HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE<br /><br /><br />DAILY REPORT # 3333<br /><br /><br />PERIOD COVERED: DOY 92<br /><br /><br />OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED<br /><br /><br />NICMOS 8791<br /><br /><br />NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 2<br /><br /><br />A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of NICMOS. Dark<br />frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA contour 23, and every<br />time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50 minutes of coming out of the SAA.<br />The darks will be obtained in parallel in all three NICMOS Cameras. The POST-SAA<br />darks will be non-standard reference files available to users with a USEAFTER<br />date/time mark. The keyword 'USEAFTER=date/time' will also be added to the<br />header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword must be populated with the time,<br />in addition to the date, because HST crosses the SAA ~8 times per day so each<br />POST-SAA DARK will need to have the appropriate time specified, for users to<br />identify the ones they need. Both the raw and processed images will be archived<br />as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally we expect that all NICMOS science/calibration<br />observations started within 50 minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to<br />remove the CR persistence from the science images. Each observation will need<br />its own CRMAP, as different SAA passages leave different imprints on the NICMOS<br />detectors.<br /><br /><br />SNAP 9356<br /><br /><br />SNAPSHOT survey of the Planetary Nebulae population of the Galactic Bulge<br /><br /><br />The spectacular structures seen in HST images of planetary nebulae {PNe} are<br />generally accepted as originating from hydrodynamical interactions between<br />stellar winds: the interacting-stellar wind model {ISW}. Traditionally, the<br />shaping is thought to occur after the star becomes hot enough to ionize the PN.<br />But recent HST images indicate that the shaping may occur earlier, and the newer<br />GISW model puts the shaping during the pre-planetary nebula evolution. The<br />relative importance of both models is not known: GISW shaping will account for<br />some fraction of PNe, but estimates range from 15--100 during the PN phase,<br />especially for the youngest PNe. We here propose an HST Snapshot survey of<br />compact PNe in the Galactic Bulge, to test these predictions. The Bulge provides<br />the only PNe population for which progenitor masses are known and nebular ages<br />can be measured. In support of these HST measurements we have already measured<br />velocity fields and emission line fluxes. The survey will give an unbiased<br />sampling of morphologies, and allow evolutionary sequences to be determined to<br />test the ISW versus the GISW model. By-products of the survey will be the<br />determination of nebular masses, diameters and filling factors. We will also<br />obtain the White Dwarf mass distribution in the Bulge, and the initial-final<br />mass function for low-mass stars.<br /><br /><br />STIS/CCD/MA1 9357<br /><br /><br />Towards a global understanding of accretion physics --, Clues from an UV<br />spectroscopic survey of cataclysmic variables<br /><br /><br />Accretion inflows and outflows are fundamental phenomena in a wide variety of<br />astrophysical environments, such as Young Stellar Objects, galactic binaries,<br />and AGN. Observationally, cataclysmic variables {CVs} are particularly well<br />suited for the study of accretion processes. We propose to carry out a STIS UV<br />spectroscopic snapshot survey of CVs that fully exploits the diagnostic<br />potential of these objects for our understanding of accretion physics. This<br />survey will provide an homogenous database of accretion disc and wind outflow<br />spectra covering a wide range of mass transfer rates and binary inclinations. We<br />will analyse these spectra with state-of-the-art accretion disc model spectra<br />{SYNDISK}, testing our current knowledge of the accretion disc structure, and,<br />thereby, providing new insight into the so far not well understood process of<br />viscous dissipation. We will use our parameterised wind model PYTHON for the<br />analysis of the radiation driven accretion disc wind spectra, assessing the<br />fundamental question whether the mass loss rate correlates with the disc<br />luminosity. In addition, our survey data will identify a number of systems in<br />which the white dwarf significantly contributes to the UV flux, permitting an<br />analysis of the impact of mass accretion on the evolution of these compact<br />stars. This survey will at least double, if not triple, the number of<br />high-quality accretion disc / wind outflow / accreting white dwarf spectra, and<br />we waive our proprietary rights to permit a timely use of this database.