We are resubmitting the observing plan for the last visit after we discovered that the nova is no longer visible in the optical in the allotted exposure times. The extracted optical spectrum from the last visit is actually from a ~0.5'' GSC star was that was in the aperture. This final observing plan returns to the original goals of the program by using all the available time in the orbit to expose on the G140L to get a deep FUV exposure. I have also significantly increased the acquisition time to 20 seconds to be sure that the target is acquired. This assumes that the nova is ~3 magnitudes fainter than the nearby GSC star and gives a SNR of ~50. Visit 03 will need to be removed and replaced with this visit "99". ----- Attempting Submission 3 (Tue Jun 12 14:14:29 GMT 2012) ----- HST Phase II Proposal 12484 (latestlmc2012.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 4 (Wed Jun 13 12:46:29 GMT 2012) ----- ----- Attempting Submission 5 (Thu Jun 21 13:21:40 GMT 2012) ----- Visit "03" will have to be replaced with this new one, "99". STIS UV spectroscopy of a bright nova during its super soft X-ray phase We propose ToO observations of one bright nova in outburst using the STIS echelle to obtain ultraviolet spectroscopy while the source is X-ray luminous. UV spectroscopy enables determination of ejecta physical properties, including the elemental abundances, ejecta mass, and structure. This information provides insight into the role of novae in the isotopic enrichment of the Interstellar Medium, pre-solar grain abundances, details on the mass and composition of the underlying white dwarf, and constraints on hydrodynamic modeling of the outburst. UV data are key to these analyses, providing the only opportunity to observe strong carbon lines in these objects as well as direct measures of the interstellar reddening. With slit spectroscopy from ~1100-3100 Angstroms, HST is currently the only facility that can provide these data. The data will complement our existing ground based optical, infrared and radio and Swift X-ray nova ToO programs providing continous spectral information from X-ray to the radio.
We will observe a bright nova during its super soft source (SSS) X-ray phase as determined by Swift XRT monitoring. The program calls for three separate one orbit visits. The initial ToO trigger occurs when the source enters the SSS phase, e.g., the majority of photons have E ~< 1 keV and a Swift X-ray count rate ~> 0.1 ct/s. The second visit is initiated after the source has reached X-ray maximum and stabilized at an approximately constant level. The last visit is scheduled after the decline in the X-ray light curve indicating that nuclear burning has ended. This will give us UV spectra of the ejecta exposed to different photoionization levels. In order to sample the full spectral range we will use the E140M and E230M gratings. The echelle is necessary to provide high resolution data while also minimizing the flux on the MAMA detectors for this bright source. For each orbit we use the CCD and F28X50LP aperture to acquire the source. A 1 second exposure is sufficient to obtain enough S/N to acquire but if the source is too bright we will switch to the F20X50OII aperture. We will use the E140M and the E230M (lambda1978) to obtain the critical 1150-1700 Angstrom and 1600-2300 Angstrom spectra. In the first and second visits this will be supplmented with an additional E230M (lambda 2707) exposure to get the 2300-3100 Angstrom data. There will be no E230M (lambda 2707) during the third visit. The exposure times for each grating and position should be approximately equal in each visit, e.g. 360-590 seconds in visits 1 and 2 and longer 780-1050 second exposures in visit 3. The 0.2'' X 0.2'' slit will be used unless the nova is too bright in which case we will use an appropriate neutral density filter. This is unlikely as such novae are relatively rare. We will use visual photometry and Swift UVOT data to estimate the UV brightness before each visit to ensure the health of the MAMA detectors. HOT STARS 12 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false SUPPORTED STAR CLASSICAL NOVA RECURRENT NOVA J2000 J2000 STIS/FUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E140M 1425 STIS/NUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E230M 1978 STIS/NUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E230M 2707 STIS/FUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E140M 1425 STIS/NUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E230M 1978 STIS/NUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E230M 2707 STIS/FUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E140M 1425 STIS/NUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No E230M 1978 Timing link suitability includes constraints ([02 After 01 by 10.0 to 20.0 days] [99 After 01]) The scheduling data was generated by CASM 19.3. CASM was run in Phase II mode. 1336432536000 152.7752947085405 (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20110509" :date "13-Jun-2012 08:44:21.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 261424 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3310 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 396 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3645 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 Timing link suitability includes constraints ([02 After 01 by 10.0 to 20.0 days]) The scheduling data was generated by CASM 19.3. CASM was run in Phase II mode. 1337757295000 167.45265887653278 (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20110509" :date "13-Jun-2012 08:44:17.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 229632 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3312 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 342 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3645 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 The scheduling data was generated by CASM 19.3. CASM was run in Phase II mode. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "03" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20110509" :date "13-Jun-2012 08:37:02.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 271440 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "03" :obset-id "03" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "03" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3312 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 622 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3645 :pcs-gap 0 ) false 1 0 Timing link suitability includes constraints ([99 After 01]) The scheduling data was generated by CASM 19.3. CASM was run in Phase II mode. /private/var/folders/dW/dWEC5QrmHka4IkUmjGtKo++++TI/-Tmp-/OPVisit9090644250584325449.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "99" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20110509" :date "21-Jun-2012 09:00:11.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 104848 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "99" :obset-id "99" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 12484 :visit-id "99" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 3312 :al-overhead-at-end 200 :internal-dur-at-end 321 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3645 :pcs-gap 0 ) false 1 0