changed phase on visit 2 to 0.45-0.55 per CS request ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Wed Jul 02 21:34:01 GMT 2008) ----- ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Thu Jun 11 18:51:09 GMT 2009) ----- Phase II Proposal 11726 (Polaris COS Proposal 2009.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 3 (Mon Jun 29 19:27:00 GMT 2009) ----- ----- Attempting Submission 4 (Wed Jul 01 21:44:42 GMT 2009) ----- I checked under "Errors and Warnings" and it said that none were found. So I'm not sure why I'm getting this message saying the proposal has problems requiring resolution. Please let me know what the problems are. Thanks Assigned ID: 780 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Mar 07 23:39:58 GMT 2008) ----- Mysteries of the North Star: HST/COS confirmation of real-time evolution and upper atmospheric heating in Polaris The major aims of this proposal are twofold: to confirm and understand the recently observed apparent evolutionary changes of the bright (3.97-day) Cepheid Polaris – and – to further study the recent discovery of hot plasmas (up to 1MK) well above the photospheric temperature of the Cepheid itself. This study will have a major impact on understanding the evolution, structure, heating and dynamics of Cepheid (and related Hybrid Star) atmospheres. In our study – the Secret Lives of Cepheids – Polaris is noteworthy for its well-documented increase in pulsation period (+3.51 sec/year) and decrease in light amplitude over the last 100-150 years, almost ceasing pulsations in the early 1990s. Moreover, our studies of photoelectric photometry and historic visual observations have shown evidence that Polaris may have increased in brightness by almost 0.2-mag over the past century (and possibly by more than 1-mag since Ptolemy). In addition, a study of the IUE database indicates a possible increase in photospheric temperature (which the FUV region is very sensitive to) between 1978/79 and 1991/93, pointing to a change of ~35+/-12 K. More recently, FUSE and Chandra observations of Polaris indicate the presence of C III 977/1176A and O VI 1032/1038A emissions, as well as possible soft X-ray emission, respectively. The source of these hot plasmas could be related to pulsations (shock heating) and/or magnetic activity. To further investigate the evolutionary changes and upper atmospheric emissions of Polaris, we propose for HST/COS medium resolution spectrometry covering the wavelength range ~1150–2100A. This wavelength range covers both the high energy emission lines (<1600A) along with the rise in continuum of the F-supergiant photosphere (>1600A). HST/COS is the only instrument capable of carrying out the necessary FUV observations to achieve our scientific goals for Polaris – providing a better understanding of the evolution and heating mechanisms of Cepheids.
For all exposure time calculations IUE spectra were originally used as input, and were then re-run with a Pickles model (F8 I) scaled to Polaris’ current brightness (~1.97-mag) to ensure accuracy. To cover the shortest wavelengths (~1150–1450Å), we will observe with the COS G130M (central wave. = 1291Å) grating (Primary Science Aperture – PSA) for 2591 seconds (~1 full orbit after overheads), resulting in S/N values of more than ~30 over the wavelength range. The G160M (1589Å) grating (PSA) will then cover the ~1395–1760Å region, and a 1500 second exposure will return S/N values of more than ~35. Four separate exposures with the G185M grating (PSA) will then cover ~1800–2100Å. Exposure times of: (central wave. = 1913Å) 200-sec, (1941Å) 193-sec, (1971Å) 192-sec and (1986Å) 190-sec will achieve S/N values greater than ~40 for the entire wavelength range. This proposal is requesting 2 orbits each at Polaris’ maximum and minimum phase. In each visit, one orbit will be used to obtain the G130M exposure, and the other orbit will obtain the G160M & G185M exposures. In order to further study the possible brightening of Polaris, and to better understand its chromospheric/transition region emissions, we propose for COS medium resolution observations near the maximum (phase ~ 0.0 +/- 0.05) and minimum (~0.5 +/- 0.05) of Polaris’ pulsational phase. This will allow us to assess any variability in either UV continuum or emission lines fluxes, and calculate mean values for comparison with archival IUE observations. We are using the following ephemeris: 2452366.665 + 3.9726772(E) COOL STARS 12 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false false SUPPORTED STAR CEPHEID F3-F9 PULSATING VARIABLE J2000 02 31 49.0837 +89 15 50.79 J2000 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1291 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G160M 1589 COS/NUV Spectroscopic No No G185M 1913 COS/NUV Spectroscopic No No G185M 1941 COS/NUV Spectroscopic No No G185M 1971 COS/NUV Spectroscopic No No G185M 1986 Phase windows are not calculated when the period is less than 7.0 days. Assuming no scheduling restrictions for Phase 0.950/0.050. The scheduling data was generated by CASM 17.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20090130" :date "29-Jun-2009 15:24:51.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 2 :saa-model "31" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 1209216 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3337 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 116 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3670 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 195 :si-vis-utilization 3475 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 468 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3670 :pcs-gap 0 ) false 2 0 Phase windows are not calculated when the period is less than 7.0 days. Assuming no scheduling restrictions for Phase 0.950/0.050. The scheduling data was generated by CASM 17.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20090130" :date "29-Jun-2009 15:25:27.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 2 :saa-model "31" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 1209216 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3337 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 116 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3670 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 11726 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 195 :si-vis-utilization 3475 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 468 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3670 :pcs-gap 0 ) false 2 0