[HST REPORTS]

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-07T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5684

Period Covered:
07:00 pm February 4, 2012 - 06:59 pm February 5, 2012
(DOY 036/0000z - 036/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-02-06 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		6		6
FGS REAcq		10		10
OBAD with Maneuver	5		5

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12025	James Green, University of Colorado at Boulder	COS-GTO: QSO Absorbers, Galaxies and Large-scale Structures in the Local Universe Part 2
12110	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12181	Drake Deming, University of Maryland	The Atmospheric Structure of Giant Hot Exoplanets
12210	Adam Bolton, University of Utah	SLACS for the Masses: Extending Strong Lensing to Lower Masses and Smaller Radii
12319	Slawomir Piatek, New Jersey Institute of Technology	Proper Motion Survey of Classical and SDSS Local Group Dwarf Galaxies
12585	Sara Petty, University of California - Los Angeles	Unveiling the Physical Structures of the Most Luminous IR Galaxies Discovered by WISE at z>1.6
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12687	Sylvia Baggett, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3/UVIS Anneal
12729	David Golimowski, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Daily Monitor {Part 1}
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-06T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5683

Period Covered:
07:00 pm February 3, 2012 - 06:59 pm February 4, 2012
(DOY 035/0000z - 035/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-02-05 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		8		8
FGS REAcq		10		10
OBAD with Maneuver	7		7

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12025	James Green, University of Colorado at Boulder	COS-GTO: QSO Absorbers, Galaxies and Large-scale Structures in the Local Universe Part 2
12236	Lisa Glass, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory	The Nuclear to Global Connection: a Detailed View of Compact Stellar Nuclei in a Complete Sample of Virgo Ellipticals
12310	Goeran Oestlin, Stockholm University	LARS - The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample
12474	Boris Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12504	Michael Liu, University of Hawaii	Bridging the Brown Dwarf/Jupiter Temperature Gap with a Very Cold Brown Dwarf
12546	R. Tully, University of Hawaii	The Geometry and Kinematics of the Local Volume
12594	Edmund Nelan, Space Telescope Science Institute	The White Dwarf Mass-Radius Relation Based on Dynamical Masses: STIS Observations of Close Double Degenerates
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12687	Sylvia Baggett, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3/UVIS Anneal
12688	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor
12717	Cristina Oliveira, Space Telescope Science Institute	COS FUV Internal/External Wavelength Scale Monitor
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1

[HST REPORTS] HST This Week

2012-02-05T18:30:03Z

HST this week: 030

This week on HST

HST Programs: January 30 - February 5, 2012

Program Number	Principal Investigator	Program Title
12025	James C. Green, University of Colorado at Boulder	COS-GTO: QSO Absorbers, Galaxies and Large-scale Structures in the Local Universe Part 2
12106	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12110	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12177	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury
12178	Scott F. Anderson, University of Washington	Spanning the Reionization History of IGM Helium: a Highly Efficient Spectral Survey of the Far-UV-Brightest Quasars
12181	Drake Deming, University of Maryland	The Atmospheric Structure of Giant Hot Exoplanets
12210	Adam S. Bolton, University of Utah	SLACS for the Masses: Extending Strong Lensing to Lower Masses and Smaller Radii
12236	Lisa Glass, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory	The Nuclear to Global Connection: a Detailed View of Compact Stellar Nuclei in a Complete Sample of Virgo Ellipticals
12248	Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute	How Dwarf Galaxies Got That Way: Mapping Multiphase Gaseous Halos and Galactic Winds Below L*
12283	Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey {WISP}: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
12304	Jon A. Holtzman, New Mexico State University	Metallicity distribution functions of 4 Local Group dwarf galaxies
12310	Goeran Oestlin, Stockholm University	LARS - The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample
12319	Slawomir Stanislaw Piatek, New Jersey Institute of Technology	Proper Motion Survey of Classical and SDSS Local Group Dwarf Galaxies
12440	Sandra M. Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12453	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12454	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12474	Boris T. Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12476	Kem Cook, Eureka Scientific Inc.	Measuring the Hubble Flow Hubble Constant
12488	Mattia Negrello, Open University	SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging
12504	Michael C. Liu, University of Hawaii	Bridging the Brown Dwarf/Jupiter Temperature Gap with a Very Cold Brown Dwarf
12514	Karl Stapelfeldt, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center	Imaging of Newly-identified Edge-on Protoplanetary Disks in Nearby Star-Forming Regions
12546	R. Brent Tully, University of Hawaii	The Geometry and Kinematics of the Local Volume
12572	Michele Trenti, University of Colorado at Boulder	The Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Pure Parallel Survey
12585	Sara Michelle Petty, University of California - Los Angeles	Unveiling the Physical Structures of the Most Luminous IR Galaxies Discovered by WISE at z>1.6
12594	Edmund Nelan, Space Telescope Science Institute	The White Dwarf Mass-Radius Relation Based on Dynamical Masses: STIS Observations of Close Double Degenerates
12614	Orly Gnat, California Institute of Technology	Are the Ultra-Compact High-Velocity Clouds Minihalos? Constraints from Quasar Absorption Lines
12659	Joaquin Vieira, California Institute of Technology	Strongly Lensed Dusty Star Forming Galaxies: Probing the Physics of Massive Galaxy Formation

