0 Assigned ID: 450 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Apr 10 13:02:10 GMT 2015) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 450 (interacting.apt) successfully submitted. Receipt: # 450-1 0 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Tue Jul 14 10:23:36 GMT 2015) ----- We propose HST/COS observations of two background QSOs whose sightlines pass through the extended tidal gas filaments of the interacting galaxy NGC4631 at impact parameters of 40 and 80 kpc. The "whale galaxy" NGC4631 represents one of the most spectacular and best-studied example of a gas-rich interacting galaxy at z~0. We recently obtained extremely deep HI 21-cm observations as part of the HALOGAS project and identified two QSOs that can be used to trace the same physical region in absorption. We will combine the UV absorption-line data from COS (covering important low and intermediate ions such as OI, SiII, SiIII) with the new 21-cm data from HALOGAS. The goal is to study the kinematics and chemical composition of the circumgalacic gas component of NGC4631 and to explore its origin and fate. We further want to characterize the absorption properties of the NGC4631 environment in the general context of quasar-absorption line systems and estimate the contribution of interacting galaxies to the cross section of intervening Lymanlimit systems and Damped-Lyman-Alpha absorbers. Only HST/COS provides the necessary UV capabilities to combine these important aspects of galaxy evolution and QSO absorption-line statistics in the local universe. To study the CGM around NGC 4631 we are planing to observe two background QSOs with COS using the G130M grating. Both targets (SDSS J124044.68+330349.8 and 2MASS J12421031+3214268) are faint; both QSOs have GALEX FUV magnitudes of m_FUV=18.78, from which for each target a FUV flux of 1.45e(-15) erg sec-1 cm-2 A-1 is estimated. We are planning for two 5-orbit visits. The accuracy for the target coordinates is 0.1-0.3 arcsecs; yet, to ensure exact pointing, we will take for each target an ACQ/SEARCH exposure with SCAN-SIZE=2 before the ACQ/PEAKXD and ACQ/PEAKD exposures are carried out. For the ACQ exposures the ETC (v.23.2) delivers integration times of 49 second to achieve a S/N of 40. For each of the two targets we will take 10 science exposures with integration times between 848 and 1500 seconds. For the science exposures we will use the TIME-TAG mode and the G130M (1291) configuration together with 4 different FP-POS positions. BUFFER-TIMES have been derived by adopting 2/3 of the buffer times calculated with the ETC. The total (science) integration time for each tartget is ~13,000 seconds, resulting in a S/N per resolution element of 11 at 1310 A (according to the ETC) after combining all sub-exposures. QUASAR ABSORPTION LINES AND IGM 12 false false false false SUPPORTED GALAXY QSO NO This object was generated by the targetselector and retrieved from the SIMBAD database. J2000 J2000 GALAXY QSO NO This object was generated by the targetselector and retrieved from the SIMBAD database. J2000 J2000 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1291 COS/FUV Spectroscopic No No G130M 1291 1436866005560 C:\Programme\APT_23.2.1\OP-cache\interacting_richter_14085_final-v01.xml The scheduling data was generated by CASM 23.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20150609" :date "14-Jul-2015 11:26:43.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 5 :saa-model "31" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 330832 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 2907 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 57 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3245 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 3020 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 67 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3245 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 3 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 3020 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 67 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3245 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 4 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 3023 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 67 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3245 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 14085 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 5 :pcs-time 222 :si-vis-utilization 3020 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 360 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3245 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 5 0 1436866010670 C:\Programme\APT_23.2.1\OP-cache\interacting_richter_14085_final-v02.xml The scheduling data was generated by CASM 23.2. CASM was run in Phase II mode. 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