Daily 4141
Joe Cooper
DAILY REPORT # 4141
PERIOD COVERED: UT June 22, 2006 (DOY 173)
OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED
NIC3 10632
Searching for galaxies at z>6.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
We propose to obtain deep ACS {F606W, F775W, F850LP} imaging in the
area of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field NICMOS parallel fields
and - through simultaneous parallel observations - deep NICMOS {F110W,
F160W} imaging of the ACS UDF area. Matching the extreme imaging depth
in the optical and near-IR bands will result in seven fields with
sufficiently sensitive multiband data to detect the expected typical
galaxies at z=7 and 8. Presently no such a field exist. Our combined
optical and near-IR ultradeep fields will be in three areas separated
by about 20 comoving Mpc at z=7. This will allow us to give a first
assessment of the degree of cosmic variance. If reionization is a
process extending over a large redshift interval and the luminosity
function doesn't evolve strongly beyond z=6, these data will allow us
to identify of the order of a dozen galaxies at 6.5<z<8.5 - using the
Lyman break technique - and to place a first constrain on the
luminosity function at z>6.5. Conversely, finding fewer objects would
be an indication that the bulk of reionization is done by galaxies at
z=6. By spending 204 orbits of prime HST time we will capitalize on
the investment of 544 prime orbits already made on the Hubble Ultra
Deep Field {UDF}. We have verified that the program as proposed is
schedulable and that it will remain so even if forced to execute in
the 2-gyro mode. The data will be non-proprietary and the reduced
images will be made public within 2 months from the completion of the
observations.
NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8793
NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 4
A new procedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of
NICMOS. Dark frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA
contour 23, and every time a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50
minutes of coming out of the SAA. The darks will be obtained in
parallel in all three NICMOS Cameras. The POST-SAA darks will be
non-standard reference files available to users with a USEAFTER
date/time mark. The keyword 'USEAFTER=date/time' will also be added to
the header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword must be populated
with the time, in addition to the date, because HST crosses the SAA ~8
times per day so each POST-SAA DARK will need to have the appropriate
time specified, for users to identify the ones they need. Both the raw
and processed images will be archived as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally we
expect that all NICMOS science/calibration observations started within
50 minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to remove the CR
persistence from the science images. Each observation will need its
own CRMAP, as different SAA passages leave different imprints on the
NICMOS detectors.
NICS3 10754
Spectrophotometric Standards for Cross-Observatory Calibration
This program will obtain NICMOS spectrophotometry of four main
sequence A stars and four K giants, each selected from the Spitzer
IRAC photometric calibration target and/or candidate calibration
target lists. These observations will supplement existing HST
observations of DA white dwarfs and solar analogs, and will provide a
broad base of stellar types for spectrophotometric cross calibration
of HST, Spitzer, and eventually JWST. The targets are chosen to be
faint enough for unsaturated observations with JWST NIRSPEC, yet still
bright enough for high signal to noise in relatively short
observations with HST+NICMOS and with Spitzer+IRAC.
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:
17802-0 - ACS Recovery to Operate1 @ 173/21:11z
COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)
SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL
FGS GSacq 10 10
FGS REacq 02 02
OBAD with Maneuver 26 26
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
ACS Transition to Operate1
Ops Request 17802-0 was completed at 173/21:11:12, successfully
transitioning ACS from Suspend to its Operate1 state. In this state,
ACS normal engineering data collection can be observed.