<br /><br /><br />FGS1R 9408<br /><br /><br />Calibrating the Mass-Luminosity Relation at the End of the Main Sequence<br /><br /><br />We propose to use HST-FGS1R to calibrate the mass-luminosity relation {MLR} for<br />stars less massive than 0.2 Msun, with special emphasis on objects near the<br />stellar/brown dwarf border. Our goals are to determine M_V values to 0.05<br />magnitude, masses to 5 than double the number of objects with masses determined<br />to be less than 0.20 Msun. This program uses the combination of HST-FGS3/FGS1R<br />at optical wavelengths and ground-based infrared interferometry to examine<br />nearby, subarcsecond binary systems. The high precision measurements with<br />HST-FGS3/FGS1R {to 1 mas in the separations} for these faint targets {V =<br />10--15} simply cannot be equaled by any ground based technique. As a result of<br />these measurements, we are deriving high quality luminosities and masses for the<br />components in the observed systems, and characterizing their spectral energy<br />distributions from 0.5 to 2.2 Mum. Several of the objects included have M < 0.1<br />Msun, placing them at the very end of the stellar main sequence. Three of the<br />targets are brown dwarf candidates, including the current low mass record<br />holder, GJ 1245C, with a mass of 0.062 +/- 0.004 Msun. The payoff of this<br />proposal is high because all 10 of the systems selected have already been<br />resolved with HST- FGS3/FGS1R during Cycles 5--10 and contain most of the<br />reddest objects for which masses can be determined.<br /><br /><br />STIS/MA2 9465<br /><br /><br />The Cosmic Carbon Budget<br /><br /><br />Gaseous carbon drives the chemistry of, and is an important coolant in<br />interstellar clouds. In solid form, carbon is the second most abundant element<br />in interstellar dust, the key element contributing to interstellar extinction,<br />and the dominant heat source in some interstellar clouds. Given the fundamental<br />importance of this element to interstellar cloud physics, it is surprising that<br />only 8 measurements of gas- phase carbon abundances exist for neutral clouds; 7<br />are in diffuse clouds where the least amount of chemistry and dust incorporation<br />are expected. The single measurement in a translucent cloud suggests a C<br />abundance that differs from the diffuse clouds, but the measurement<br />uncertainties make this difference statistically insignificant. We, therefore,<br />have no information about carbon's behavior in translucent clouds, regions dense<br />enough for chemistry and dust growth to be important but low enough extinction<br />so that UV spectroscopy is possible {unlike for molecular clouds}. We propose to<br />measure total gas-phase C abundances in 6 translucent clouds with our principal<br />scientific goals being to 1} accurately determine the fraction of carbon in the<br />gas and dust phases in environments bridging the gap between diffuse and<br />molecular clouds 2} determine the relative depletions of C and O in neutral<br />clouds with known O-depletion enhancements and 3} explore how the interstellar<br />gas-phase C/H is related to extinction variations.<br /><br /><br />ACS 9476<br /><br /><br />Galaxy Evolution in the Richest Clusters at z=0.8: the EDisCS Cluster Sample<br /><br /><br />The study of distant cluster galaxies requires two key ingredients: {1} deep<br />high-resolution imaging, to constrain galaxy structure; and {2} 8m-class<br />spectroscopy, to measure stellar content, star-formation rates, dynamics, and<br />cluster membership. We will reach both conditions with the addition of HST/ACS<br />imaging to our suite of VLT {36 nights} and NTT {20 nights} observations of 10<br />confirmed clusters at z~0.8, drawn from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey {EDisCS}.<br />The proposed HST/ACS data will complement our existing optical/IR imaging and<br />spectroscopy with quantitative measures of cluster galaxy morphologies {i.e.<br />sizes and shapes, bulge-disk decompositions, asymmetry parameters}, and with<br />measurements of cluster masses via weak lensing. Major advantages unique to the<br />EDisCS project include: {i} uniform selection of clusters; {ii} large enough<br />sample sizes to characterize the substantial cluster-to-cluster variation in<br />galaxy populations; {iii} large quantities of high quality data from 8m<br />telescopes; {iv} uniform measurements of morphologies, spectroscopic and<br />photometric redshifts, SEDs, star-formation/AGN activities, and internal<br />kinematics; {v} optical selection of clusters to complement the X-ray selection<br />of almost all high-z clusters in the ACS GTO programs; {vi} forefront numerical<br />simulations designed specifically to allow physical interpretation of observed<br />differences between the high-z and local clusters.