HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

 

DAILY REPORT      #5029

 

PERIOD COVERED: 5am February 8 - 5am February 9, 2010 (DOY 039/10:00z-040/10:00z)

 

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

 

COS/FUV 11524

 

COS-GTO: Warm and Hot ISM In and Near the Milky Way

 

COS G130M and G160M 20, 000 resolution observations will be obtained for

10 AGNs situated beyond Milky Way high velocity clouds. For all objects

good O VI line profile observations exist from FUSE and high velocity O

VI is detected. The COS observations will be used to obtain high quality

absorption line profiles (S/N ~ 30 to 40) for C IV, Si IV and N V in the

low and high velocity gas toward each AGN. The high ionization profiles

of O VI (from FUSE), N V, C IV, and Si IV will be compared to low

ionization profiles (O I, S II, Si II, Fe II, etc.) in order to evaluate

the physical conditions and origins of the highly ionized gas in and

near the Milky Way at low and high velocity. The HVCs include Complex C

(four lines of sight), Complex A, WD, WB, and several negative velocity

O VI HVCs. Other studies to be undertaken with this data set include

studies of the physical conditions and abundances in the cool and warm

HVC gas and studies of the physical conditions in low redshift IGM

systems detected along the 10 lines of sight.

 

COS/FUV 11895

 

FUV Detector Dark Monitor

 

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor the FUV detector dark rate by

taking long science exposures without illuminating the detector. The

detector dark rate and spatial distribution of counts will be compared

to pre-launch and SMOV data in order to verify the nominal operation of

the detector. Variations of count rate as a function of orbital position

will be analyzed to find dependence of dark rate on proximity to the

SAA. Dependence of dark rate as function of time will also be tracked.

 

COS/NUV 11894

 

NUV Detector Dark Monitor

 

The purpose of this proposal is to measure the NUV detector dark rate by

taking long science exposures with no light on the detector. The

detector dark rate and spatial distribution of counts will be compared

to pre-launch and SMOV data in order to verify the nominal operation of

the detector. Variations of count rate as a function of orbital position

will be analyzed to find dependence of dark rate on proximity to the

SAA. Dependence of dark rate as function of time will also be tracked.

 

COS/NUV 11896

 

NUV Spectroscopic Sensitivity Monitoring

 

The purpose of this proposal is to monitor sensitivity of each NUV

grating mode to detect any changes due to contamination or other causes.

 

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 11852

 

STIS CCD Spectroscopic Flats C17

 

The purpose of this proposal is to obtain pixel-to-pixel lamp flat

fields for the STIS CCD in spectroscopic mode.

 

WFC3/ACS/IR 11563

 

Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to

<0.2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields

 

