HUBBLE SPACE
TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science
DAILY
REPORT #5143
PERIOD
COVERED: 5am July 21 - 5am July 22, 2010 (DOY 202/09:00z-203/09:00z)
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
7
7
FGS
REAcq
9
9
OBAD with
Maneuver
3
3
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS: (None)
OBSERVATIONS
SCHEDULED:
ACS/WFC
11996
CCD Daily
Monitor (Part 3)
This program
comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and dark
current of
the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels. The
recorded
frames are used to create bias and dark reference images for
science
data reduction and calibration. This program will be executed
four days
per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of Cycle 17. To
facilitate
scheduling, this program is split into three proposals. This
proposal
covers 308 orbits (19.25 weeks) from 21 June 2010 to 1 November
2010.
STIS/CC 11845
CCD Dark
Monitor Part 2
Monitor the
darks for the STIS CCD.
STIS/CC
11847
CCD Bias
Monitor-Part 2
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/CC/MA
11668
Cosmo-chronometry
and Elemental Abundance Distribution of the Ancient
Star
HE1523-0901
We propose
to obtain near-UV HST/STIS spectroscopy of the extremely
metal-poor,
highly r-process-enhanced halo star HE 1523-0901, in order
to produce
the most complete abundance distribution of the heaviest
stable
elements, including platinum, osmium, and lead. These HST
abundance
data will then be used to estimate the initial abundances of
the
long-lived radioactive elements thorium and uranium, and by
comparison
with their observed abundances, enable an accurate age
determination
of this ancient star. The use of radioactive chronometers
in stars
provides an independent lower limit on the age of the Galaxy,
which can
be compared with alternative limits set by globular clusters
and by
analysis from WMAP. Our proposed observations of HE1523-0901 will
also
provide significant new information about the early chemical
history of
the Galaxy, specifically, the nature of the first generations
of stars
and the types of nucleosynthetic processes that occurred at the
onset of
Galactic chemical evolution.
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/UV/ACS/WFC/IR
12058
A
Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
We propose
to image the north east quadrant of M31 to deep limits in the
UV,
optical, and near-IR. HST imaging should resolve the galaxy into
more than
100 million stars, all with common distances and foreground
extinctions.
UV through NIR stellar photometry (F275W, F336W with
WFC3/UVIS,
F475W and F814W with ACS/WFC, and F110W and F160W with
WFC3/NIR)
will provide effective temperatures for a wide range of
spectral
types, while simultaneously mapping M31's extinction. Our
central
science drivers are to: understand high-mass variations in the
stellar IMF
as a function of SFR intensity and metallicity; capture the
spatially-resolved
star formation history of M31; study a vast sample of
stellar
clusters with a range of ages and metallicities. These are
central to
understanding stellar evolution and clustered star formation;
constraining
ISM energetics; and understanding the counterparts and
environments
of transient objects (novae, SNe, variable stars, x-ray
sources, etc.).
As its legacy, this survey adds M31 to the Milky Way and
Magellanic
Clouds as a fundamental calibrator of stellar evolution and
star-formation
processes for understanding the stellar populations of
distant
galaxies. Effective exposure times are 977s in F275W, 1368s in
F336W,
4040s in F475W, 4042s in F814W, 699s in F110W, and 1796s in
F160W,
including short exposures to avoid saturation of bright sources.
These
depths will produce photon-limited images in the UV. Images will
be
crowding-limited in the optical and NIR, but will reach below the red
clump at
all radii. The images will reach the Nyquist sampling limit in
F160W,
F475W, and F814W.
WFC3/UVI
11615
Hunting for
Optical Companions to Binary MSPs in Globular Clusters
Here we
present a proposal which exploits the renewed potential of HST
after the
Service Mission 4 for probing the population of binary
Millisecond
Pulsars (MSPs) in Globular Clusters. In particular we intend
to: (1)
extend the search for optical counterparts in Terzan 5, by
pushing the
performance of the WFC3 IR channel to sample the entire MS
extension
down to M=0.1 Mo; (2) perform a deep multi-band search of MSP
companions
with the WFC3, in 3 clusters (namely NGC6440, M28 and M5),
where
recent radio observations have found particularly interesting
objects;
(3) derive an accurate radial velocity (with STIS) of the
puzzling
optical companion COM6266B recently discovered by our group, to
firmly
assess its cluster membership. This program is the result of a
large
collaboration among the three major groups (lead by Freire, Ransom
and
Possenti) which are performing extensive MSP search in GCs in the
radio
bands, and our group which has a large experience in performing
accurate stellar
photometry in crowded environments. This collaboration
has
produced a number of outstanding discoveries. In fact, three of the
6 optical
counterparts to binary MSP companions known to date in GCs
have been
discovered by our group. The observations here proposed would
easily
double/triple the existing sample of known MSP companions,
allowing
the first meaningful approach to the study of the formation,
evolution
and recycling process of pulsar in GCs. Moreover, since most
of binary
MSPs in GCs are thought to form via stellar interactions in
the high
density core regions, the determination of the nature of the
companion
and the incidence of this collisionally-induced population has
a
significant impact on our knowledge of the cluster dynamics. Even more
interesting,
the study of the optical companions to NSs in GCs allows
one to
derive tighter constraints (than those obtainable for NS binaries
in the
Galactic field) on the system properties. This has, in turn, an
intrinsic
importance for fundamental physics, since it offers the
opportunity
of measuring the mass of the NS and hence constraining the
equation of
state of matter at the nuclear equilibrium density.
WFC3/UVIS
11907
UVIS Cycle
17 Contamination Monitor
The UV
throughput of WFC3 during Cycle 17 is monitored via weekly
standard
star observations in a subset of key filters covering 200-600nm
and F606W,
F814W as controls on the red end. The data will provide a
measure of
throughput levels as a function of time and wavelength,
allowing
for detection of the presence of possible contaminants.
WFC3/UVIS/IR
11909
UVIS Hot
Pixel Anneal
The
on-orbit radiation environment of WFC3 will continually generate new
hot pixels.
This proposal performs the procedure required for repairing
those hot pixels
in the UVIS CCDs. During an anneal, the two-stage
thermo-electric
cooler (TEC) is turned off and the four-stage TEC is
used as a
heater to bring the UVIS CCDs up to ~20 deg. C. As a result of
the CCD
warmup, a majority of the hot pixels will be fixed; previous
instruments
such as WFPC2 and ACS have seen repair rates of about 80%.
Internal
UVIS exposures are taken before and after each anneal, to allow
an
assessment of the procedure's effectiveness in WFC3, provide a check
of bias,
global dark current, and hot pixel levels, as well as support
hysteresis
(bowtie) monitoring and CDBS reference file generation. One
IR dark is
taken after each anneal, to provide a check of the IR
detector.
-Lynn
NASA
office: 301-286-2876
__________________________________________________________
Lynn F. Bassford
Hubble Space Telescope
CHAMP Mission Operations Manager
CHAMP Flight Operations Team Manager
Lockheed Martin Mission Services (LMMS)
"...Hubble is the most
significant science instrument of all time in terms of its
productivity..." Scott Altman @12:45pm 5/21/9
STS-125 Senate Subcommittee Hearing