S T A N / W F P C 2 - Number 42, July 2000

CONTENTS:

• WFPC2 NEWS:
• Update to Cycle 10 Call for Proposals -> No ACS or NICMOS in Cycle 10
• Results of the WFPC2 Observatory Verification after Servicing Mission 3a
• STARVIEW 6.0 IS HERE!
• RECENT PREPRINTS
• APPENDIX: WFPC2 CONTACTS

Update to Cycle 10 Call for Proposals - No ACS or NICMOS in Cycle 10:

As reported in the last STAN, NASA and STScI have announced the Cycle 10 Call for Proposals for astronomical observations and archival research utilizing the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The solicitation is open until September 08, 2000 8:00pm EDT, and proposals may be submitted throughout this period. Results of the selection will be announced in mid to late December 2000.

This update is to notify potential Cycle 10 proposers that due to changes in the 2001 HST servicing mission (SM3b) launch date and the planned SM activities, proposals for ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys) and NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer) observations will not be accepted for Cycle 10. WFPC2 will remain the prime imaging instrument for Cycle 10. The WFPC2 Instrument Handbook includes comparisons of the WFPC2, ACS, and STIS imaging capabilities, however, ACS and NICMOS are no longer options for Cycle 10.

Results of the WFPC2 Observatory Verification after Servicing Mission 3a:

-Stefano Casertano, Shireen Gonzaga, Sylvia Baggett, Jesus Balleza, John Biretta, Inge Heyer, Anton M. Koekemoer, Chris O'Dea, Adam Riess, Al B. Schultz, and Michael S. Wiggs

Abstract:

After six weeks of inactivity, the Servicing Mission 3a, and the tests and observations carried out as part of the ensuing Observatory Verification phase, WFPC2 restarted science operations on January 12, 2000. Our calibrations show that the camera remains essentially unchanged with respect to pre-SM3a operations. Other than minor changes due to normal aging of the camera, the only discernible effect of the Servicing Mission was the expected increase, significant but temporary, in the rate at which UV-opaque contaminants collect onto the CCD windows.

StarView 6.0 is Here!:

-Megan Donahue for the StarView team including Sara Anderson, Scott Binegar, Molly Brandt, Niall Gaffney, and Ed Hopkins

StarView 6.0 is a Java-based astronomical database browser and data retrieval tool. Its database interaction is generalizable to any Sybase database. Its main function today is to provide access to the HST Data Archive and Distribution System (DADS), allowing searches for scientific data, examination of calibration steps to be used by On-the-fly calibration for any dataset, and examination of proposal information, including instrument configurations and setup for all HST observations. StarView allows fully-customizable searches of all of the catalogs available for HST. We also have a library of standard StarView forms such as the General Search and instrument data searches.

The older version of StarView (version 5.4a, invoked by the name xstarview) will be phased out after the HST Cycle 10 proposal deadline. It requires a special server which we are decommissioning.

StarView is available for Unix and Windows systems with Java 2 Runtime Engines (or Java 1.2). Most such systems are running Java 1.2 already. Download StarView (~1 MB) and read about it at the URL: http://starview.stsci.edu.

StarView will update itself, with permission from the user. System managers for centralized installations should contact us at archive@stsci.edu. Our next release will contain system management features, and we would like to coordinate that release with system managers already maintaining a central installation of StarView.

Future plans include expanding StarView to allow searches of any MAST catalog, and to enable retrievals from any other mission, including FUSE, IUE, and others. We will still maintain the basic MAST web resources for all of these projects as we expand the capabilities of StarView as a generalizable and modular research tool.

RECENT PREPRINTS:

We draw your attention to these papers, based on WF/PC and WFPC2 data, that will appear in the next few months. This list includes all preprints received by the STScI Library not yet published in the journals. Please remember to include our Library in your preprint distribution list.

WILSON, A.S.; SHOPBELL, P.L.; SIMPSON, C.;
STORCHI-BERGMANN, T.; BARBOSA, F.K.B.; WARD, M.J.
"Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Circinus
Galaxy" AJ 9-00

DOWNES, R.A.; DUERBECK, H.W. "Optical Imaging of
Nova Shells and the Maximum Magnitude-Rate of
Decline Relationship" AJ 10-00

GOLIMOWSKI, D.A.; HENRY, T.J.; KRIST, J.E.;
SCHROEDER, D.J.; MARCY, G.W.; FISCHER, D.A.;
BUTLER, R.P. "The Very Low Mass Component of the
Gliese 105 System" AJ 10-00

HEASLEY, J.N.; JANES, K.A.; ZINN, R.; DEMARQUE, P.;
DA COSTA, G.S.; CHRISTIAN, C.A. "Hubble Space
Telescope Photometry of the Metal-Rich Globular
Clusters NGC 6624 and NGC 6637" AJ 8-00

VERDOES KLEIJN, G.A.; VAN DER MAREL, R.P.; CAROLLO,
C.M.; DE ZEEUW, P.T. "The Black Hole in IC 1459
from HST Observations of the Ionized Gas Disk" AJ
9-00

VON HIPPEL, T.; GILMORE, G. "The White Dwarf
Cooling Age of the Open Cluster NGC 2420" AJ 9-00

APPENDIX: WFPC2 Contacts:

Any questions about the scheduling of your observations should be addressed to your Program Coordinator. Post-Observation questions can be addressed to your Contact Scientist. If you do not know who these persons are, you can find the information on the WWW at www.stsci.edu/public/propinfo.html.

Analysis, STSDAS or any other questions can also be addressed to help@stsci.edu.

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The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.