HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class
Science
DAILY REPORT #4688
PERIOD COVERED: 5am September 3 - 5am September 4, 2008
(DOY 247/0900z-248/0900z)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 11820
NICMOS Post-SAA Calibration - CR Persistence Part 7
Internals for CR persistence
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
flavour. 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 behaviour in a substantially larger
sample; ii} extend
the comparison between radio-loud and radio-quiet AGN to a
larger range
of luminosities.
NIC2 11548
NICMOS Imaging of Protostars in the Orion A Cloud: The
Role of
Environment in Star Formation
We propose NICMOS observations of a sample of 252
protostars identified
in the Orion A cloud with the Spitzer Space Telescope.
These
observations will image the scattered light escaping the
protostellar
envelopes, providing information on the shapes of outflow
cavities, the
inclinations of the protostars, and the overall
morphologies of the
envelopes. In addition, we ask for Spitzer time to obtain
55-95 micron
spectra of 75 of the protostars. Combining these new data
with existing
3.6 to 70 micron photometry and forthcoming 5-40 micron
spectra measured
with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we will determine the
physical
properties of the protostars such as envelope density,
luminosity,
infall rate, and outflow cavity opening angle. By
examining how these
properties vary with stellar density (i.e. clusters vs
groups vs
isolation) and the properties of the surrounding molecular
cloud; we can
directly measure how the surrounding environment
influences protostellar
evolution, and consequently, the formation of stars and
planetary
systems. Ultimately, this data will guide the development
of a theory of
protostellar evolution.
WFPC2 11156
Monitoring Active Atmospheres on Uranus and Neptune
We propose Snapshot observations of Uranus and Neptune to
monitor
changes in their atmospheres on time scales of weeks and
months. Uranus
equinox is only months away, in December 2007. Hubble
Space Telescope
observations during the past several years {Hammel et al.
2005, Icarus
175, 284 and references therein} have revealed strongly
wavelength-
dependent latitudinal structure, the presence of numerous
visible-wavelength cloud features in the northern
hemisphere, at least
one very long-lived discrete cloud in the southern
hemisphere, and in
2006 the first dark spot ever seen on Uranus. Long-term
ground-based
observations {Lockwood and Jerzekiewicz, 2006, Icarus 180,
442; Hammel
and Lockwood 2007, Icarus 186, 291} reveal seasonal
brightness changes
whose origins are not well understood. Recent near- IR
images of
obtained using adaptive optics on the Keck Telescope,
together with HST
observations {Sromovsky et al. 2003, Icarus 163, 256 and
references
therein} which include previous Snapshot programs {GO
8634, 10170,
10534} show a general increase in activity at south
temperate latitudes
until 2004, when
Further Snapshot observations of these two dynamic planets
will
elucidate the nature of long-term changes in their zonal
atmospheric
bands and clarify the processes of formation, evolution,
and dissipation
of discrete albedo features.
WFPC2 11327
Red leaks
The aim of this program is to measure the red leaks in the
8 WFPC2 UV???
filters (F122M, F300W, F255W, F218W, F185W, F170W, F160BW,
F122M). We
will use red crossing filters to isolate and directly
measure the leaks.
No observations of this kind have ever been performed with
WFPC2 to
check the red leaks in the UV filters, most of them being
extensively
used by GO/GTO programs. A previous calibration program
has only imaged
spectrophotometric standard stars with UV filters (no
filter crossing)
thus the red leak is hard to measure using this data. The
throughput
curves for some of the UV filters (F300W, F255W, F218W,
F185W) in
synphot have incomplete information, some of them have gaps
in the
measurements as wide as 3000A.
WFPC2 11795
WFPC2 Cycle 16 UV Earth Flats
Monitor flat field stability. This proposal obtains
sequences of earth
streak flats to improve the quality of pipeline flat
fields for the
WFPC2 UV filter set. These Earth flats will complement the
UV earth flat
data obtained during cycles 8-15.
FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:
Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are
preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal performance that will be
investigated.)
HSTARS:
11465 - GSAcq(2,0,2) & ReAcq(2,0,2) failed to RGA Hold
(Gyro Control)
GSAcq(2,0,2) scheduled at 247/11:11:12z & ReAcq(2,0,2)
scheduled at 247/12:47:49z failed due to Search Radius Limit
Exceeded Error on FGS-2.
Possible Observations affected: NICMOS 56-59, Proposal ID #11548.
11467 - GSAcq(1,2,2) failed
GSAcq (1,2,2) scheduled from 247/23:57:40 - 248/00:05:06 had failed due
to
Search Radius Limit Exceeded on FGS 2. Mnemonics QF2SRLEX, QF2STOPF,
QSRCHEXC and QSTOP flagged out.
Observations affected: NICMOS
Proposal 11548, observations 76, 77, 78
COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
17543-2 - Dump OBAD Tables after Failed OBAD
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED
SUCCESSFUL
FGS
GSacq
12
10
FGS
REacq
02
01
OBAD with Maneuver
28
27
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)