Page 1 PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS ST ScI Use Only ID 1094c Report Date: 09-May-96:16:08 Version: ********** Check-in Date: ********** 1.Proposal Title: SEARCH FOR OPTICAL VARIABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH BLACK HOLES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Scientific Category 3. Proposal For 4. Proposal Type 5. Continuation ID STELLAR ASTROPHYSICS GTO/HSP Sub Category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Principal Investigator Institution Country Telephone Robert C. Bless WISCONSIN, UNIVERSITY OF USA (608) 262-1715 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Abstract It has been suggested that luminous matter passing through an accretion disk towards the event horizon of a black hole is likely to emit a short series of pulses at an increasing frequency. These so-called dying pulses trains would have a period of the order of milliseconds for stellar mass black holes. A search for such pulse trains will be made among candidate objects. Revision History: Received on RPS 9/1/89; Added to SCCS 9/5/89 RPSS V7.2 remote & local; Added data-fmt - SALM 9/7/89; Removed target NGC7078; Added target A0620-00 & related changes; Changed "contiguous exposures" to "NON-INT" - Dolan 9/26/89; Changed fluxval, ONBRD ACQ, and SAMPLE_TIME - SALM 2/14/90; Added acq to repeat sequence - SALM 6/25/90; revised time_per_exp line 0.500--BJW 7/11/90; Changed cycle 1 to cycle 2-- BJW 2/26/91; Split up proposal by cycle--BJW 3/22/91; Update target positions--BJW 7/5/91; Changed timing of observations of Cyg X-1 --BJW 9/20/91; ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Scientific Key Words: VARIABLE, INTERACTING BINARIES, BLACK HOLES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Est obs time (hours) pri: 6.00 par: 0 10. Num targs pri: 4 par: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 I. GENERAL FORM Proposal 1094c PI: Robert C. Bless Proposal Title: SEARCH FOR OPTICAL VARIABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH BLACK HOLES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Proposers: Proposers Institution Country ESA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ G. W. Van Citters NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION USA Robert C. Bless WISCONSIN, UNIVERSITY OF USA Joseph F. Dolan NASA, GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT USA CENTER James L. Elliot MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF USA TECHNOLOGY Edward L. Robinson TEXAS, UNIVERSITY OF USA Richard L. White SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE USA INSTITUTE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Description of proposed observations. Each object would be monitored for 30 minutes to an hour using about 100 microsec integration times with a broad filter. Each target should be observed more than once (during different x-ray intensity states, for example). Observations of the center of an x-ray emitting globular cluster would require 0.4 arc sec aperture and a narrower filter to reduce background light. Cycle 0: Cyg X-1; cycle 1: remainder ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Justification of need for HST observations. ST is required in order to eliminate atmospheric noise, to observe in the UV where burst amplitudes are expected to be larger than in the visual, and to be able to use small apertures. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. A search is to be made in black hole candidate objects for "dying pulse trains" indicative of matter spiraling towards the event horizon of a black hole. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Address Information Name: ROBERT C. BLESS Category: PI Institution: UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Address: SPACE ASTRONOMY LAB. 1150 UNIVERSITY AVE. City: MADISON State: WI Zip Code: 53706 Country: USA Telephone: (608) 262-1715 Telex (or e-mail): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TARGET LIST a) Fixed Targets ID = 1094c [ 3] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tar| Target | Target | Target |Coord | Radial |Acqui|FLX| Flux data No | Name | Description | Position |Eqnx | Vel. |Prblm|REF| | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 CYG-XR-1 X-RAY BINARY RA = 19H 58M 21.521S +/- 2000 1 V = 8.6 SAO69181 0.1S, DEC = +35D 12' 5.088" +/- 0.5" Comments: POSREF = SAO, WITH PM. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EXPOSURE LOGSHEET ID = 1094c [ 4] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |10 | 11 | 12 |13 |14| 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Line | Seq | Target |Instr | Oper. | Aper |Spectral|Central| Optional |Num| Time | S/N |Flx|Pr| Special Number | Name | Name |Config| Mode |or FOV |Element |Waveln.| Parameters |Exp| |Rel. Time|Ref| | Requirements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 0.5 CYG-XR-1 HSP/ ACQ DATA- 1 40S 1 1 CYCLE 1 / 0.5-1.0 UV2 FORMAT=WORD ONBOARD ACQ FOR 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 CYG-XR-1 HSP/ SINGLE 1.0 F140LP SAMPLE- 3 20M 1 1 REPEAT 0.5-1 EVERY UV2 TIME=0.0001 30D +/- 7D FOR 2 MORE TIMES NON-INT RT ANALYSIS Comments: PREFER TDRSS DOWNLINK RATHER THAN TAPE RECORDER. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary Form for Proposal 1094c [ 5] Item Used in this proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configurations HSP/UV2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opmodes ACQ SINGLE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Optional Parameters DATA-FORMAT=WORD SAMPLE-TIME=0.0001 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal for GTO/HSP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ S/C Hours 6.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Category STELLAR ASTROPHYSICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Sub-category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Requirements CYCLE 1 / 0.5-1.0; ONBOARD ACQ FOR 1; REPEAT 0.5-1 EVERY 30D +/- 7D FOR 2 MORE TIMES; NON-INT; RT ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spectral Elements F140LP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Target Names CYG-XR-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------