3.1 Target Identification

3.1.1 Target Number [Target_Number]

3.1.2 Target Name [Target_Name and Alternate_Names]

3.1.2.1 Cataloged Targets

3.1.2.2 Uncataloged Targets

3.1.2.3 Alternate Names

3.1.2.4 Special Targets

3.1.3 Target Category and Target Description [Description]

The following information is required to identify and classify each target.

3.1.1 Target Number [Target_Number]

Each target in your program will be assigned its own unique number (which can be changed by the user) by APT (they are base 10 and go from 1 to 999). A different target must be defined whenever different coordinates or a different target description are required. Separate targets should be defined and listed if you plan to take observations at several points within an extended object. For example, if you were to take spectra at three different locations in the Crab Nebula, each point must have its own target number, name, and coordinates, such as CRAB1, CRAB2, and CRAB3.

If you are using the Text Proposal File, all target numbers and names within a proposal must be unique.

3.1.2 Target Name [Target_Name and Alternate_Names]

Target names provide unique designations for the targets that will be used throughout the proposal. These names will also be used to designate targets in the HST data archive. Prospective proposers and archival researchers use these names to determine whether HST has observed a particular object. This facility will be most useful if consistent naming conventions are used.

The following conventions must be followed in naming targets:

•	A new target name must be defined for each (celestial) target. For example, for several pointings within a galaxy, one might define target names such as NGC4486-NUC, NGC4486-JET, NGC4486-POS1, and NGC4486-POS2.

•	The length of a target name must be anywhere from 2 to 31 characters.

•

No blanks are permitted in target names. Blanks between a letter and a numeral must be suppressed (e.g., HD140283, NGC4378), but a hyphen (and not an underscore) must replace blanks between two letters or two numerals (e.g., ALPHA-CEN, NGC224-0040+4058). Also, a hyphen should be used where required for clarity (e.g., NGC4486-POS1).

•

Only letters, numerals, hyphens, periods (.), and + or – are allowed in target names; other punctuation is not permitted (e.g., BARNARDS-STAR is valid, but BARNARD’S-STAR is not). Greek letters must be spelled out (e.g., ALPHA-ORI). Letters may be upper-case or lower-case, but will always be treated as if they are upper case (e.g. Alpha-Cen will be treated as if written ALPHA-CEN).

•	Degree signs must be represented by an upper-case “D” (e.g., CD-42°14462 becomes CD-42D14462).

•	Some special target names are reserved for calibrations and other purposes and may not be used for names of external pointings; see Table 3.1: Designations of Special Targets.

If desired, you may give one or two “common names” for your target, which will be entered in the Alternate_Names. For example, HD124897 could have Alternate_Names of ALPHA-BOO and ARCTURUS.

Only Target_Name is used when the target name is repeated in the Visit and Exposure Specifications.

3.1.2.1 Cataloged Targets

If your target is in a well-known catalog (e.g. SDSS, NGC, PG), then use that catalog designation for the target name. This is the name your object will have in the Archive, so please try and select the most common name for the target to make it easier for archive researchers to find your target.

3.1.2.2 Uncataloged Targets

Objects that have not been cataloged or named must be assigned one of the following designations:

1.

Isolated objects must be designated by a code name (the allowed codes are STAR, NEB, GAL, STAR-CLUS, GAL-CLUS, QSO, SKY, FIELD, and OBJ), followed by a hyphen and the object’s J2000 equatorial coordinates, if possible, rounded to seconds of time and seconds of arc (e.g., for a star at J2000 coordinates RA: 1H 34M 28S, DEC: –15D 31' 38", the designation would be STAR-013428-153138).

2.

Uncataloged objects within star clusters, nebulae, or galaxies must be designated by the name of the parent body followed by a hyphen and the rounded J2000 coordinates, if possible, of the object (e.g., for a target within NGC 224 with J2000 coordinates RA: 0H 40M 12S, DEC: +40D 58' 48", the designation would be NGC224-004012+405848).

3.

Positions within nebulae or galaxies may also be designated by the name of the parent object followed by a hyphen and a qualifier. The qualifier should be brief, but informative (e.g., the jet in NGC 4486 could be designated NGC4486-JET). Other examples are: NGC5139-ROA24, LMC-R136A, ABELL30-CENTRAL-STAR, NGC205-NUC.

3.1.2.3 Alternate Names

In addition to the catalog name, a target could be assigned at most two alternate “common names,” or aliases, if they exist. Examples of common names are the following: BARNARDS-STAR, OMEGA-CEN and M31.

