Page 1 PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS ST ScI Use Only ID 3330c Report Date: 09-May-96:18:27 Version: ********** Check-in Date: ********** 1.Proposal Title: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GALACTIC ACTIVITY AND GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTION: CONTINUATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Scientific Category 3. Proposal For 4. Proposal Type 5. Continuation ID QUASARS & AGN GTO/FOC Sub Category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Principal Investigator Institution Country Telephone Cesare Barbieri PADOVA, UNIVERSITY OF ITALY 49-661499 PROFESSOR OF ASTRONO ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Abstract It has long been known that activity in galaxies can be triggered by gravitational interaction. This hypothesis is supported by direct observations which show that a considerable excess of Seyfert galaxies and low redshift QSO's belongs to an interacting or disturbed system. A typical member of this class of objects is the S1 galaxy NGC6240, which is characterized by two close nuclei and is also an outstanding member of the new class of extreme IR galaxies identified by IRAS. High resolution imaging of the region between the two nuclei, using the FOC F/96 camera in combination with narrow band filters, centered on crucial lines and on the continuum, will provide information on the nature and on the effects of the collision between the two nuclei. We propose, in addition, to observe with the FOC, F/48 spectrograph the nucleus of the disturbed S1 galaxy Mkn 231, which belongs also to the IR class of objects identified by IRAS and is interpreted to be in a later evolutionary stage of the collisional phenomenon going on in NGC 6240. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Scientific Key Words: INTERACTING GALAXIES, ACTIVE GALAXIES, NUCLEI OF GALAXIES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Est obs time (hours) pri: 3.60 par: 0 10. Num targs pri: 2 par: 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 2 I. GENERAL FORM Proposal 3330c PI: Cesare Barbieri Proposal Title: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GALACTIC ACTIVITY AND GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTION: CONTINUATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Proposers: Proposers Institution Country ESA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C. Bonoli PADOVA OBSERVATORY ITALY X L. Danese PADOVA, UNIVERSITY OF ITALY X G. De Zotti PADOVA, UNIVERSITY OF ITALY X Piero Rafanelli PADOVA OBSERVATORY ITALY X Cesare Barbieri PADOVA, UNIVERSITY OF ITALY X H. Schulz RUHR UNIVERSITY BOCHUM GERMANY, WE X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Description of proposed observations. ALL OBSERVATIONS TO BE DONE ON CYCLE 1 and 2. On the basis of the considerations collected in the previous section, both galaxies NGC 6240 and Mkn 231 are well suited for studying the relationship among gravitational interaction, star burst and Seyfert activity. In addition, they are the closest and apparently brightest objects showing an extreme high infrared excess. High resolution imaging with appropriate narrow band filters (encompassing, in turn HB + 0III (N1+N2), 0II 3727 and the nearby continua) will provide information on the morphology, on the space distribution of the ionized gas and on the nature of the excitation mechanism(s). Details on the exposure times, S/N ratios and photon fluxes from lines and continuum are quoted in Table 1. Long slit spectroscopy of NGC6240 is unfortunately not possible, since the object is too faint to be detected in reasonable exposure times; conversely, Mkn231 is much brighter and therefore we propose to perform long slit spectroscopic observations of it using the F/48, first order + F305LP + G450M, configuration. Details on the exposure times and S/N ratios are reported in Table 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Justification of need for HST observations. It is very important to observe with high spatial resolution the region between the two close (2 arcsec) nuclei of NGC 6240, in order to reveal, for example, the presence of eventual giant HII regions whose typical dimensions are 100 pc. To this aim it is necessary to get images with a resolution which cannot be reached from the ground where the best resolutions are 1.0 arcsec. The same spatial resolution will be reached performing long slit spectroscopy of Mkn 231. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Description of special calibration exposures. Dark time is required, since images with high signal to noise ratio are necessary for our purposes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Data reduction and analysis plans. No special software is required, beyond the usual commands implemented in MIDAS. After a first phase of data analysis and reduction at the ST Sci, the final processing will take place at the P.I. Institute. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10. Resources to be supplied by investigator's institution(s). VAX 750 + MIDAS + Graphical Capabilities. No students ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13. Imaging of NGC 6240 and long slit spectroscopy of Mkn231, two intermediate Seyfert galaxies with strong infrared excess, can give a key to understand whether nuclear activity can be induced by gravitational interaction and whether blisters of star formation are present in the interacting region. Page 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11. Address Information Name: CESARE BARBIERI Category: PI Institution: PADOVA, UNIVERSITY OF Address: City: State: Zip Code: Country: Telephone: Telex (or e-mail): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name: PIERO RAFANELLI Category: CON Institution: OSSERVATORIO ASTRONOMICO Address: VICOLO OSSERVATORIO 5 35100 City: PADOVA State: Zip Code: Country: ITALY Telephone: 49/661499 Telex (or e-mail): 430176 UNPADU ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TARGET LIST a) Fixed Targets ID = 3330c [ 4] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 NGC6240 ACTIVE GALAXY WITH RA = 16H 52M 58.915S +/- 2000 V=7340 EXT 1 V=13.17 +/- 0.03, CLOSE INTERACTING 0.02S, 3 B=13.98+/- 0.03 NUCLEI DEC = +2D 24' 01.02" +/- 4 U=14.17 +/- 0.03 0.25" 5 SURF(V)=20.5 6 F-LINE(4861)=1.7 +/- 0.2E-14 7 F-CONT(4861)=1.4 +/- 0.3E-15 8 F-LINE(3727)=5.2 +/- 0.1E-14 9 F-CONT(3727)=0.4 +/- 0.2E-15 10 F-LINE(5007)=2.6 +/- 0.1E-14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2 MKN231 DISTURBED SEYFERT RA = 12H 56M 14.378S +/- ^ V=12300 ^ 1 B=14.68 +/- 0.02 GALAXY 0.02S, 2 V=13.84 +/- 0.02 DEC = +56D 52' 25.20" +/- 3 U=14.83 +/- 0.02 0.25" 4 SURF(B)=20.3 +/- 0.1 5 F-CONT(3600)=5.5 +/- 0.2E-15 6 F-CONT(4800)=8.3 +/- 0.3E-15 7 F-CONT(5100)=12.9 +/- 0.2E-15 8 F-LINE(4861)=34.0 +/- 0.1E-14 9 F-LINE(4340)=11.0 +/- 0.2E-14 10 F-LINE(4101)=5.0 +/- 0.2 E-14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EXPOSURE LOGSHEET ID = 3330c [ 5] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 NGC6240 FOC/96 IMAGE 512X512 F502M 4950 1 3000S 10 6 1 CYCLE 2 / 3-6 7 DARK TIME 10 COND IF TAC OK / 3 -5 GUID TOL 0.020" / 3-6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 ^ ^ ^ ^ F470M 4725 1 4000S 5 7 ^ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5 MKN231 FOC/48 SPEC 256X102 G450M 3500- 1 1100S 5 8 1 4-SLIT 5300 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6 MKN231 FOC/96 IMAGE 512X512 F372M 3710 6 10M 10 1 CYCLE 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Summary Form for Proposal 3330c [ 6] Item Used in this proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configurations FOC/96 ^ FOC/48 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opmodes IMAGE ^ SPEC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Optional Parameters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Proposal for GTO/FOC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ S/C Hours 3.60 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Category QUASARS & AGN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scientific Sub-category ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Special Requirements CYCLE 2 / 3-6; DARK TIME; COND IF TAC OK / 3-5; GUID TOL 0.020" / 3-6; CYCLE 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spectral Elements F502M F470M G450M F372M ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Target Names NGC6240 MKN231 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------