Selected highlights

GO 12178: Spanning the Reionization History of IGM Helium: a Highly Efficient Spectral Survey of the Far-UV-Brightest Quasars

GALEX image of the nearby spiral, M81

The reionisation epoch for intergalactic helium is thought to occur somewhere between redshifts 3 and 4. Observations with the GALEX satellite, a NASA small explorer-class mission equipped with a 50-cm diameter telescope, are proving critical in testing this hypothesis through the identification of UV bright quasars in the appropriate redshift range. Galex was launched on 28th April 2003, and continues to operate more than 30 months beyond its nominal lifetime, conducting ultraviolet imaging and low-resolution grism spectroscopy at far-UV (125-175 nm) and near-UV (175-280 nm) wavelengths. Past HST programs by this research have used the ACS/SBC to target sources identified by cross-referencing GALEX against SDSS catalogues of moderate (1 < z < 3) and high redshift (z > 3.1) quasars. These sources can serve as effective probes of the ionisation state of the intergalactic medium at intervening redshifts. In particular, analysis of the He II Lyman-alpha absorption will shed light on the epoch of reionisation of intergalactic helium, generall placed between redshifts 3 and 4. The present program will use the ACS/SBC PR120L prism for spectroscopy of 40 QSOs with redshifts in the range 3.1 < z < 5.1.

GO 12440: Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched visits

Part of the GOODS/Chandra Deep Field South field, as imaged by HST

CANDELS is one of three Multi-Cycle Treasury Program, whose observations will be executed over the next three HST Cycles. It builds on past investment of both space- and ground-based observational resources. In particular, it includes coverage of the two fields of the Great Observatory Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), centred on the northern Hubble Deep Field (HDF) in Ursa Major and the Chandra Deep Field-South in Fornax. In addition to deep HST data at optical and near-infrared wavelengths, the fields have been covered at X-ray wavelengths by Chandra (obviously) and XMM-Newton; at mid-infrared wavelengths with Spitzer; and ground-based imaging and spectroscopy using numerous telescopes, including the Kecks, Surbaru and the ESO VLT. This represents an accumulation of almost 1,000 orbits of HST time, and comparable scale allocations on Chandra, Spitzer and ground-based facilities. The CANDELS program is capitalising on this large investment, with new observations with WFC3 and ACS on both GOODS fields, and on three other fields within the COSMOS, EGS and UDS survey areas (see this link for more details). The prime aims of the program are twofold: reconstructing the history of galaxy formation, star formation and nuclear galactic activity at redshifts between z=8 and z=1.5; and searching for high-redshift supernovae to measure their properties at redshifts between z~1 and z~2. The program incorporates a tiered set of observations that complement, in areal coverage and depth, the deep UDF observations, while the timing of a subset of the observations will be set to permit detection of high redshift SNe candidates, for subsequent separate follow-up.

