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FG S Instrument Handbook
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While formatted exposure logsheets became obsolete when APT replaced RPS2, the logsheets provided here are intended to assist proposers in to obtain a high level understanding of an FGS observing program within a single HST orbit.
Goal: Determine the parallax and proper motion of star, “OGF_1”.
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The program requires three visits, at 0, 6, 12 months intervals, each of which is timed to occur at epochs of maximum parallax factors. During each visit the science target and reference stars will be observed multiple times in Pos mode.
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A special orientation is needed to align the FGS FOV so that the target and selected reference stars fall within the FOV (and hence are observable!). The appropriate Orient range can be determined by using special tools (e.g., PICKLES or VTT)
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Reference Star Geometry: Six reference stars near science target; POS TARG required to fit all reference stars in the pickle. See Table 6.1.
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The science target must be shifted from FGS1r aperture reference point (center of FOV) in order to fit all (i.e., OGF-21-REF) stars in the FOV. Appropriate POS TARG can be determined from PICKLES or VTT. Contact STScI Help desk for assistance if necessary.
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Please include color information on all targets if available so the need for color-related calibrations can be assessed by STScI.
Figure 6.1 illustrates the field geometry and the orient angles of a typical FGS observation, while Table 6.8 summarizes the details of the exposures in the visit.

1

Reference/Check Star Pattern: Check Stars in this observation are REF-7, REF-11, and OGF_1. Observing sequence:
The Exposure Logsheet Template: The Optional_Parameters entry is missing since, for this example, all Pos mode optional parameters are DEFAULT values
6-months after Visit 1, the HST Nominal Orient Angle is 180° from the Nominal HST Orientation in Visit 1. Nominal orient angle = 247°, off-nominal orient angle = 228°, pos targ = (+60,+33).
Running the proposal template file through APT will inform the observer whether the syntax is correct, whether the exposures fit in an orbit and how much time is left, and finally whether the observing dates are viable for the requested ORIENT angle.
Goal: Observe a known faint (V=16) close (separation ~40 mas) binary in Trans mode in order to determine the system’s relative orbit from which the orbital element, and hence, the system’s mass can be derived.
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Program requires 4 single orbit visits to observe the binary at different orbital phases. These shall be timed accordingly.
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The expected separation of binary is ~40 mas. Its position angle is expected to be approximately 180 deg at the time of the first planned observation. This will have implications for the ORIENT of HST for the visit (see below. Note that special orients also imply scheduling constraints. Use of APT will facilitate resolving these constraints.)
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Include B-V color information. STScI will use such information to plan the calibration observations of the color reference standard stars.
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An ORIENT range is used to avoid the binary’s projected separation along either of the FGS axis to be less than 20 mas (to assure an accurate determination of the system’s total projected separation and position angle.)
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time (sec) per scan = 0.025 * [ScanLength/StepSize] + 12 = 33. (note, the 12 sec is the per scan overhead.)
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exposure time = Nscans*0.025*[ScanLength/StepSize]=1730 sec. (note the scan’s overheads are not included in the user specified exposure time)
Figure 6.2 illustrates the geometry of the binary with respect to the POS TARG and detector reference frames.
Running the proposal template file through APT will inform the observer whether the syntax is correct, whether the exposures fit in an orbit and how much time is left if they do not; and finally, whether the observing dates are viable for the requested ORIENT angle.
Goal: A bright (V=13), wide binary system (separation = 0.4") is to be observed with FGS1r. Pos mode observations of the binary and neighboring reference stars will be used to determine the binary’s parallax, proper motion, and barycenter. Trans mode observations will be used to establish the system’s relative orbit so that its orbital elements can be derived. Combining these data from several epochs will allow for a dynamical mass determination of the system’s components.
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reference star distribution: six reference stars near science target; science target must be placed at aperture reference position for Trans mode observations.
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include B-V color information on all targets, if available, so STScI can determine the need for specific calibrations.
Texposure = 0.025 * [ScanLength/StepSize] * Nscans
Figure 6.3 illustrates the geometry of the target and reference stars, while Table 6.9 and Table 6.10 summarize the details of the exposures in the visit.
FESTIME (use defaults)
σSx = 0.008

1

2

Overhead + Exposure Time (Minutes)

28

2
1
2.5
1
2
1
1
2
Goal: A faint (V=15) object suspected to be a close (sep < 30 mas) binary is embedded in nebulosity which contributes about 20% of the light in the vicinity of the target. The putative binary is to be observed in Trans mode. Special additional observations are needed accurately measure the background. To do so, the RA,Dec of two points on the sky about 1 arcmin from the target and to either side of it are specified as “targets” in the proposal. These “targets” are to be observed in Pos mode after the Trans mode observation of the faint science target (the FGS high voltage, which enable the PMTs to count photons, does not get turned on until after the IFOV is placed at the expected location of the first target to be observed in the visit. The background data is to be acquired as the IFOV slews away from the science object to the reference “targets”. During this time the PMTs record the background counts.)
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Geometry: Science target is placed at center of the FGS1r FOV; the background data are obtained en route to and while observing the reference points (specified in the proposal as a pointed targets) in Pos mode for 1 minute.
Figure 6.4 illustrates a possible geometry of the field, while Table 6.11 summarizes the total exposure times for the target and reference star, and dark sky observations.
Specify the background targets to be bright (V=8) to minimize target acquisition overheads. Note: these targets will fail to be acquired in FineLock since no coherent source is present. However, the desired photometry will be recorded.

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