HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

       DAILY REPORT #3051

PERIOD COVERED:  0000Z (UTC) 02/06/02 - 0000Z (UTC) 02/07/02

Daily Status Report as of 038/0000Z

1.0 OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:

    1.1 Completed Two Sets of STIS/MA2 9573 (NUV-MAMA Daily Dark Monitor)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA2) was used to perform 
daily monitoring of the NUV MAMA detector dark noise in order to monitor 
the effects of thermal changes on the NUV dark rate.  No problems occurred.

    1.2 Completed STIS/CCD/MA2 9048 (Boron Constraints on Slow Mixing in 
Low Mass Stars)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA2) was used to 
observe the atomic and nuclear characteristics of the light elements Li, Be 
and B, that make their photospheric abundances ideal tracers of internal 
physical processes in stars.  Both Li and Be have been heavily utilized to 
this end since their diminished abundances are a direct result of the 
extent of internal slow mixing between surface and interior layers, as has 
been shown with ground-based data.  Boron provides a fresh and special 
probe because it survives to greater depths inside stars than does Li or 
Be, and can thus uniquely reveal the depth of mixing.  It is proposed to 
observe B in stars with very large depletions of Li and Be, i.e. stars 
which have been the most seriously affected by mixing.  No problems occurred.

    1.3 Completed Seven Sets of WF/PC-2 8940 (Cycle 10 Earth Flats)

        The WF/PC-2 was used to monitor flatfield stability by obtaining 
sequences of Earth streak flats to construct high quality flat fields for 
the WF/PC-2 filter set.  These flat fields will allow mapping of the OTA 
illumination pattern and will be used in conjunction with previous internal 
and external flats to generate new pipeline superflats.  The proposal 
completed without incident.

    1.4 Completed Seven Sets of WF/PC-2 9318 (POMS Test Proposal: WFII 
Parallel Archive Proposal Continuation)

        The WF/PC-2 was used to perform the generic target version of the 
WFPC2 Archival Pure Parallel program.  The program was used to take 
parallel images of random areas of the sky, following the recommendations 
of the Parallels Working Group.  There were no reported problems.

    1.5 Completed STIS/CCD 9088 (Next Generation Spectral Library of Stars)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to produce 
a "Next Generation'' Spectral Library of 600 stars for use in modeling the 
integrated light of galaxies and clusters by using the low dispersion UV 
and optical gratings of STIS.  The library will be roughly equally divided 
among four metallicities, very low {Fe/H < -1.5}, low {-1.5 < Fe/H < -0.5}, 
near-solar {-0.5 < Fe/H < 0.1}, and super-solar {Fe/H > 0.1}, well-sampling 
the entire HR-diagram in each bin.  Such a library will surpass all extant 
compilations and have lasting archival value, well into the Next Generation 
Space Telescope era.  No problems occurred.

    1.6 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD 8903 (Bias Monitor - Part 1)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used 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.  There were no problems.

    1.7 Completed STIS/CCD 9187 (A Lyman Limit Snapshot Survey: The Search 
for Candidate D/H Absorbers)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to measure 
D/H in gas clouds seen against background QSOs.  This provides a unique and 
fundamental cosmological probe of the baryonic density parameter.  To date, 
most of the QSO absorption line D/H constraints have been derived at high 
redshift.  In this proposal the proposers investigate a lower redshift 
range, because there are two potentially crucial advantages to be gained by 
carrying out D/H measurements at intermediate redshift.  First, the 
background of HI forest lines is lower and contamination of the DI feature 
is significantly reduced.  Second, a far larger sample of very bright QSOs 
exists.  There were no reported problems.

    1.8 Completed STIS/CCD 9070 (A Census of Nuclear Star Clusters in 
Late-Type Spiral Galaxies: II. Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to 
investigate spiral galaxies that have a prominent star cluster in their 
dynamical center.  Statistics for cluster frequency, size, and luminosity 
remain incomplete.  The proposal completed as planned.

    1.9 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD 9317 (Pure Parallel Imaging Program: 
Cycle 10)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to perform 
the default archival pure parallel program for STIS during cycle 10.  There 
were no reported problems.