GO 12504: Bridging the Brown Dwarf/Jupiter Temperature Gap with a Very Cold Brown Dwarf

The very low-mass binary system, CFBDSIR J1458+10AB

Brown dwarfs are objects that form in the same manner as stars, by gravitational collapse within molecular clouds, but which failt to accrete sufficient mass to raise the central temperature above ~2 million Kelvin and ignite hydrogen fusion.In consequence, these objects, which at solar abundances have masses less than 0.075 M_Sun or ~75 M<\sub>Jup, lack a sustained source of energy, and cool and fade on relatively short astronomical (albeit, long anthropological) timescales. Following their discovery over a decade ago, considerable observational and theoretical attention has focused on the evolution of their intrinsic properties, particularly the details of the atmospheric changes. At their formation, most brown dwarfs have temperatures of ~3,000 to 3,500K, comparable with early-type M dwarfs, but they rapidly cool, with the rate of cooling increasing with decreasing mass. As temperatures drop below ~2,000K, dust condenses within the atmosphere, molecular bands of titanium oxide and vanadium oxide disappear from the spectrum to be replaced by metal hydrides, and the obejcts are characterised as spectral type L. Below 1,300K, strong methane bands appear in the near-infrared, characteristics of spectral type T. At lower temperatures, other species, notably ammonia, are expected to become prominent, and attempts are currently under way to find examples of these "Y" dwarfs. The search is complicated by the fact that such objects are extremely faint instrinsically, so only the nearest will be detectable. Wide-field surveys have been undertaken at infrared wavelengths with both ground-based telescopes (eg UKIDDS) and satellite observatories (eg WISE). However, an alternative approach is to "look uner the lamp-post": both stars and brown dwarfs are often found as binary or multiple systems, so one can take a sample of low-mass obejcts known to be within the Solar Neighbourhood, and look for even lower luminosity companions. That technique served in the past to identify van Biesbroeck 10, the first ultracool dwarf; GD 165B, the first L dwarf; and Gl 229B, the first T dwarf. The prime target of this proposal, CFBDSIR J1458+10B, was found in a similar manner, through deep infrared imaging targetting known nearby ultracool dwarfs. The primary, a ~T9 dwarf, was discovered in the course of the Canada-France Brown Dwarf Survey survey (hence CFBDS), lies at a distance of ~23 parsecs, has a luminosity of ~10^-6 L_Sun and a temperature around 550K. The secondary was uncovered at a separation of 0.11 arcseconds through Keck laser AO imaging, is 2 magnitudes fainter than the primary at H, has a luminosity of ~2 x 10^-7 L_Sun and is the coolest brown dwarf currently known, with a surface temperature estimated as only 370 K, comparable with boiling water. HST will be used to obtain far-red and near-infrared photometry, with the aim of better characterising the spectral energy distribution at those wavelengths.

GO 12572: The Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Pure Parallel Survey

The ACS optical/far-red image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Galaxy evolution in the early Universe is a discipline of astronomy that has been transformed by observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. The original Hubble Deep Field, the product of 10 days observation in December 1995 of a single pointing of Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, demonstrated conclusively that galaxy formation was a far from passive process. The images revealed numerous blue disturbed and irregular systems, characteristic of star formation in galaxy collisions and mergers. Building on this initial progam, the Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS) provided matching data for a second southern field, allowing a first assessment of likely effects due to field to field cosmic variance, and the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (UDF) probed to even fainter magitude with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The highest redshift objects found in the UDF have redshifts approaching z~7. Pushing to larger distances, and greater ages, demands observatons at near-infrared wavelengths, as the characteristics signatures of star formation are driven further redward in the spectrum. Wide Field Camera 3, installed in Servicing Mission 4, is well suited to these observations, and a number of programs are in place in Cycle 19 that address these issues. Indeed, WFC3 is employed in pure parallel mode by several programs. These take advantage of other science programs, usually with COS, that involve 2-5 orbit pointings on sources at high galactic latitude. The WFC3 pointing is unplanned, since it depends on the orientation adopted for the prime observations, but 2-5 orbits of IR imaging can reach galaxies at redshifts exceeding z=7 (potentially even z~8) in high latitude field.