The first generations of galaxies were assembled around redshifts

z~7-10+, just 500-800 Myr after recombination, in the heart of the

reionization of the universe. We know very little about galaxies in this

period. Despite great effort with HST and other telescopes, less than

~15 galaxies have been reliably detected so far at z>7, contrasting with

the ~1000 galaxies detected to date at z~6, just 200-400 Myr later, near

the end of the reionization epoch. WFC3 IR can dramatically change this

situation, enabling derivation of the galaxy luminosity function and its

shape at z~7-8 to well below L*, measurement of the UV luminosity

density at z~7-8 and z~8-9, and estimates of the contribution of

galaxies to reionization at these epochs, as well as characterization of

their properties (sizes, structure, colors). A quantitative leap in our

understanding of early galaxies, and the timescales of their buildup,

requires a total sample of ~100 galaxies at z~7-8 to ~29 AB mag. We can

achieve this with 192 WFC3 IR orbits on three disjoint fields

(minimizing cosmic variance): the HUDF and the two nearby deep fields of

the HUDF05. Our program uses three WFC3 IR filters, and leverages over

600 orbits of existing ACS data, to identify, with low contamination, a

large sample of over 100 objects at z~7-8, a very useful sample of ~23

at z~8-9, and limits at z~10. By careful placement of the WFC3 IR and

parallel ACS pointings, we also enhance the optical ACS imaging on the

HUDF and a HUDF05 field. We stress (1) the need to go deep, which is

paramount to define L*, the shape, and the slope alpha of the luminosity

function (LF) at these high redshifts; and (2) the far superior

performance of our strategy, compared with the use of strong lensing

clusters, in detecting significant samples of faint z~7-8 galaxies to

derive their luminosity function and UV ionizing flux. Our recent z~7.4

NICMOS results show that wide-area IR surveys, even of GOODS-like depth,

simply do not reach faint enough at z~7-9 to meet the LF and UV flux

objectives. In the spirit of the HDF and the HUDF, we will waive any

proprietary period, and will also deliver the reduced data to STScI. The

proposed data will provide a Legacy resource of great value for a wide

range of archival science investigations of galaxies at redshifts z~2-9.

The data are likely to remain the deepest IR/optical images until JWST

is launched, and will provide sources for spectroscopic followup by

JWST, ALMA and EVLA.

 

WFC3/IR 11926

 

IR Zero Points

 

We will measure and monitor the zeropoints through the IR filters using

observations of the white dwarf standard stars, GD153, GD71 and GD191B2B

and the solar analog standard star, P330E. Data will be taken monthly

during Cycle 17. Observations of the star cluster, NGC 104, are made

twice to check color transformations. We expect an accuracy of 2% in the

wide filter zeropoints relative to the HST photometric system, and 5% in

the medium- and narrow-band filters.

 

WFC3/IR/S/C 11929

 

IR Dark Current Monitor

 

Analyses of ground test data showed that dark current signals are more

reliably removed from science data using darks taken with the same

exposure sequences as the science data, than with a single dark current

image scaled by desired exposure time. Therefore, dark current images

must be collected using all sample sequences that will be used in

science observations. These observations will be used to monitor changes

in the dark current of the WFC3-IR channel on a day-to-day basis, and to

build calibration dark current ramps for each of the sample sequences to

be used by Gos in Cycle 17. For each sample sequence/array size

combination, a median ramp will be created and delivered to the

calibration database system (CDBS).

 

WFC3/UV 11836

 

Chandra Lmaging of NGC 922 -- the Closest Collisional Ring Galaxy

 

Ultra Luminous X-ray sources (ULX) have luminosities many times the

Eddington limit for a stellar black hole and are associated with massive

star formation. This is illustrated by the Chandra image of the

Cartwheel, a collisional ring galaxy. The bulk of the X-ray luminosity

is produced by 16 ULX co-incident with the outer ring of star formation.

We request Chandra and HST time to image another collisional ring galaxy

NGC 922. NGC 922 is similar to the Cartwheel, except that it is nearly

three times closer and has higher metallicity. We will (1) detect

fainter sources than was possible for the Cartwheel, (2) use archival

HST data and our new Halpha images to associate X-ray sources with

tracers of star formation and (3) study the effect of metallicity on the

formation of ULX.

 

WFC3/UVIS 11657

 

The Population of Compact Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Disk

 

We propose to secure narrow- and broad-band images of compact planetary

nebulae (PNe) in the Galactic Disk to study the missing link of the

early phases of post-AGB evolution. Ejected AGB envelopes become PNe

when the gas is ionized. PNe expand, and, when large enough, can be

studied in detail from the ground. In the interim, only the HST

capabilities can resolve their size, morphology, and central stars. Our

proposed observations will be the basis for a systematic study of the

onset of morphology. Dust properties of the proposed targets will be

available through approved Spitzer/IRS spectra, and so will the

abundances of the alpha- elements. We will be able thus to explore the

interconnection of morphology, dust grains, stellar evolution, and

populations. The target selection is suitable to explore the nebular and

stellar properties across the galactic disk, and to set constraints on

the galactic evolutionary models through the analysis of metallicity and

population gradients.

 

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 11912

 

UVIS Internal Flats

 

This proposal will be used to assess the stability of the flat field

structure for the UVIS detector throughout the 15 months of Cycle 17.

The data will be used to generate on-orbit updates for the delta-flat

field reference files used in the WFC3 calibration pipeline, if

significant changes in the flat structure are seen.

 

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                07             07      

FGS REAcq                09            09      

OBAD with Maneuver  02            02      

 

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)