    1.10 Completed WF/PC-2 9180 (Gamma-ray Burst Progenitors: Probing Their 
Environment)

        The WF/PC-2 was used to perform a target of opportunity observation 
of gamma ray burster (GRB), GRB-011121.   GRB astronomy is a field maturing 
at a phenomenal rate.  Three important new observational and theoretical 
discoveries, formulated over the last twelve months, allow the proposer to 
address new, and in many cases, more sophisticated questions than could 
have been posed previously.  These developments: the discovery of X-ray 
lines in GRB 991216; the observation that N_H as deduced from X-ray 
afterglow are one to two orders of magnitude larger than the dust 
extinction inferred from optical afterglow; and the growing realization 
that the afterglow emission may exhibit features of dust echoes, appear to 
offer unexpected and new diagnostics that will directly inform us about the 
progenitor, the circum-progenitor material and the immediate interstellar 
environs.  There were no reported problems.

    1.11 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD 8901 (Dark Monitor-Part 1)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to monitor 
the darks.  There was no anomalous activity.

    1.12 Completed Two Sets of STIS/CCD/MA1 8571 (Metallicity and D/H 
Abundance in Low-Z LyAlpha Absorbers towards PG 1211+143)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD and MA1) was used to 
continue previous observations along the sightline toward PG 1211+143 that 
reveal numerous LyAlpha absorption lines including two very strong LyAlpha 
absorbers {cz = 15, 300 and 19, 550 km s^- 1} with associated Si III 
absorption.  These are the first definite detections of metals in a low-z 
LyAlpha forest cloud.  Simple photoionization models suggest metallicities 
in the range 1--10 sim10^17 cm^-2 in each system.  The proposers should be 
able to detect deuterium LyAlpha at 10--20 mAngstrom equivalent width, 
thereby testing models of D/H astration as a function of IGM metallicity, 
an issue of cosmological significance.  There were no problems.

    1.13 Completed STIS/MA2 8920 (Cycle 10 MAMA Dark Measurements)

        The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (MA2) was used to perform 
the routine monitoring of the MAMA detector dark noise, and is the primary 
means of checking on health of the MAMA detectors systems through frequent 
monitoring of the background count rate.  The proposal completed with no 
reported anomalous activity.

    1.14 Completed Two Sets of WF/PC-2 8942 (Cycle 10 Intflat Sweeps and 
Linearity Test)

        The WF/PC-2 was used to monitor the pixel-to-pixel flatfield 
response and provide a linearity check.  These intflat sequences are done 
once during the year and the images will provide a backup database in the 
event of complete failure of the visflat lamp as well as allow monitoring 
of the gain ratios.  There were no reported problems.

    1.15 Completed WF/PC-2 8937 (Cycle 9 Supplemental Darks pt2/3)

        The WF/PC-2 was used obtain three dark frames every day to provide 
data for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels.  No 
problems were encountered.

2.0 FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

    2.1 Guide Star Acquisitions:
       Scheduled Acquisitions:  5
    Successful:  5

        According to HSTAR 8491, during the guide star acquisition at 
037/082659Z, the mnemonics QFGENBO(FGS Err Null Bias) and QSFGENBO (Saved 
FGS Err Null Bias) flagged out-of-limits.  The value of QSFGENBO was saved 
at -1033.801 arc seconds. The acquisition was successful.  Then, as 
described in HSTAR 8492, during the acquisition at 038/003547X, the 
mnemonics QFGENBO and QSFGENBO again flagged out-of-limits.  The value of 
QSFGENBO was saved at -1036.842 arc seconds.  This acquisition was also 
successful.
  Scheduled Re-acquisitions: 11
    Successful: 11

    2.2 FHST Updates:
    Scheduled: 12
    Successful: 12

    122.3 Operations Notes:

        The four-day Servicing Mission Ground Test, SR-4, part 2, flight 
readiness end-to-end test, continues.

        The SSR-1 EDAC error counter was cleared at 037/1320Z, using ROP SR-1A.

        A TTR was written for three required re-transmits (038/091017Z, 
038/091107Z and 038/091243Z) during a 486 load.  Accordingly, an 
engineering status buffer limit (SESBDLD=12) was modified at 038/091746Z 
per ROP DF-18A.

3.0 SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

        A new Science Mission Specification for the latter part of this 
week is being processed in order to insert a target-of-opportunity.

        Continuation of normal science observations and calibrations.

/CAW