HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

DAILY REPORT # 3118

PERIOD COVERED: 0000Z (UTC) 05/15/02 - 0000Z (UTC) 05/16/02

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED AND ACCOMPLISHED:

NICMOS 8790

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.

STIS/CCD 8902

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to monitor the darks.

STIS/CCD 8904

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 in order
to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the evolution of hot columns.

STIS/CCD 8906

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to measure the
effectiveness of the CCD hot pixel annealing process by measuring the dark
current behavior before and after annealing and by searching for any window
contamination effects. In addition, CTE performance is examined by looking for
traps in a low signal level flat.

WF/PC-2 8933

The WF/PC-2 was used for the monthly decons. Also included were instrument
monitors tied to decons: photometric stability check, focus monitor, pre- and
post-decon internals {bias, intflats, kspots, & darks}, UV throughput check,
VISFLAT sweep, and internal UV flat check.

WFPC2 8938

This dark calibration program obtains 3 dark frames every day to provide data
for monitoring and characterizing the evolution of hot pixels.

ACS/WFC/HRC 8947

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (WFC and HRC) was used to perform basic 
tests to
monitor, the read noise, the development of hot pixels and test for any source
of noise in ACS CCD detectors. This program will be executed at least once 
a day
for the entire lifetime of ACS.

NICMOS 1/2 8985

This proposal obtains sequences of NICMOS camera 1 & 2 medium and wide band
filter flat fields, plus one orbit for selected Camera 3 filters. The
observations will be used to build high S/N NICMOS flat fields to enable the
start of science observations.

WF/PC-2 9043

The WF/PC-2 was used to continue observations in the HST Key Project on the
Extragalactic Distance Scale and the HST project on the "Calibration of Nearby
Type Ia Supernovae'' that have greatly improved our knowledge of the Hubble
Constant by providing a solid zero point for the Tully- Fisher {TF} 
relation and
Type Ia Supernovae {SNIa}. However, severe inconsistencies remain for distance
estimators to early-type galaxies such as surface brightness fluctuations 
{SBF},
the planetary nebula luminosity function {PNLF}, the fundamental plane 
{FP}, and
the globular cluster luminosity function {GCLF}. As a result, the distance to
the Virgo cluster core remains uncertain by as much as 20 determination is
directly affected by a lingering 0.1 mag {5 uncertainty in the photometric
calibration of the WFPC2. Resolving these issues is essential not only to firm
up the extragalactic distance scale, but also to understand the mass and
velocity structure of the local universe. SBF in particular is emerging as the
method of choice for mapping local velocity fields to 10, 000 kms because it
offers an order of magnitude less Malmquist bias than TF, and SNIa are too rare
to study large scale flows effectively. This project will tighten the
photometric calibration of the WFPC2, and provide a solid Cepheid calibration
for SBF and PNLF.

STIS/CCD 9066

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used in parallel constrain
the Hydrogen reionization edge in emission that marks the transition from a
neutral to a fully ionized IGM at a predicted redshifts.

GTO/ACS 9290

The Morphological, Photometric, and Spectroscopic Properties of Intermediate
Redshift Cluster.New and fundamental constraints on the evolutionary state of
high redshift clusters will be made by obtaining deep, multiband images 
{SDSS g,
r, i, z} over the central 1.5 Mpc regions of seven distant clusters in the 
range
0.76 < z < 1.27. In addition, slitless spectroscopy, using the WFC GRISM, will
be performed over the central 750 kpc region of each system galaxy.

STIS/CCD 9317

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (CCD) was used to perform the default
archival pure parallel program for STIS during cycle 10.

WF/PC-2 9318

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.

STIS 9328

The visible consequences of the hard shock of the impact of SN 1987A's ejecta
upon the inner circumstellar ring are apparent and developing rapidly. Over the
past year, this phenomenon has made a transition, from emission originating in
just a few "hot spots" at restricted locations in position angle {PA} 
around the
ER, to a collision producing optical emission over a nearly continuous
distribution {with few breaks larger than 45 degrees in PA} and indications of
low-level emission arising from nearly all PAs. We propose a modest but
effective program to trace superbly the development of the entire interaction
region by drawing on capabilities of STIS which are well-matched to the task,
and on the strength of comparison with existing STIS data.

ACS/WFC/HRC 9445

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (WFC and HRC) was used to determine the
composition of the dark matter that dominates the masses of galaxies which 
is an
important unsolved problem.

ACS/WFC 9575

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (WFC) was used to test ACS pure parallels in
POMS.

ACS/WFC 9584

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (WFC) was used to test ACS pure parallels.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

                   SCHEDULED     SUCCESSFUL    FAILURE TIMES
FGS GSacq            5              5
FGS REacq            9              9
FHST Update         15            15
LOSS of LOCK         None

COMPLETED OPS REQs:
16769-1 - FSW 2.1B EEPROM Installation @ 136/1405z

OPS NOTES EXECUTED:
911-0 - Limit Management During WFPC2 Decontamination (M001)

HSTARS:
None


Operations Notes:
None

SIGNIFICANT FORTHCOMING EVENTS:

Continuation of Servicing Mission Orbital Verification and the gradual
resumption of normal science observations and calibrations.