HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT       #4760

PERIOD COVERED: 5am December 18 - 5am December 19, 2008 (DOY

                           353/1000z-354/1000z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

WFPC2 10877

A Snapshot Survey of the Sites of Recent, Nearby Supernovae

During the past few years, robotic {or nearly robotic} searches for

supernovae {SNe}, most notably our Lick Observatory Supernova Search

{LOSS}, have found hundreds of SNe, many of them in quite nearby

galaxies {cz < 4000 km/s}. Most of the objects were discovered before

maximum brightness, and have follow-up photometry and spectroscopy; they

include some of the best-studied SNe to date. We propose to conduct a

snapshot imaging survey of the sites of some of these nearby objects, to

obtain late-time photometry that {through the shape of the light and

color curves} will help reveal the origin of their lingering energy. The

images will also provide high-resolution information on the local

environments of SNe that are far superior to what we can procure from

the ground. For example, we will obtain color-color and color-magnitude

diagrams of stars in these SN sites, to determine the SN progenitor

masses and constraints on the reddening. Recovery of the SNe in the new

HST images will also allow us to actually pinpoint their progenitor

stars in cases where pre- explosion images exist in the HST archive.

This proposal is an extension of our successful Cycle 13 snapshot survey

with ACS. It is complementary to our Cycle 15 archival proposal, which

is a continuation of our long-standing program to use existing HST

images to glean information about SN environments.

FGS 11870

Calibrating FGS1R's Optical Field Angle Distortion (OFAD), Second Epoch

This proposal gathers the data needed to calibrate the optical field

angle distortions in FGS1r to the level of accuracy required for

astrometry science. Selected stars from the galactic cluster M35 are

repeatedly observed in POSITION mode by FGS1r with F583W filter at a

variety of spacecraft pointings and telescope roll angles. Ideally the

observations are to occur at a time when this ecliptic star field is

near the anti-sun direction so that HST's roll angle is unconstrained.

Unfortunately this is not possible under two gyro operations. Therefore,

the observations in this proposal are somewhat very constrained in roll.

However, this test should suffice as an adequate update to the original

FGS1r OFAD that executed in December 2000. For each visit, the desired

telescope pointing is specified by POS TARG and ORIENT special

requirements.

FGS 11943

Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram

We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey for binaries

among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest stars in our

part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve binary systems

that are too faint for ground-based, speckle or optical long baseline

interferometry, and too close to resolve with AO. We propose a

SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS mode observations of very

massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous blue variables, nearby

low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf stars, and white dwarfs.

These observations will help us to (1) identify systems suitable for

follow up studies for mass determination, (2) study the role of binaries

in stellar birth and in advanced evolutionary states, (3) explore the

fundamental properties of stars near the main sequence-brown dwarf

boundary, (4) understand the role of binaries for X-ray bright systems,

(5) find binaries among ancient and nearby subdwarf stars, and (6) help

calibrate the white dwarf mass - radius relation.

WFPC2 11944

Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram

We propose to use HST/Fine Guidance Sensor 1r to survey for binaries

among some of the most massive, least massive, and oldest stars in our

part of the Galaxy. FGS allows us to spatially resolve binary systems

that are too faint to observe using ground-based, speckle or optical

long baseline interferometry, and too close to resolve with AO. We

propose a SNAP-style program of single orbit FGS TRANS mode observations

of very massive stars in the cluster NGC 3603, luminous blue variables,

nearby low mass main sequence stars, cool subdwarf stars, and white

dwarfs. These observations will help us to (1) identify systems suitable

for followup studies for mass determination, (2) study the role of

binaries in stellar birth and in advanced evolutionary states, (3)

explore the fundamental properties of stars near the main sequence-brown

dwarf boundary, (4) understand the role of binaries for X-ray bright

systems, (5) find binaries among ancient and nearby subdwarf stars, and

(6) help calibrate the white dwarf mass - radius relation.

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:

18375-0 - Safe NICMOS

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                       SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq               14                  14                       

FGS REacq                0                    0                     

OBAD with Maneuver 27                  27                  

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

Flash Report NICMOS Safe:

At 353/19:32:26 UTC, NICMOS was commanded to safe mode to reduce any

NICMOS parasitic heat effects during the NCS cooldown period.