Page 1 PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS ST ScI Use Only ID 3268c Report Date: 09-May-96:18:18 Version: ********** Check-in Date: ********** 1.Proposal Title: UV SPECTRA OF QSOS WITH Z > 3.1: CYCLE 2 OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Scientific Category 3. Proposal For 4. Proposal Type 5. Continuation ID QUASARS & AGN GTO/FOS 1027 Sub Category GTO/FOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Principal Investigator Institution Country Telephone E. margaret Burbidge UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SA USA 619-534-4477 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Abstract This proposal contains observations which will help to complete one FOS IDT scientific program. In a collaborative programs with the GHRS IDT, we will study absorption from He I and He II in the Lyman alpha forest clouds and in the intergalactic medium at high z to determine conditions in the early universe. We will observe the extreme UV rest spectrum of QSOs with z > 2.9, to examine HeI and HeII in absorption and/or emission, as well as He I in some lower z QSOs. Perform Gunn-Peterson test for smooth intergalactic helium. These observations are primarily exploratory to find quasars with light at these short wavelengths. We will also Study the continuum shape of QSOs from 300 A (rest) to lambda > 2500A (rest). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Est obs time (hours) pri: 2.42 par: 0 10. Num targs pri: 2 par: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Instruments requested: FOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 I. GENERAL FORM Proposal 3268c PI: E. margaret Burbidge Proposal Title: UV SPECTRA OF QSOS WITH Z > 3.1: CYCLE 2 OBSERVATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Proposers: Proposers Institution Country ESA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Richard J. Harms APPLIED RESEARCH CORPORATION USA Richard G. Allen UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA USA J. Roger P. Angel UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA USA Frank Bartko UNAFFILIATED USA Edward Beaver UC, SAN DIEGO USA Ralph C. Bohlin SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE USA INSTITUTE Pi E. Margaret Burbidge UC, SAN DIEGO USA Aurthur F. Davidsen JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY USA Holland C. Ford SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE USA INSTITUTE George F. Hartig SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE USA INSTITUTE Bruce H. Margon UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Description of proposed observations. For each object, the following observations will be made with the blue detector and the large aperture: binary search target acquisition, 1200s G160L, 600s Prism. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Justification of need for HST observations. There are no known QSOs with redshifts high enough to study the He II lambda304 line in the optical. The He II lambda304 Gunn--Peterson test is predicted to be interesting around redshifts 3 to 5. Similar arguments are true for He I lambda584. The collecting area of HST and the sensitivity of the FOS and GHRS make it possible to obtain spectra with the signal to noise needed to carry out these studies of QSOs at wavelengths below the atmospheric cutoff. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Description of special scheduling requirements. The special requirement REQ UPDATE is included here because epoch 2000 coordinates have not yet been determined with GASP. These will be done by us very shortly. - NOTE: GASP coords were obtained by observers and subsequently entered into the proposal. REQ UPDATE special requirements were then removed. - June 1992 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Description of special calibration exposures. The wavelength region of greatest interest in these objects is at the shortest wavelength. This is strongly contaminated by geocoronal lines of Lyman-alpha and O I during the day, particularly with the large aperture we will be using. Thus the G160L observations must be done in DARK TIME. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Data reduction and analysis plans. These observations will be reduced using the standard spectroscopy and polarimetry reduction software available for FOS data. Calibration will be done using the results of SV observations. The emission lines in the spectra of QSOs will be analyzed by using IRAF / STSDAS and other existing software to measure line strengths. Page 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Additional comments or special requests. Optical polarimetry and photometry will be performed using the facilities of Steward Observatory. Optical spectroscopy and photometry will be performed using the facilities of Lick Observatory. We will try to make the optical observations simultaneous with the HST UV observations if possible. This imposes no requirements on HST scheduling except as noted in question 5. Coordinates for a few objects need to be determined to the accuracy required for target acquisition. These can easily be obtained from the guide star data base using the existing software. There are a number of related FOS IDT GTO proposals in cycles 0, 1, and 2. Most of these observations were originally written as portions of observations begun in those proposals. Thus the observations included here contain both the baseline and augmented portions. Some observations were moved from augmented to baseline proposals to balance this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Description of previous HST work. Collaborators have received data from a number of GTO programs, SAT, and ERO programs. Related programs which have had observations are as follows: 1026 - ``UV Spectra of Low-Redshift-QSOs'', 1027 - ``UV Spectra of QSOs with z> 3.1'', 1029 - ``Spectropolarimetry of