HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT      #5017

PERIOD COVERED: 5am January 21 - 5am January 22, 2010 (DOY 021/10:00z-022/10:00z)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

ACS/WFC3 11833

Monitoring M31 for BHXNe

During A01-8 we found ~20 Black Hole X-ray Novae (BHXNe) in M31 using

Chandra, and with HST follow-up have estimated orbital periods for 8 of

these. Observations are underway with HST to attempt to estimate

additional periods. We propose to continue this program concentrating

our scarce HST resources on a single transient which exceeds 1e38 erg/s.

Only uninterrupted monitoring can yield the duty cycles and long-term

light curves of BHXNe (and other variables) in M31. Our GO+GTO programs

will have accumulated 790ks (ACIS+HRC) near the M31 bulge by the end of

AO9, and total Chandra exposure on M31 is now 940ks. By continuing our

monitoring program through AO12 we will reach ~950ks on the bulge and

>1Msec total Chandra M31 exposure.

ACS/WFC3 11882

CCD Hot Pixel Annealing

All the data for this program is acquired using internal targets (lamps)

only, so all of the exposures should be taken during Earth occultation

time (but not during SAA passages). This program emulates the ACS

pre-flight ground calibration and post launch SMOV testing (program

8948), so that results from each epoch can be directly compared.

Extended Pixel Edge Response (EPER) and First Pixel Response (FPR) data

will be obtained over a range of signal levels for the Wide Field

Channel (WFC). The High Resolution Channel (HRC) visits have been

removed since it could not be repaired during SM4.

STIS/CCD 11844

CCD Dark Monitor Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 11846

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 1

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2,

2x1, and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1x1 at gain = 4, to build up

high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns.

STIS/CCD/MA1/MA2 11569

Probing the Atomic and Molecular Inventory of a Beta-Pic Analog, the

Young, Edge-On Debris Disk of HD32297

Edge-on, optically thin, debris disks provide unique opportunities to

probe physical properties of the disk itself. Using the host star as the

background source, trace atomic and molecular disk species can be

detected in absorption. Redfield (2007) found that the recently

discovered edge-on system, HD32297, has the strongest NaI absorption

feature of any known debris disk, 5 times the level observed toward beta

Pic, the canonical edge-on debris disk. Roberge et al. (2006) compiled

the only comprehensive chemical inventory of a debris disk, using beta

Pic, and found that carbon was surprisingly overabundant, which has

important implications for the physical structure and support of a

stable gas disk. What is severely lacking are comparison observations to

determine if such an abundance pattern is typical of debris disk

systems. HD32297 represents the best opportunity to make such a

comparative study and perform a comprehensive gas inventory of a debris

disk, due to its high NaI column density. The UV is critical for this

work due to the large number of strong transitions (almost 50 ions and

molecules are accessible) that are located in, and often only in, the

UV. These observations will provide a much needed comparison dataset for

addressing the gas chemistry of debris disk systems that are at the

critical stage, near the end of planet formation, and in the process of

clearing their interplanetary environments.

STIS/MA1/MA2 11857

STIS Cycle 17 MAMA Dark Monitor

This proposal monitors the behavior of the dark current in each of the

MAMA detectors.

The basic monitor takes two 1380s ACCUM darks each week with each

detector. However, starting Oct 5, pairs are only included for weeks

that the LRP has external MAMA observations planned. The weekly pairs of

exposures for each detector are linked so that they are taken at

opposite ends of the same SAA free interval. This pairing of exposures

will make it easier to separate long and short term temporal variability

from temperature dependent changes.

For both detectors, additional blocks of exposures are taken once every

six months. These are groups of five 1314s FUV-MAMA Time-Tag darks or

five 3x315s NUV ACCUM darks distributed over a single SAA-free interval.

This will give more information on the brightness of the FUV MAMA dark

current as a function of the amount of time that the HV has been on, and

for the NUV MAMA will give a better measure of the short term

temperature dependence.

WFC3/ACS/IR 11677

Is 47 Tuc Young? Measuring its White Dwarf Cooling Age and Completing a

Hubble Legacy

With this proposal we will firmly establish the age of 47 Tuc from its

cooling white dwarfs. 47 Tuc is the nearest and least reddened of the

metal-rich disk globular clusters. It is also the template used for

studying the giant branches of nearby resolved galaxies. In addition,

the age sensitive magnitude spread between the main sequence turnoff and

horizontal branch is identical for 47 Tuc, two bulge globular clusters

and the bulge field population. A precise relative age constraint for 47

Tuc, compared to the halo clusters M4 and NGC 6397, both of which we

recently dated via white dwarf cooling, would therefore constrain when

the bulge formed relative to the old halo globular clusters. Of

particular interest is that with the higher quality ACS data on NGC

6397, we are now capable with the technique of white dwarf cooling of

determining ages to an accuracy of +/-0.4 Gyrs at the 95% confidence

level. Ages derived from the cluster turnoff are not currently capable

of reaching this precision. The important role that 47 Tuc plays in

galaxy formation studies, and as the metal-rich template for the

globular clusters, makes the case for a white dwarf cooling age for this

metal-rich cluster compelling.

Several recent analyses have suggested that 47 Tuc is more than 2 Gyrs

younger than the Galactic halo. Others have suggested an age similar to

that of the most metal poor globular clusters. The current situation is

clearly uncertain and obviously a new approach to age dating this

important cluster is required.

