HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT       # 4544

PERIOD COVERED: UT February 08,09,10, 2007 (DOY 039,040,041)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/SBC 10862

Comprehensive Auroral Imaging of Jupiter and Saturn during the

International Heliophysical Year

A comprehensive set of observations of the auroral emissions from

Jupiter and Saturn is proposed for the International Heliophysical Year

in 2007, a unique period of especially concentrated measurements of

space physics phenomena throughout the solar system. We propose to

determine the physical relationship of the various auroral processes at

Jupiter and Saturn with conditions in the solar wind at each planet.

This can be accomplished with campaigns of observations, with a sampling

interval not to exceed one day, covering at least one solar rotation.

The solar wind plasma density approaching Jupiter will be measured by

the New Horizons spacecraft, and a separate campaign near opposition in

May 2007 will determine the effect of large-scale variations in the

interplanetary magnetic field {IMF} on the Jovian aurora by

extrapolation from near-Earth solar wind measurements. A similar Saturn

campaign near opposition in Jan. 2007 will combine extrapolated solar

wind data with measurements from a wide range of locations within the

Saturn magnetosphere by Cassini. In the course of making these

observations, it will be possible to fully map the auroral footprints of

Io and the other satellites to determine both the local magnetic field

geometry and the controlling factors in the electromagnetic interaction

of each satellite with the corotating magnetic field and plasma density.

Also in the course of making these observations, the auroral emission

properties will be compared with the properties of the near-IR

ionospheric emissions {from ground-based observations} and non thermal

radio emissions, from ground-based observations for Jupiter's decametric

radiation and Cassini plasma wave measurements of the Saturn Kilometric

Radiation {SKR}.

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 11195

Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-luminous Galaxies

II: The `Bump' Sources

The formative phase of some of the most massive galaxies may be

extremely luminous, characterized by intense star- and AGN-formation.

Till now, few such galaxies have been unambiguously identified at high

redshift, and thus far we have been restricted to studying the

low-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies as possible analogs. We

have recently discovered a sample of objects which may indeed represent

this early phase in galaxy formation, and are undertaking an extensive

multiwavelength study of this population. These objects are optically

extremely faint {R>26} but nevertheless bright at mid-infrared

wavelengths {F[24um] > 0.5 mJy}. Mid-infrared spectroscopy with

Spitzer/IRS reveals that they have redshifts z~2, implying luminosities

~1E13 Lsun. Their mid-IR SEDs fall into two broad, perhaps overlapping,

categories. Sources with brighter F[24um] exhibit power-law SEDs and SiO

absorption features in their mid-IR spectra characteristic of AGN,

whereas those with fainter F[24um] show a "bump" characteristic of the

redshifted 1.6um peak from a stellar population, and PAH emission

characteristic of starformation. We have begun obtaining HST images of

the brighter sources in Cycle 15 to obtain identifications and determine

kpc-scale morphologies for these galaxies. Here, we aim to target the

second class {the "bump" sources} with the goal of determining if these

constitute morphologically different objects, or simply a "low-AGN"

state of the brighter class. The proposed observations will help us

determine whether these objects are merging systems, massive obscured

starbursts {with obscuration on kpc scales!} or very reddened {locally

obscured} AGN hosted by intrinsically low-luminosity galaxies.