QSOs, Blazars, and AGN'', and 1033 - ``Search for Misdirected BL Lac Objects''. Low resolution observations of three high redshift QSOs have not revealed any with light at He II lambda 304. Observations of UM 675 have shown that any He I Gunn--Peterson effect is small, that He I absorption lines are not strong, that predictions of the ``Lyman valley'' may be correct, and that low redshift Ly-alpha is more prevalent than expected. Observations of low redshift QSOs (including 3C 273) have shown even more clearly that Ly-alpha absorption occurs in greater numbers than expected, as well as showing emission-- line profile differences more clearly than from earlier data. Unexpectedly, Ly- alpha is narrower than H-alpha. ``HST Imaging of the Inner 3 Arcseconds of NGC 1068 in the Light of [O III] lambda5007'', I.N.Evans, H.C.Ford, A.L.Kinney, R.R.J.Antonucci, L.Armus, and S.Caganoff, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 369}, L27, 1991. ``Faint Object Camera Observations of a Globular Cluster Nova Field'', B.Margon, S.F.Anderson, R.A.Downes, R.C.Bohlin, and P.Jakobsen, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 369}, L71, 1991. ``Far--Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Quasar UM 675 with the Faint Object Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope'', E.A.Beaver, E.M.Burbidge, R.D.Cohen, V.T.Junkkarinen, R.W.Lyons, E.I.Rosenblatt, G.F.Hartig, B.Margon, and A.F.Davidsen, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 377}, L1, 1991. ``The Ultraviolet Absorption Spectrum of 3C 273'', J.N.Bahcall, B.T.Jannuzi, D.P.Schneider, G.F.Hartig, R.Bohlin, and V.Junkkarinen, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 377}, L5, 1991. ``Faint Object Spectrograph Spectroscopy of Resolved Structure in the Nucleus of NGC 1068'', S.Caganoff, R.R.J.Antonucci, H.C.Ford, G.A.Kriss, G.Hartig, L.Armus, I.N.Evans, E.Rosenblatt, R.C.Bohlin, and A.L.Kinney, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 377}, L9, 1991. ``Faint Object Spectrograph Observations of the Low-Luminosity Seyfert Galaxy NGC 1566'', G.A.Kriss, G.F.Hartig, L.Armus, W.P.Blair, S.Caganoff, and L.Dressel, {\it Ap.J.(Lett.)}, {\bf 377}, L13, 1991. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Resources to be supplied by investigator's institution(s). The majority of the resources required for this project other than the normal facilities of a university (librarys, offices, etc.) were supplied by NASA to the members of the FOS IDT for these projects. These include all the computing facilities required for the completion of data reduction and analysis. Optical and IR ground--based observing facilities and support are provided by the University of California and the University of Arizona. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. FOS spectra will be obtained of 5 quasars with z > 3.1 to examine HeI and HeII in absorption and/or emission and perform the Gunn-Peterson test for smooth intergalactic helium. Page 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Address Information Name: E. MARGARET BURBIDGE Category: PI Institution: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIE Address: CASS 0111, UCSD 9500 GILMAN DRIVE City: LA JOLLA State: CA Zip Code: 920930111 Country: USA Telephone: 619-534-4477 Telex (or e-mail): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TARGET LIST a) Fixed Targets ID = 3268c [ 5] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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| | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 UM670 E,313, RA = 1H 17M 23.338S +/- 2000 Z=3.16 1 V=17.4 +/- 1.0 H,515,519 0.1", DEC = -08D 41' 32.38" +/- 0.1", PLATE-ID = 00WP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 12 1334-005 E,313, RA = 13H 36M 47.132S +/- 2000 Z=2.85 1 V=17 +/- 1.0 UM590 H,515,519 0.1", DEC = -0D 48' 57.74" +/- 0.1", PLATE-ID = 02OA, ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EXPOSURE LOGSHEET ID = 3268c [ 6] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27 1334-005 FOS/BL ACQ/ 4.3 MIRROR BRIGHT=700000 1 164.1S 1 1 ONBOARD ACQ FOR BINARY 27.6-27.7 SEQ 27.0-27.7 NO GAP CYCLE 2 / 27.0- 27.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27.6 1334-005 FOS/BL RAPID 4.3 G160L 1650 READ-TIME=40 1 1200S 10 1 1 DARK TIME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 27.7 1334-005 FOS/BL RAPID 4.3 PRISM 3500 READ-TIME=40 1 600S 10 1 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 35.5 UM670 FOS/BL ACQ/ 4.3 MIRROR BRIGHT=700000 1 199S 1 1 ONBOARD ACQ FOR BINARY 35.6-35.7 SEQ 35.5-35.7 NO GAP CYCLE 2 / 35.5- 35.7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 35.6 UM670 FOS/BL RAPID 4.3 G160L 1650 READ-TIME=40 1 1200S 10 1 1 DARK TIME ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 35.7 UM670 FOS/BL RAPID 4.3 PRISM 3500 READ-TIME=40 1 600S 10 1 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary Form for Proposal 3268c [ 7] Item Used in this proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configurations FOS/BL ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opmodes ACQ/BINARY RAPID ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Optional Parameters BRIGHT=700000 READ-TIME=40 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal for GTO/FOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ S/C Hours 2.42 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Category QUASARS & AGN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Sub-category GTO/FOS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Requirements ONBOARD ACQ FOR 27.6-27.7; SEQ 27.0-27.7 NO GAP; CYCLE 2 / 27.0-27.7; DARK TIME; ONBOARD ACQ FOR 35.6-35.7; SEQ 35.5-35.7 NO GAP; CYCLE 2 / 35.5-35.7; ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spectral Elements MIRROR G160L PRISM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Target Names UM670 1334-005 UM590 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------