HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT      #4848

PERIOD COVERED: 5am May 5 - 5am May 6, 2009 (DOY 125/0900z-126/0900z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

S/C 4974

TRTTEST

The Transient Response Test is for the periodic performance monitoring

of the FGS 2R servo A mechanism.

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 11603

A Comprehensive Study of Dust Formation in Type II Supernovae with HST,

Spitzer and Gemini

The recent discovery of three extremely bright Type II SNe, (2007it,

2007oc, 2007od) gives us a unique opportunity to combine observations

with HST, Spitzer and Gemini to study the little understood dust

formation process in Type II SNe. Priority 1 Spitzer Cycle 5 and band 1

Gemini 2008A time has already been approved for this project. Since

late-time Type II SNe are faint and tend to be in crowded fields, we

need the high sensitivity and high spatial resolution of ACS/HRC and

NICMOS/NIC2 for these observations. This project is motivated by the

recent detection of large amounts of dust in high redshift galaxies. The

dust in these high-z galaxies must come from young, massive stars so

Type II SNe could be potential sources. The mechanism and the efficiency

of dust condensation in Type II SN ejecta are not well understood,

largely due to the lack of observational data. We plan to produce a

unique dataset, combining spectroscopy and imaging in the visible, near-

and mid-IR covering the key phase, 400-700 days after maximum when dust

is known to form in the SN ejecta. Therefore, we are proposing for

coordinated HST/NOAO observations (HST ACS/HRC, NICMOS/NIC2 &

Gemini/GMOS and TReCS) which will be combined with our Spitzer Cycle 5

data to study these new bright SNe. The results of this program will

place strong constraints on the formation of dust seen in young high

redshift (z>5) galaxies.

WFPC2 11793

WFPC2 Cycle 16 Internal Monitor

This calibration proposal is the Cycle 15 routine internal monitor for

WFPC2, to be run weekly to monitor the health of the cameras. A variety

of internal exposures are obtained in order to provide a monitor of the

integrity of the CCD camera electronics in both bays (both gain 7 and

gain 15 -- to test stability of gains and bias levels), a test for

quantum efficiency in the CCDs, and a monitor for possible buildup of

contaminants on the CCD windows. These also provide raw data for

generating annual super-bias reference files for the calibration

pipeline.

WFPC2 11987

The Recent Star Formation History of SINGS Galaxies

The Spitzer Legacy project SINGS provided a unique view of the current

state of star formation and dust in a sample of galaxies of all Hubble

types. This multi-wavelength view allowed the team to create current

star formation diagnostics that are independent of the dust content and

increased our understanding of the dust in galaxies. Even so, using the

SINGS data alone we can only make rough estimates of the recent star

formation history of these galaxies. The lack of U-band observations

means that it is impossible to estimate the ages of young clusters. In

addition, the low resolution of the Spitzer and ground-based

observations means that what appear to be individual Spitzer sources can

actually be composed of many individual clusters with varying ages. In

this proposal we plan to address this missing area in SINGS by obtaining

high-resolution WFPC2 UBVI observations to accurately find and determine

the ages of the young stellar clusters in a subset of the SINGS

galaxies. These observations will greatly enhance the legacy value of

the SINGS observations while also directly answering questions

pertaining to star formation in galaxies.

WFPC2 11988

Searching for Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters via

Proper Motions

The unambiguous detection of an intermediate mas black hole (IMBH) in a

globular star cluster would be a major achievement for the Hubble Space

Telescope. It is critical to know whether or not IMBHs exist in the

centers of clusters in order to understand the dynamical evolution of

dense stellar systems. Also, n IMBH detection would prove the existence

of BHs in an entirely new mass range. Observationally, the search has

been hampered by the low number of stars with known velocities in the

central few arcseconds. This limits measurements of the stellar velocity

dispersion in the region where the gravitational influence of any IMBH

would be felt. Existing IMBH claims in the literature have all been

called into question, and have all been based on line-of-sight

velocities from spectroscopy. In cycle 13, we obtained ACS/HRC

observations for 5 nearby Galactic globular clusters for a new proper

motion study. Here, we request WFPC2/PC observations of these clusters,

all of which are observable in Feb-May 2009. This 4 year baseline will

allow us to measure the proper motions of stars into the very center of

each cluster, and either detect or place firm constraints on the

presence of an IMBH. In addition, we will determine whether or not the

clusters rotate or show any anisotropy in their motions. Our small (<75

orbit) program meets the criteria of addressing high impact science

(IMBH detection) using innovative methods (proper motions).

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports

of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)

HSTARS:

11789 - GSAcq (1,2,2) scheduled at 126/01:42:58 failed due to search radius

           limit exceeded. REAcq (1,2,2) scheduled from 126/03:05:51 - 03:13:22,

           26/04:47 - 04:54:47 and from 126/06:29:15 - 06:36:46 all failed to RGA

           Hold.

           Observation affected: WFPC 120 - 123, Proposal ID# 11987

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:

18422-1 - TRTT #22 Execution @ 125/1432z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                       SCHEDULED      SUCCESSFUL 

FGS GSAcq               03                  02    

FGS REAcq               07                  04   

OBAD with Maneuver 24                  24                                

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:

The last planned execution of the FGS-2R Transient Response Trending Test was

successfully completed at 125/14:23z via Ops Request 18422.