S/C 11320

NICMOS Focus Monitoring Cycle 16

This program is a version of the standard focus sweep used since cycle

7. It has been modified to go deeper and uses more narrow filters for

improved focus determination. A new source was added in Cycle 14 in

order to accommodate 2-gyro mode: the open cluster NGC1850. This source

is part of the current proposal. The old target, the open cluster

NGC3603, will be used whenever available and the new target used to fill

the periods when NGC3603 is not visible. Steps: a) Use refined target

field positions as determined from cycle 7 calibrations b) Use

MULTIACCUM sequences of sufficient dynamic range to account for defocus

c) Do a 17-point focus sweep, +/- 8mm about the PAM mechanical zeropoint

for each cameras 1 and 2, in 1.0mm steps. For NIC3 we step from -0.5mm

to -9.5mm relative to mechanical zero, in steps of 1.0mm. d) Use PAM X/Y

tilt and OTA offset slew compensations refined from previous focus

monitoring/optical alignment activities

WFPC2 10827

Imaging Polarimetry of the Seyfert 1 MCG-6-30-15: Clues to the Structure

of Warm Absorbers

Imaging polarimetry at high spatial resolution, which is only possible

with HST, offers a potentially powerful new tool for determining the

orientation and geometry of AGN containing warm absorbers. These

absorbed AGN tend to be more highly polarized than unabsorbed Type 1s,

but less polarized than Type 2s. If the polarized flux is due to a polar

scattering region as seen in polarized flux images of Seyfert 2s,

imaging polarimetry of nearby absorbed Type 1 objects using HST can

detect and resolve these scattering regions. We propose to make the

first HST imaging polarimetry study of an absorbed Seyfert 1 by

obtaining broad-band polarization images with WFPC2 of the prototypical

"dusty warm absorber" in MCG-6-30-15 {z=0.0077, D~33 Mpc}. We will

measure the wavelength dependence of the polarized light free from

dilution by the host galaxy starlight in order to assess whether the

polarization is due to a nuclear scattering region or dichroic

transmission through the absorbing dust. These observations will enable

us to {1} use the wavelength dependence of unresolved polarized flux to

understand the properties of the absorbing dust suggested by X-ray

spectral features attributed to Fe~I absorption, and {2} test whether

polarization in warm absorbers is due to resolved polar scattering

regions. Resolving the scattering region in a moderately polarized

Seyfert 1 such as MCG-6-30-15 will let us answer the question of whether

line-of-sight inclination can be directly linked to observed outflow

characteristics, as suggested by the most recent unified models of AGN

outflows.

WFPC2 11103

A Snapshot Survey of The Most Massive Clusters of Galaxies

We propose the continuation of our highly successful SNAPshot survey of

a sample of 125 very X-ray luminous clusters in the redshift range

0.3-0.7. As demonstrated by the 25 snapshots obtained so far in Cycle14

and Cycle15 these systems frequently exhibit strong gravitational

lensing as well as spectacular examples of violent galaxy interactions.

The proposed observations will provide important constraints on the

cluster mass distributions, the physical nature of galaxy-galaxy and

galaxy-gas interactions in cluster cores, and a set of optically bright,

lensed galaxies for further 8-10m spectroscopy. All of our primary

science goals require only the detection and characterization of

high-surface-brightness features and are thus achievable even at the

reduced sensitivity of WFPC2. Because of their high redshift and thus

compact angular scale our target clusters are less adversely affected by

the smaller field of view of WFPC2 than more nearby systems.

Acknowledging the broad community interest in this sample we waive our

data rights for these observations. Due to a clerical error at STScI our

approved Cycle15 SNAP program was barred from execution for 3 months and

only 6 observations have been performed to date - reinstating this SNAP

at Cycle16 priority is of paramount importance to reach meaningful

statistics.

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:

11182 - GSacq(1,3,1) resulted in Fine Lock Backup(1,0,1)

           GSacq(1,3,1) scheduled at 039/19:56:31 resulted in fine lock backup

           (1,0,1). At 20:00:37 stop flags QF3STOPF and QSTOP were received for FGS

           3. OBAD2 at 19:51:27 had an RSS value of 5.96 a-s and the map at

           20:03:51 showed errors of V1= 1.97, V2= -12.47, V3= 7.79, and RSS=

           14.83.

           The REacq(1,3,1) at 21:30:05 also resulted in FLBU (1,0,1).

11183 - OBAD Failed Identification (ESB 1902)

           The Map using trackers FHST-1 and FHST-3 scheduled at 040/00:57:57

           failed. ESB message 1902 "OBAD Failed Identification" was received. The

           GSacq at 00:50:39 was successful.

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                       SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL  

FGS GSacq               25                 25                                  

FGS REacq               19                 19                   

OBAD with Maneuver 88                 87         

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)