Past weeks:

page by Neill Reid, updated 26/1/2012

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-04T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5681

Period Covered:
07:00 pm February 1, 2012 - 06:59 pm February 2, 2012
(DOY 033/0000z - 033/2359z)

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:
19204-1 - FGS AOI Patch Installation@33/1430z

19205-0 - TMDIAG and TLM Format Switch for AOI@33/1430z

COMPLETED OPS NOTES:
none

FGS ACQ STATUS:
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq 6 6
FGS REAcq 8 8
OBAD with Maneuver 4 3

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
The installation of the FGS Attitude Observers Initialization patch took place today (2012/33). Ops
Request 19204- FGS AOI Patch Installation and 19205 -TMDIAG and TLM Format Switch for AOI were
followed to uplink Version D of the acquisition logic. The Acquisition logic was loaded and
verified successfully. Overall the installation has proceeded nominally. An additional flash report
will be issued late this afternoon after analysis of the first acquisition and reacquisition.

The first guide star pair acquisition after the AOI patch installation occurred at
2012.033:16:49:11 and achieved Fine Lock nominally. Analysis showed that the AOI patch was
operating as expected. The Reacquisition at 2012.033:18:25:33 also achieved Fine Lock. The Reacq
occurred during a ZOE, but the vehicle was guiding in Fine Lock when telemetry was reacquired at
19:19:00. The first single star acquisition will occur at 2012.033:23:02:02. This acquisition will
be monitored and a flash report will be sent out with its status afterwards.

The first single star acquisition after the AOI FSW patch and Acq Logic installation occurred at
2012.033:23:02:02. The acquisition was successful and everything looked nominal during the
acquisition process. Further monitoring of the acquisition statuses will be performed by the normal
Acq Stats tool and reported by ARS.

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12110	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12474	Boris Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12476	Kem Cook, Eureka Scientific Inc.	Measuring the Hubble Flow Hubble Constant
12572	Michele Trenti, University of Colorado at Boulder	The Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Pure Parallel Survey
12614	Orly Gnat, California Institute of Technology	Are the Ultra-Compact High-Velocity Clouds Minihalos? Constraints from Quasar Absorption Lines
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12711	Abhijith Rajan, Space Telescope Science Institute	UVIS Internal Flats
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-03T18:30:09Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5680

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 31, 2012 - 06:59 pm February 1, 2012
(DOY 032/0000z - 032/2359z)

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		8		8
FGS REAcq		8		8
OBAD with Maneuver	6		6

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12106	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12110	Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington	A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I
12210	Adam Bolton, University of Utah	SLACS for the Masses: Extending Strong Lensing to Lower Masses and Smaller Radii
12248	Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute	How Dwarf Galaxies Got That Way: Mapping Multiphase Gaseous Halos and Galactic Winds Below L*
12283	Matthew Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey {WISP}: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12488	Mattia Negrello, Open University	SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging
12572	Michele Trenti, University of Colorado at Boulder	The Brightest of Reionizing Galaxies Pure Parallel Survey
12614	Orly Gnat, California Institute of Technology	Are the Ultra-Compact High-Velocity Clouds Minihalos? Constraints from Quasar Absorption Lines
12659	Joaquin Vieira, California Institute of Technology	Strongly Lensed Dusty Star Forming Galaxies: Probing the Physics of Massive Galaxy Formation
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12682	Ralph Bohlin, Space Telescope Science Institute	JWST Calibration Standards
12688	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12691	Vera Kozhurina-Platais, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3/UVIS internal CTE monitor
12695	Michael Dulude, Space Telescope Science Institute	IR Dark Monitor
12729	David Golimowski, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Daily Monitor {Part 1}
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-02T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5679

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 30, 2012 - 06:59 pm January 31, 2012
(DOY 031/0000z - 031/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-02-01 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		10		10
FGS REAcq		6		6
OBAD with Maneuver	7		7

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12304	Jon Holtzman, New Mexico State University	Metallicity distribution functions of 4 Local Group dwarf galaxies
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12453	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12488	Mattia Negrello, Open University	SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12691	Vera Kozhurina-Platais, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3/UVIS internal CTE monitor
12695	Michael Dulude, Space Telescope Science Institute	IR Dark Monitor
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1
12777	Elena Mason, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA	MAMA NUV Flats

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-02-01T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5678