<br /><br /><br />ACS 9480<br /><br /><br />Cosmic Shear With ACS Pure Parallels<br /><br /><br />Small distortions in the shapes of background galaxies by foreground mass<br />provide a powerful method of directly measuring the amount and distribution of<br />dark matter. Several groups have recently detected this weak lensing by<br />large-scale structure, also called cosmic shear. The high resolution and<br />sensitivity of HST/ACS provide a unique opportunity to measure cosmic shear<br />accurately on small scales. Using 260 parallel orbits in Sloan textiti {F775W}<br />we will measure for the first time: beginlistosetlength sep0cm setlengthemsep0cm<br />setlength opsep0cm em the cosmic shear variance on scales <0.7 arcmin, em the<br />skewness of the shear distribution, and em the magnification effect. endlist Our<br />measurements will determine the amplitude of the mass power spectrum<br />sigma_8Omega_m^0.5, with signal-to-noise {s/n} ~ 20, and the mass density<br />Omega_m with s/n=4. They will be done at small angular scales where non-linear<br />effects dominate the power spectrum, providing a test of the gravitational<br />instability paradigm for structure formation. Measurements on these scales are<br />not possible from the ground, because of the systematic effects induced by PSF<br />smearing from seeing. Having many independent lines of sight reduces the<br />uncertainty due to cosmic variance, making parallel observations ideal.<br /><br /><br />NICMOS 9484<br /><br /><br />The NICMOS Parallel Observing Program<br /><br /><br />We propose to manage the default set of pure parallels with NICMOS. Our<br />experience with both our GO NICMOS parallel program and the public parallel<br />NICMOS programs in cycle 7 prepared us to make optimal use of the parallel<br />opportunities. The NICMOS G141 grism remains the most powerful survey tool for<br />HAlpha emission-line galaxies at cosmologically interesting redshifts. It is<br />particularly well suited to addressing two key uncertainties regarding the<br />global history of star formation: the peak rate of star formation in the<br />relatively unexplored but critical 1<= z <= 2 epoch, and the amount of star<br />formation missing from UV continuum-based estimates due to high extinction. Our<br />proposed deep G141 exposures will increase the sample of known HAlpha emission-<br />line objects at z ~ 1.3 by roughly an order of magnitude. We will also obtain a<br />mix of F110W and F160W images along random sight-lines to examine the space<br />density and morphologies of the reddest galaxies. The nature of the extremely<br />red galaxies remains unclear and our program of imaging and grism spectroscopy<br />provides unique information regarding both the incidence of obscured star bursts<br />and the build up of stellar mass at intermediate redshifts. In addition to carrying<br />out the parallel program we will populate a public database with calibrated spectra<br />and images, and provide limited ground- based optical and near-IR data for the<br />deepest parallel fields.<br /><br /><br />NICMOS 9485<br /><br /><br />Completing A Near-Infrared Search for Very Low Mass Companions to Stars within<br />10 pc of the Sun<br /><br /><br />Most stars are fainter and less massive than the Sun. Nevertheless, our<br />knowledge of very low mass {VLM} red dwarfs and their brown dwarf cousins is<br />quite limited. Unknown are the true luminosity function {LF}, multiplicity<br />fraction, mass function, and mass-luminosity relation for red and brown dwarfs,<br />though they dominate the Galaxy in both numbers and total mass. The best way to<br />constrain these relations is a search for faint companions to nearby stars. Such<br />a search has several advantages over field surveys, including greater<br />sensitivity to VLM objects and the availability of precise parallaxes from which<br />luminosities and masses can be derived. We propose to complete our four-filter<br />NICMOS snapshot search for companions to stars within 10 pc. With a 10 sigma<br />detection limit of M_J ~ 20 at 10 pc, we can detect companions between 10 and<br />100 AU that are at least 9 mag fainter than the empirical end of the main<br />sequence and at least 6.5 mag fainter than the brown dwarf Gl 229B. When<br />completed, our search will be the largest, most sensitive, volume-limited search<br />for VLM companions ever undertaken. Our four-filter search will permit<br />unambiguous identification of VLM-companion candidates for follow-up<br />observation. Together with IR speckle and deep imaging surveys, our program will<br />firmly establish the LF for VLM companions at separations of 1-1000 AU and the<br />multiplicity fraction of all stars within 10 pc.