I'm resubmitting because I've but in a dither pattern for the SBC exposures. I've also changed the number of exposures to 4 and increased the exposure time for each exposure. Thank you. ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Wed Apr 23 20:00:48 GMT 2008) ----- Phase II Proposal 11546 (M31_RV_ph2.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Tue Jun 03 17:55:04 GMT 2008) ----- This proposal was previously submitted with Proposal ID# 313. Assigned ID: 1112 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Wed Feb 07 12:04:04 EST 2007) ----- Phase I Proposal 1112 (M31_RV) successfully submitted. Ultra-Luminous Red Novae or Mergebursts? A Definitive HST Test V838 Mon and M31-RV are extraordinarily luminous (10**6 Lsun) and cool (~1000 K) eruptive variables. Their red colors and cool spectra have prompted claims that these objects are not classical novae, but instead represent a new class of astrophysical object: "MERGEBURSTS". Mergebursts are (hypothetical) mergers of close binary stars, predicted to rival the brightest classical novae in luminosity, but to always be much cooler and redder than novae. This prediction allows a definitive test of the mergeburst hypothesis for M31-RV as follows. We have found a very bright, BLUE object within 0.4 arcsec of M31-RV in 10-year old archival WFPC2 images...consistent with an old nova, and not a mergeburst. We propose new ACS/SBC UV and WFPC2 visible images that will definitively show if this object is still as hot as nova theory predicts ( >100,000 Kelvin), and if it is fading like an old nova. This would eliminate the strongest candidate for a mergeburst.
We will use the ACS/SBC with the F140LP filter for one orbit to image the Far Ultraviolet flux of the source(s) at the postion of the M31-RV. We will also image the position of M31-RV with WFPC2 for a total of 4 orbits. We will use F300W (4x600 seconds), F439W (4x400 seconds), F555W (4x200 seconds) and F814W (4x600 seconds). These observations will be deep enough to detect M31-RV if it is a very blue (nova) remnant, or a very red mergeburst. HOT STARS 12 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false false SUPPORTED EXT-STAR CLASSICAL NOVA J2000 00 43 2.4330 +41 12 56.17 J2000 ACS/SBC Imaging No No F140LP WFPC2 Imaging No F300W WFPC2 Imaging No F439W WFPC2 Imaging No F555W WFPC2 Imaging No F814W POS-TARG DITHER 0.559017 LINE 0.559017 false false 143.130102 4 26.56505 WFPC2-BOX 1 false POS-TARG DITHER 0.179 LINE 0.116 false false 63.65 4 20.02 ACS-SBC-DITHER-BOX 2 false The scheduling data was generated by CASM 17.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. /Users/dzurek/hst_cycle16/OP-cache/M31_RV_ph2-v01.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20071214" :date "23-Apr-2008 15:44:00.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 4 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 717056 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2780 :al-overhead-at-end 160 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3169 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2780 :al-overhead-at-end 160 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3169 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 3 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2780 :al-overhead-at-end 160 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3169 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 4 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2760 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3169 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 4 0 The scheduling data was generated by CASM 17.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. /private/tmp/OPVisit15781.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20080515" :date "03-Jun-2008 13:51:48.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "28" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 74064 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11546 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2813 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 119 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3169 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0