Searching for an IR counterpart of the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1806-20 We propose to observe the field of the Soft Gamma Repeater, SGR 1806-20, with HST/NICMOS to identify its infrared counterpart by comparison to images of the field in quiescence and moderate activity. The source has recently emitted two very intense and rare flares in the X-rays leading to a significant increase in its persistent X-ray emission. Should the source follow the trend observed for a similar object, namely the AXP 1E2259+586, which exhibited IR and X-ray emission rising and falling in tandem, this extreme current SGR activity is probably the only source state, where we would be able to detect an IR counterpart for Soft Gamma Repeaters.
We require to observe SGR 1806-20 using NIC3 and the F160W filters to obtain deep observations searching for an optical counterpart. We will use a total of two orbits in 4 dither positions to achive this. COOL STARS 6 false false false false false SUPPORTED STAR NEUTRON STAR J2000 18 08 39.3200 -20 24 39.50 J2000 NIC3 Imaging No F160W POS-TARG DITHER DITHER 0.5 NIC-XSTRIP-DITH false false 9 0.0 POS-TARG NIC-SPIRAL-DITH 0.0 1 false POS-TARG DITHER DITHER 0.5 NIC-XSTRIP-DITH false false 3 0.0 POS-TARG NIC-SPIRAL-DITH 0.0 2 false /data/qonos2/schultz/nicmos/work/OP-cache/10442-v01.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20040628" :date "07-Oct-2004 14:23:41.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 2 :saa-model "23" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 101584 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 365 :si-vis-utilization 2643 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3028 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 300 :si-vis-utilization 2634 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 150 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3028 :pcs-gap 0 ) true /var/tmp/OPVisit50237.xml /var/tmp/OPVisit30155.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20040628" :date "08-Oct-2004 10:33:37.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 2 :saa-model "23" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 198752 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 365 :si-vis-utilization 2556 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3028 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10442 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 300 :si-vis-utilization 2554 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 152 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3028 :pcs-gap 0 ) true /data/qonos2/schultz/nicmos/work/OP-cache/10442-v01.xml