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 29, 2012 - 06:59 pm January 30, 2012
(DOY 030/0000z - 030/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-01-31 17:02:00 GMT

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports
of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)

HSTARs:
13207 - SCI: GSAcq (1,2,2) failed to RGA Hold due to SRLEX on FGS-1. @027/2258z

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST:
none

COMPLETED OPS NOTES:
none

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		11		11
FGS REAcq		4		4
OBAD with Maneuver	6		6

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12177	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury
12304	Jon Holtzman, New Mexico State University	Metallicity distribution functions of 4 Local Group dwarf galaxies
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12453	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12488	Mattia Negrello, Open University	SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging
12514	Karl Stapelfeldt, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center	Imaging of Newly-identified Edge-on Protoplanetary Disks in Nearby Star-Forming Regions
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12695	Michael Dulude, Space Telescope Science Institute	IR Dark Monitor
12729	David Golimowski, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Daily Monitor {Part 1}
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1
12784	Elena Sabbi, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA	Characterization of UVIS Traps Via Charge-Injected Biases
Other Observations Scheduled
12046	David Sahnow, Space Telescope Science Institute	COS FUV DCE Memory Dump

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-01-31T18:30:02Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5677

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 28, 2012 - 06:59 pm January 29, 2012
(DOY 029/0000z - 029/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-01-30 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		7		7
FGS REAcq		9		9
OBAD with Maneuver	8		8

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12177	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury
12248	Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute	How Dwarf Galaxies Got That Way: Mapping Multiphase Gaseous Halos and Galactic Winds Below L*
12283	Matthew Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey {WISP}: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
12310	Goeran Oestlin, Stockholm University	LARS - The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12472	Claus Leitherer, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCC - The Cosmic Carbon Conundrum
12474	Boris Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12568	Matthew Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey WISP: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12688	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12715	Rachel Osten, Space Telescope Science Institute	COS FUV Spectroscopic Sensitivity Monitoring
12729	David Golimowski, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Daily Monitor {Part 1}
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-01-30T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5676

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 27, 2012 - 06:59 pm January 28, 2012
(DOY 028/0000z - 028/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-01-29 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		11		11
FGS REAcq		4		4
OBAD with Maneuver	7		7

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12177	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury
12310	Goeran Oestlin, Stockholm University	LARS - The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample
12328	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury Part 2
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12460	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12474	Boris Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12613	Knud Jahnke, Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie, Heidelberg	Are major galaxy mergers a significant mechanism to trigger massive black hole growth at z=2?
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1
12766	Elena Mason, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA	STIS CCD Spectroscopic Flat-field Monitor

[HST REPORTS] HST This Week

2012-01-29T18:30:03Z

HST this week: 023

This week on HST

HST Programs: January 23 - January 29, 2012

Program Number	Principal Investigator	Program Title
12172	Claus Leitherer, Space Telescope Science Institute	Is the Extraordinary Super Star Cluster NGC 3125-1 an Imposter?
12177	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury
12181	Drake Deming, University of Maryland	The Atmospheric Structure of Giant Hot Exoplanets
12248	Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute	How Dwarf Galaxies Got That Way: Mapping Multiphase Gaseous Halos and Galactic Winds Below L*
12283	Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey {WISP}: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
12310	Goeran Oestlin, Stockholm University	LARS - The Lyman Alpha Reference Sample
12328	Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University	3D-HST: A Spectroscopic Galaxy Evolution Treasury Part 2
12440	Sandra M. Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12460	Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute	Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
12468	Keith S. Noll, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center	How Fast Did Neptune Migrate? A Search for Cold Red Resonant Binaries
12472	Claus Leitherer, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCC - The Cosmic Carbon Conundrum
12474	Boris T. Gaensicke, The University of Warwick	The frequency and chemical composition of rocky planetary debris around young white dwarfs
12476	Kem Cook, Eureka Scientific Inc.	Measuring the Hubble Flow Hubble Constant
12488	Mattia Negrello, Open University	SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging
12507	Adam L. Kraus, University of Hawaii	The Formation and Fundamental Properties of Wide Planetary-Mass Companions
12528	Philip Massey, Lowell Observatory	Probing the Nature of LBVs in M31 and M33: Blasts from the Past
12538	John T. Clarke, Boston University	Detection of Hot {Escaping?} Hydrogen in the Martian Atmosphere
12565	Ruth Peterson, SETI Institute	Primordial Carbon Abundances in Extremely Metal-Poor Stars
12568	Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles	WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey WISP: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time
12569	Sylvain Veilleux, University of Maryland	Ionized and Neutral Outflows in the QUEST QSOs
12581	Julia Christine Roman-Duval, Space Telescope Science Institute	A Direct CO/H2 Abundance Measurement in Diffuse and Translucent LMC and SMC Molecular Clouds
12613	Knud Jahnke, Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie, Heidelberg	Are major galaxy mergers a significant mechanism to trigger massive black hole growth at z=2?
12757	Pasquale Mazzotta, Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory	A DETAILED CHANDRA/HST STUDY OF THE FIRST z approx 1 CLUSTER BLINDLY DISCOVERED IN THE PLANCK ALL SKY SURVEY

