10.4 Orbit Use Examples

One way to learn to estimate total orbit time requests is to work through a few examples. Below we provide five different cases:

1. A simple pair of UVIS images using one filter.
2. A set of short UVIS exposures that require large overheads associated with buffer dumps.
   
3. A one-orbit IR observation using two different filters.
   
4. A two-orbit UVIS observation using dithering.
   
5. A one orbit IR grism spectroscopic observation.

Although observers can request the use of shadow or low-sky target visibility restrictions, the examples below are all for the standard (i.e., unrestricted) target visibility (see the HST Primer, Section 6.3, for further discussion).

10.4.1 Example 1: UVIS, 1 Orbit, 1 Filter

Consider a target to be imaged with UVIS in a given filter in one orbit. Let us suppose that, by using the Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) (see Chapter 9), we find that we need a total exposure time of 2280 s to reach the desired signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Given that we desire the observation to be divided into two exposures for cosmic-ray removal (with a small dither step between them), we map the overheads and the science exposure times onto the orbit as follows. The time needed to dump the buffer following the second sub-exposure incurs no overhead in this example, because it can be performed during target occultation.

Table 10.4: Orbit Calculation for Example 1

Thus, with a total time of nearly 50 minutes, this set of observations would fit into unrestricted HST orbits. Note, however, that the orbit visibility window for a given target depends on several factors (e.g. date and target location in the sky; Chapter 6 of the HST Primer). Based on the available time, the exposure times can be adjusted to fit the orbit.

Note that this simple sequence of two fairly long exposures would, with an appropriately-oriented dither step, just cover the 1.2" gap between the two CCD chips (see Section 6.3).

10.4.2 Example 2: UVIS, 1 Orbit, Short Exposures

This example illustrates the impact of short exposures on the amount of on-sky time in the orbit. Suppose we intend to use one orbit to observe a target with UVIS and the broad filter F350LP. The specification consists of one exposure line in APT, placed into a WFC3-UVIS-DITHER-BOX pattern to yield a total of four individual dithered full-frame sub-exposures for optimally sampling the PSF.  A 50 min orbit visibility can fit four 320 sec exposures  plus the overheads and the serial dump time of ~11.5 minutes needed after the first two exposures.

Table 10.5: Orbit Calculation for Example 2

Compared with Example 1, we see that the observing efficiency is low due to the large overheads associated with serial buffer dumps. Only 21.3 minutes of exposure time is obtained for the 48.5 minutes of total time used, whereas in Example 1 we obtained 38 minutes of exposure time during 49.5 minutes of total time used. 

The time that is required for dumping the buffer in this example can be 'hidden' by sufficiently increasing the exposure time (as discussed in Section 10.3) to enable dumping in parallel during the following exposure. If long exposure times are not an option (e.g.  due to saturation concerns) and the target field is small enough, a subarray could be used to read out only a fraction of the detector area which allows more frames to be stored in the buffer before requiring a dump. In this example, using UVIS 2k × 2k subarrays for the 4 short 320 sec exposures leaves enough visibility time left over to include an extra 320 sec subarray exposure as well as another short 100 sec exposure.

10.4.3 Example 3: IR, 1 Orbit, 2 Filters

The third example demonstrates the orbit calculation for a simple IR observation. We want to obtain full-frame images of a target in two filters, F110W and F160W. Suppose that the ETC has shown that the exposure times adequate for our scientific goals are 10 minutes in F110W and 20 minutes in F160W. These times can be achieved with the up-the-ramp MULTIACCUM sequences SPARS50, NSAMP=15 (11.7 min) and SPARS100, NSAMP=15 (23.4 min), respectively. From the orbit visibility table (see Chapter 6 of the HST Primer), suppose that we find that at the target declination (here assumed to be 0°) the unrestricted target visibility time is 54 minutes. The resulting orbit calculation is as follows.

Table 10.6: Orbit Calculation for Example 3

The total time used in the orbit shows that our target can indeed be imaged in the selected filters within one orbit. Furthermore, the first exposure can be dumped from the buffer during the second exposure. Any remaining unused time could be used for an additional exposure, during which the second exposure would be dumped.

10.4.4 Example 4: UVIS, Dithering, 2 Orbits, 1 Filter

This example illustrates the orbit calculation for a UVIS observation with a WFC3 UVIS box dithering pattern, which implements imaging at four pointings. The goal of the observation is to obtain a dithered image of a field in such a way that would allow us to bridge the ~1.2 arcsec inter-chip gap between the UVIS CCDs in the combined image. As indicated in Table 10.1, for a 2-arcsec offset maneuver, the three dithers will take 0.5 minutes each. Suppose we have determined that the exposure time necessary to reach the desired SNR is 80 minutes. Furthermore, we will use the cosmic-ray removal provided by the dither data-reduction package. As a result, the orbit calculation will involve a sequence of four exposures of 20-minutes duration (i.e., one exposure at each of the four dither pointings). These observations will be distributed across two HST orbits, as shown in the following Table 10.7.

Table 10.7: Orbit Calculation for Example 4

No overhead is incurred to dump the exposures, because they are all longer than 348 seconds. Thus the desired exposures can be accomplished within the two orbits, and in fact there are ~7–8 minutes of unused visibility time per orbit that could be used to increase the exposure times.

10.4.5 Example 5: IR, 1 Orbit, Grism

This example illustrates the orbit calculation for an IR G102 grism spectroscopic observation. We will use the full-frame, up-the-ramp MULTIACCUM sequence SPARS200 with NSAMP=13, requiring 40 minutes to expose. We will also obtain undispersed (direct) images to calibrate target positions and wavelengths, using a SPARS10, NSAMP=15 (2.4-minute) exposure before and after the grism exposure. The overhead calculations are presented in Table 10.8.

Table 10.8: Orbit Calculation for Example 5

The buffer dumps incur no overhead because the first undispersed exposure can be dumped during the long grism exposures, and the last two can be dumped during the subsequent target occultation. Thus, assuming at least 54 minutes of target visibility are available for the chosen target, this set of observations can be obtained in one orbit.