSFUL
FGS
GSacq
07
07
FGS
REacq
08
07
OBAD
with Maneuver
30
30
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS: (None)