Selected highlights

GO 12181: The Atmospheric Structure of Giant Hot Exoplanets

Probing the atmosphere of a transiting exoplanet

The first exoplanet, 51 Peg b, was discovered through radial velocity measurements in 1995. 51 Pegb was followed by a trickle, and then a flood of other discoveries, as astronomers realised that there were other solar systems radically different from our own, where "hot jupiters" led to short-period, high-amplitude velocity variations. Then, in 1999, came the inevitable discovery that one of those hot jupiters. HD 209458b, was in an orbit aligned with our line of sight to the star, resulting in transits. Since that date, the number of known transiting exoplanet systems has grown to more than 100, most detected through wide-field photometric surveys with the Kepler satellite providing the highest sensitivity dataset. These transiting systems are invaluable, since they not only provide unambiguous measurements of mass and diameter, but they also provide an opportunity to probe the atmospheric structure by differencing spectra taken during and between primary secondary transit. Such observations are best done from space: indeed, the only successful atmospheric observations to date have been with HST and Spitzer. The present program aims to set these measurements on a systematic basis by targeting 13 transiting exoplanets. The WFC3-IR G141 grism will be used to search for characteristic near-infrared spectral features in those systems.

GO 12283/12568: WISP - A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time

A region of massive star formation

Star formation is the key astrophysical process in determining the overall evolution of galactic systems, the generation of heavy elements, and the overall enrichment of interstellar and intergalactic material. Tracing the overall evolution through a wide redshift range is crucial to understanding how gas and stars evolved to form the galaxies that we see around us now. The present program builds on the ability of HST to carry out parallel observations, using more than one instrument. While the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph is focused on obtaining ultraviolet spectra of unparalleled signal-to-noise, this program uses the near-infrared grisms mounted on the Wide-Field Camera 3 infrared channel to obtain low resolution spectra between 1 and 1.6 microns of randomly-selected nearby fields. The goal is to search for emission lines characteristic of star-forming regions. In particular, these observations are capable of detecting Lyman-alpha emission generated by star formation at redshifts z > 5.6. A total of up to 40 "deep" (4-5 orbit) and 20 "shallow" (2-3 orbit) fields will be targeted in the course of this observing campaign.

GO 12476: Measuring the Hubble Flow Constant

NGC 4911, from DSS scans of POSS II IIIaJ plate material

Cepheid variable stars have been the prime extragalactic distance indicator since Henrietta Leavitt's discovery of the period-luminosity relation described by Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It was Hubble's identification of Cepheids in NGC 6822 that finally established that at least some nebulae were island universes. Cepheids and the extragalactic distance scale figure largely in HST's history, notably through the Hubble Constant Program, one of the initial Key Projects. Hubble has accumulated WFPC2 and NICMOS observations of Cepheids in 31 galaxies. All of those galaxies lie within 25 Mpc; thus, both the Key Project's derivation of H₀ = 72 +/- 8 km/sec/Mpc and the competing value, H₀ = 56 +/- 7 km/sec/Mpc, (an offset of 1.5 sigma), rely on secondary indicators to take measurements to the far-field Hubble flow. The aim of the present project is to extend covrage to Cepheids within the Coma cluster. The present program has its genesis in a Cycle 15 Treasury program designed to use the high sensitivity and high resolution of the Adnaced Camera for Surveys to search for Cepheids in two spiral galaxies in the cluster, NGC 4911 and NGC 4921. If Coma lies at a distance of 100 Mpc ( (m-M)=35.0), then long-period Cepheids (P~50 days) have mean apparent magnitudes of V~29 - challenging observations even for ACS. Unfortunately, the ACS failure in January 2007 left the original program barely 40% complete. However, the initial dataset was sufficient to identify 50 long-period Cepheids candidates in NGC 8921. The present program aims to build on those incomplete results by using the UVIS channel on Wide-field Camera 3 to obtain cadenced observations in the F350LP and F606W filters, and determine periods for verified variable stars..

