2.3 Orbital Constraints

HST is in a relatively low orbit, which imposes a number of constraints upon its observations. As seen from HST, most targets are occulted by the Earth for varying lengths of time during each 96-minute orbit. Targets lying in the orbital plane are occulted for the longest interval-about 44 minutes per orbit. These orbital occultations, analogous to the diurnal cycle for ground-based observing, impose the most serious constraint on HST observations. (Note that in practice the amount of available exposure time in an orbit is limited further by Earth-limb avoidance limits, the time required for guide star acquisitions or re-acquisitions, and instrument overheads.)

2.3.1 Continuous Viewing Zone (CVZ)

The length of target occultation decreases with increasing angle from the spacecraft orbital plane. Targets lying within 24 degrees of the orbital poles are not geometrically occulted at any time during the HST orbit. This gives rise to so-called Continuous Viewing Zones (CVZs). The actual size of these zones is less than 24 degrees due to the fact that HST cannot observe close to the Earth limb (see Section 2.4).

Since the orbital poles lie 28.5 degrees from the celestial poles, any target located in two declination bands near +/- 61.5 degrees may be in the CVZ at some time during the 56-day HST orbital precession cycle. Some regions in these declination bands can be unusable during the part of the year when the sun is too close to the region. The number and duration of CVZ passages depend on the telescope orbit and target position, and may differ significantly from previous cycles. Use the Available Science Time and Orientation Tool accessible from the Two-Gyro Science Mode Web Page to determine the number of CVZ opportunities in Cycle 16 and their duration for a given target location. The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA; see Section 2.3.2) limits any uninterrupted observation to no more than 5-6 orbits.

The brightness of scattered earthshine background during CVZ observations is not greater than during non-CVZ observations since the same bright-earth limb avoidance angle is used. However, the duration of relatively high background can be much longer for CVZ observations than for non-CVZ observations, because the line of sight may continuously graze the bright earth-limb avoidance zone during CVZ observations.

In general, CVZ should not be requested if observations are sky-background limited under normal observing conditions. The increased earthshine means that the CVZ offers virtually no efficiency gain for programs doing background-limited broadband imaging in the optical or infrared. There have been cases in the past (e.g. the Hubble Deep Field observations) where optical imaging has been interleaved with other kinds of observations. However such observations are difficult to schedule and require strong science justification. Observers contemplating using CVZ in this way are encouraged to contact the STScI Help Desk (see Section 1.3 ) prior to proposing. CVZ observations are also generally incompatible with special timing requirements (e.g., timing links, special spacecraft orientations, or targets of opportunity; see Section 4.1.1 of the Call for Proposals for more details).

2.3.2 South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA)

The South Atlantic Anomaly, a lower extension of the Van Allen radiation belts, lies above South America and the South Atlantic Ocean. No astronomical or calibration observations are possible during passages of the spacecraft through the SAA because of the high background induced in the science instruments and FGSs. As the HST orbit precesses and the earth rotates during the day, the southern part of the HST orbit intersects the SAA for 7 to 9 orbits in a row (so-called "SAA-impacted" orbits). These SAA-impacted orbits are followed by 5 to 6 orbits (8 to 10 hours) without SAA intersections. During intersections, HST observing activities must be halted for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. This effectively limits the longest possible uninterrupted observations, even in the CVZ, to 5 orbits.

2.3.3 Predicted HST Position

Because HST's orbit is low, atmospheric drag is significant. Moreover, the amount of drag varies depending on the orientation of the telescope and the density of the atmosphere which, in turn, depends on the level of solar activity. Consequently, it is difficult to predict in advance where HST will be in its orbit at a given time. For example, the predicted position of the telescope made two days in advance can be off by as much as 30 km from its actual position. An estimated position 44 days in the future may be off by ~ 4000 km (95% confidence level).

This positional uncertainty can affect observations of time-critical phenomena and also those of near-earth solar system bodies. In the former case the target could be behind the Earth at the time of the event, and it may not be known if a given event will be observable until a few days before the observation. In the latter case the positional uncertainty could introduce uncertainties in the parallax correction.