<br /><br /><br />WFPC2 9594<br /><br /><br />WFPC2 CYCLE 11 SUPPLEMENTAL DARKS pt2/3<br /><br /><br />This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to provide data<br />for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels<br /><br /><br />STIS 9606<br /><br /><br />CCD Dark Monitor-Part 2<br /><br /><br />Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.<br /><br /><br />STIS 9608<br /><br /><br />CCD Bias Monitor - Part 2<br /><br /><br />Monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1, and 1x1<br />at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot<br />columns.<br /><br /><br />STIS 9615<br /><br /><br />Cycle 11 MAMA Dark Monitor<br /><br /><br />This test performs the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark noise. This<br />proposal will provide the primary means of checking on health of the MAMA<br />detectors systems through frequent monitoring of the background count rate. The<br />purpose is to look for evidence of change in dark indicative of detector problem<br />developing.<br /><br /><br />STIS 9629<br /><br /><br />MAMA Fold Distribution<br /><br /><br />The performance of MAMA microchannel plates can be monitored using a MAMA fold<br />analysis procedure. The fold analysis provides a measurement of the distribution<br />of charge cloud sizes incident upon the anode giving some measure of changes in<br />the pulse-height distribution of the MCP and, therefore, MCP gain. This proposal<br />executes the same steps as the STIS MAMA Fold Analysis {8860} during Cycle 9.<br /><br /><br />ACS 9657<br /><br /><br />ACS Internal Flat Field Stability<br /><br /><br />The flat field stability and characterisation obtained during the ground<br />calibration and SMOV phases will be tested and verified through a sub-sample of<br />the filter set. Only internal exposures with the calibration lamps will be<br />required.<br /><br /><br />ACS 9673<br /><br /><br />CCD Daily Monitor<br /><br /><br />This program consists of basic tests to monitor, the read noise, the development<br />of hot pixels and test for any source of noise in ACS CCD detectors. This<br />programme will be executed once a day for the entire lifetime of ACS<br /><br /><br />WFPC2 9676<br /><br /><br />POMS Test Proposal: WFII parallel archive proposal<br /><br /><br />This is the generic target version of the WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallel program.<br />The program will be used to take parallel images of random areas of the sky,<br />following the recommendations of the 2002 Parallels Working Group.<br /><br /><br />NICMOS 9702<br /><br /><br />NICMOS Parallel Thermal Background<br /><br /><br />NICMOS Camera 2 pure parallel exposures in the F222M and F237M filters to<br />establish the stability of the HST+NCS+Instrument thermal emission. This data<br />will be compared against the already available Camera 3 measurements in F222M<br />which show an increased thermal background.<br /><br /><br />STIS 9706<br /><br /><br />STIS Pure Parallel Imaging Program: Cycle 10<br /><br /><br />This is the default archival pure parallel program for STIS during cycle 10.<br /><br /><br />WFPC2 9710<br /><br /><br />POMS Test Proposal: WFII backup parallel archive proposal<br /><br /><br />This is a POMS test proposal designed to simulate scientific plans.<br /><br /><br />FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:<br /><br /><br />Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: [The following are preliminary reports of<br />potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.]<br /><br /><br />HSTAR 8982: GS Re-acquisition [1,2,2] starting @ 087/05:07:36Z flagged by PTAS<br /> log file as not showing FLDV for FGS 2. FGS playback file confirmed FGS 2<br /> saw SSLE during the initial attempt on FL walk-down. Incident was during LOS.<br /> GS in FGS 2 appeared as an obvious double start during the initial [only] attempt,<br /> while the second attempt was successful. Under investigation.<br /><br /><br />COMPLETED OPS REQs: NONE<br /><br /><br />OPS NOTES EXECUTED: NONE<br /><br /><br /> SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL FAILURE TIMES<br />FGS GSacq 10 10<br />FGS REacq 06 06<br />FHST Update 18 18<br />LOSS of LOCK<br /><br /><br />SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:<br /><br /><br />Completed CCS 4.0.2 Command Timing Test 091/11:30Z - 18:40Z. TDRSS remains stable,<br />minor fluctuation noticed during 4 kbps DE "noverify" and "notlm" modes. JSC1<br />[single state commanding] results are consistent with previous testing, fluctuations<br />in the EDRs continue to appear. Fluctuations are in the 12 - 20% range. JSC2<br />[two-stage commanding] remains nominal, no fluctuations noted. A second day of<br />testing is planned, parameters UPLKVER and UPLKNVER will be changed during JSC1<br />to try and bring the EDRs into a 10% range. Data is still being reviewed at the time.