GO 12528: Probing the nature of LBVs in M31 and M33 - Blasts from the Past

GR290, Romano's star, a luminous blue varibale in M33

Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are just what they sound like - bright blue stars that show low-level (few tenths of a magnitude), irregular changes in brightness over timescales of years, punctuated by substantial outbursts, when the star brightens by several magnitudes. The prototype is S Doradus, the brightest star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (M_V < -10, so brighter than many dwarf galaxies), and there are only around 20 other such stars known, including P Cygni and eta Carinae. They are massive hypergiants, with radii over 100 times that of the Sun and system masses that may exceed 100 M_Sun. At least some of these systems are binary stars. The outbursts are very likely caused by substantial mass loss events, perhaps stimulated by the binary companion, and can lead to the star's brightness increasing over a hundredfold over a period of 5-10 years. The classic example is Eta Carinae, which was originally catalogued by Edmond Halley as 4th magnitude in 1677, but had brightened by 3-4 magnitudes by 1730, returning to its previous brightness by 1782. There have been a number of subsequent outbursts, and detailed, high-resoution imaging ahs revealed a complex series of nebular shells surrounding the stellar system, indicative of substantial mass-loss events. The present HST program aims to probe the LBV phenomenon through high spatial-resolution spectroscopy of the 6 known LBVs in the nearby spirals, M31 and M33. The goal is to use those spectral data to probe the outburst history of those stars, as traced by the surrounding circumstellar material, and hence shed light on the long term evolution of these systems.

Past weeks:

page by Neill Reid, updated 18/1/2012

[HST REPORTS] HST Daily Report

2012-01-28T18:30:03Z

Earlier reports

Convert Day of Year

The Hubble Space Telescope

Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe

Daily Report #5674

Period Covered:
07:00 pm January 25, 2012 - 06:59 pm January 26, 2012
(DOY 026/0000z - 026/2359z)

Flight Operations Summary

This report was generated by the HST Automated Report System @2012-01-27 17:02:00 GMT

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

FGS ACQ STATUS:
		    SCHEDULED       SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSAcq		10		10
FGS REAcq		6		6
OBAD with Maneuver	5		5

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
none

Program	Principal Investigator	Program Title
Science Observations Scheduled
12172	Claus Leitherer, Space Telescope Science Institute	Is the Extraordinary Super Star Cluster NGC 3125-1 an Imposter?
12440	Sandra Faber, University of California - Santa Cruz	Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey -- GOODS-South Field, Non-SNe-Searched Visits
12476	Kem Cook, Eureka Scientific Inc.	Measuring the Hubble Flow Hubble Constant
12538	John Clarke, Boston University	Detection of Hot {Escaping?} Hydrogen in the Martian Atmosphere
12569	Sylvain Veilleux, University of Maryland	Ionized and Neutral Outflows in the QUEST QSOs
Calibration Observations Scheduled
12380	Bryan Hilbert, Space Telescope Science Institute	Guard Darks
12688	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	Cycle 17: UVIS Bowtie Monitor
12689	Tiffany Borders, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor
12693	Kai Noeske, Space Telescope Science Institute	WFC3/UVIS Charge Injection
12741	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Dark Monitor Part 1
12743	Justin Ely, Space Telescope Science Institute	CCD Bias and Read Noise Monitor Part 1
12784	Elena Sabbi, Space Telescope Science Institute	Characterization of UVIS Traps Via Charge-Injected Biases