With the observations of 47 Tuc, this project will complete a legacy for

HST. It will be the third globular cluster observed for white dwarf

cooling; the three covering almost the full metallicity range of the

cluster system. Unless JWST has its proposed bluer filters (700 and 900

nm) this science will not be possible perhaps for decades until a large

optical telescope is again in space. Ages for globular clusters from the

main sequence turnoff are less precise than those from white dwarf

cooling making the science with the current proposal truly urgent.

WFC3/IR 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

WFC3 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!

WFC3/IR 11694

Mapping the Lnteraction Between High-Redshift Galaxies and the

Lntergalactic Environment

With the commissioning of the high-throughput large-area camera WFC3/IR,

it is possible for the first time to undertake an efficient survey of

the rest-frame optical morphologies of galaxies at the peak epoch of

star formation in the universe. We therefore propose deep WFC3/IR

imaging of over 320 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies between

redshift 1.6 < z < 3.4 in well-studied fields which lie along the line

of sight to bright background QSOs. The spectra of these bright QSOs

probe the IGM in the vicinity of each of the foreground galaxies along

the line of sight, providing detailed information on the physical state

of the gas at large galactocentric radii. In combination with our

densely sampled UV/IR spectroscopy, stellar population models, and

kinematic data in these fields, WFC3/IR imaging data will permit us to

construct a comprehensive picture of the structure, dynamics, and star

formation properties of a large population of galaxies in the early

universe and their effect upon their cosmological environment.

WFC3/IR 11915

IR Internal Flat Fields

This program is the same as 11433 (SMOV) and depends on the completion

of the IR initial alignment (Program 11425). This version contains three

instances of 37 internal orbits: to be scheduled early, middle, and near

the end of Cycle 17, in order to use the entire 110-orbit allocation.

In this test, we will study the stability and structure of the IR

channel flat field images through all filter elements in the WFC3-IR

channel. Flats will be monitored, i.e. to capture any temporal trends in

the flat fields and delta flats produced. High signal observations will

provide a map of the pixel-to- pixel flat field structure, as well as

identify the positions of any dust particles.

WFC3/IR 11916

IR Intrapixel Sensitivity

In order to characterize the periodic intrapixel sensitivity variation

(IPSV) of the WFC3 IR array, we will analyze full-frame IR observations

of a star field (in the Omega Centauri globular cluster) in three

bandpasses (F110W, F160W, and F098M) dithered on an NxN grid. The

measurements will be used to quantify systematic trends in aperture

photometry of stars with pixel phase, defined as (x mod 1, y mod 1),

where (x, y) is the center of the stellar image at subpixel precision.

Grid sizes of N=2 and N=3 are justifed in Additional Comments of

Proposal Description.

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

The behavior of the WFC3 UVIS CCD will be monitored daily with a set of

full-frame, four-amp bias and dark frames. A smaller set of 2Kx4K

subarray biases are acquired at less frequent intervals throughout the

cycle to support subarray science observations. The internals from this

proposal, along with those from the anneal procedure (Proposal 11909),

will be used to generate the necessary superbias and superdark reference

files for the calibration pipeline (CDBS).

WFC3/UVIS/IR 11644

A Dynamical-Compositional Survey of the Kuiper Belt: A New Window Into

the Formation of the Outer Solar System

The eight planets overwhelmingly dominate the solar system by mass, but

their small numbers, coupled with their stochastic pasts, make it

impossible to construct a unique formation history from the dynamical or

compositional characteristics of them alone. In contrast, the huge

numbers of small bodies scattered throughout and even beyond the

planets, while insignificant by mass, provide an almost unlimited number

of probes of the statistical conditions, history, and interactions in

the solar system. To date, attempts to understand the formation and

evolution of the Kuiper Belt have largely been dynamical simulations

where a hypothesized starting condition is evolved under the

gravitational influence of the early giant planets and an attempt is

made to reproduce the current observed populations. With little

compositional information known for the real Kuiper Belt, the test

particles in the simulation are free to have any formation location and

history as long as they end at the correct point. Allowing compositional

information to guide and constrain the formation, thermal, and

collisional histories of these objects would add an entire new dimension

to our understanding of the evolution of the outer solar system. While

ground based compositional studies have hit their flux limits already

with only a few objects sampled, we propose to exploit the new

capabilities of WFC3 to perform the first ever large-scale

dynamical-compositional study of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) and their

progeny to study the chemical, dynamical, and collisional history of the

region of the giant planets. The sensitivity of the WFC3 observations

will allow us to go up to two magnitudes deeper than our ground based

studies, allowing us the capability of optimally selecting a target list

for a large survey rather than simply taking the few objects that can be

measured, as we have had to do to date. We have carefully constructed a

sample of 120 objects which provides both overall breadth, for a general

understanding of these objects, plus a large enough number of objects in

the individual dynamical subclass to allow detailed comparison between

and within these groups. These objects will likely define the core

Kuiper Belt compositional sample for years to come. While we have many

specific results anticipated to come from this survey, as with any

project where the field is rich, our current knowledge level is low, and

a new instrument suddenly appears which can exploit vastly larger

segments of the population, the potential for discovery -- both

anticipated and not -- is extraordinary.

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: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                     SCHEDULED   SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSAcq              10              10      

FGS REAcq               6                6      

OBAD with Maneuver 7                7      

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)