3.1.2.4 Special Targets

The names of certain types of targets must be designated by appending a code to the target name. For example, -CALIB should be appended to the name of a target that is being observed only as a calibration standard for other observations. These designations will assist in planning of the observing schedule. The possible codes are listed in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Designations of Special Targets

Target Type	Code	Description
External calibration target	-CALIB	An astronomical target used for calibration (e.g., BD+28D4211-CALIB). Internal calibration sources (e.g., WAVE) and calibrations using the Earth must not be included in the Target List.
Offset acquisition target	-OFFSET	A target that will be used for an offset acquisition; it is the object that will be acquired first, from which an offset will be applied to move to the target of interest (e.g., 3C273-OFFSET). Two separate exposures must be defined on the Visit and Exposure Specifications; an acquisition of the -OFFSET target, and a science exposure of the (target of interest) program target. The location of the latter target may be specified either by equatorial coordinates or by an offset (see Section 3.2.2 on page 34). For example: to observe the JET in 3C273, first acquire “stellar-like” source 3C273-OFFSET, then offset to program target 3C273-JET.
Special designations		These are reserved designations and may not be used as the names of external pointing in a target list: ANTI-SUN, ANY, BIAS, CCDFLAT, DARK, EARTH-CALIB, DARK-EARTH-CALIB, INTFLAT, KSPOTS, NONE, ORBIT-POLE, ORBIT-POLE-NORTH, ORBIT-POLE-SOUTH, UVFLAT, VISFLAT, WAVE

3.1.3 Target Category and Target Description [Description]

A target description must be selected for each target. The Target Description will be one of the key fields used by archival researchers in searching through the HST data archive; thus it is extremely important that the information be filled out completely and accurately for each target.

Each target must be assigned a single primary category from Table 3.2, and at least one descriptive keyword, chosen from the appropriate Table 3.3 through Table 3.9 (see Table 3.2 for which table is appropriate for each category). The discrete features and descriptors in Table 3.10 may be used as descriptive keywords for any category. A maximum of five descriptive keywords may be selected.

The categories in Table 3.2, and some of the descriptive keywords in Table 3.3 through Table 3.10, are followed by explanatory text in parentheses. This text is provided only for explanatory purposes and is not part of the category or keyword itself.

Text Proposal File

If you are using the Text Proposal File, target description items must be separated by commas.

Table 3.2: Target Categories

Category	Descriptive Keywords	Discrete Features and Descriptors
SOLAR SYSTEM (Solar System Object)	Chapter 4: Solar System Targets on page 49
STAR (Galactic Stellar Object)	Table 3.3	See Table 3.10
EXT-STAR (Star in an External Galaxy)	Table 3.3
STELLAR CLUSTER (Galactic Star Cluster, Group, or Association)	Table 3.4
EXT-CLUSTER (Star Cluster in an External Galaxy)	Table 3.4
GALAXY (Galaxy or AGN)	Table 3.5
CLUSTER OF GALAXIES (Galaxy Groupings, Clusters, Large-scale Structure)	Table 3.6
ISM (Interstellar Medium of the Galaxy)	Table 3.7
EXT-MEDIUM (Interstellar Medium of an External Galaxy)	Table 3.7
UNIDENTIFIED (Unidentified Objects)	Table 3.8
CALIBRATION (Calibration Observations)	Table 3.9

Table 3.3: Descriptive Keywords for STAR and EXT-STAR 

Brown Dwarf	F0-F2	Herbig Ae/Be
Wolf Rayet	F3-F9	Horizontal Branch Star
Wolf Rayet – WC	FP	Interacting Binary
Wolf Rayet – WN	Late-type Degenerate	X-ray Novae
Main Sequence O	G V-IV	X-ray Burster
Giant O	G III-I	X-ray Transient
Supergiant O	K V-IV	LMXB (Low Mass X-ray Binary)
OE	K III-I	Gamma Ray Burster
OF	M V-IV	MXB (Massive X-ray Binary)
SDO	M III-I	RS CVn Star
WDO	L	W UMa Star
B0-B2 V-IV	T	Beta Lyrae Star
B3-B5 V-IV	S Star	Algol System
B6-B9.5 V-IV	Carbon Star	Barium Star
B0-B2 III-I	Long Period Variable	Blue Straggler
B3-B5 III-I	Irregular Variable	Neutron Star
B6-B9.5 III-I	Regular Variable	Pulsar
BE	Luminous Blue Variable	Binary Pulsar
BP	Dwarf Nova	FK Comae Star
SDB	Classical Nova	Pulsating Variable
DB	Nova-like	PG1159 Star
DA	Recurrent Nova	ZZ Ceti Star
DC	Polar (AM Her Star)	Cepheid
DZ	Intermediate Polar (DQ Her Star)	Supernova
A0-A3 V-IV	Symbiotic Star	Supernova Type Ia
A4-A9 V-IV	T Tauri Star	Supernova Type Ib
A0-A3 III-I	FU Orionis Star	Supernova Type II
A4-A9 III-I	Shell Star	RR Lyrae Star
AE	Eta Carinae Star	Planetary Nebula Central Star
AM	YSO	Emission Line Star
AP	Extra-solar Planet	Circumstellar Matter
AGB Star	Extra-solar Planetary System
Post-AGB Star	Pre-main sequence Star	Population II
Composite Spectral Type	Low Mass Companion

Table 3.4: Descriptive Keywords for STELLAR CLUSTER and EXT-CLUSTER

Globular Cluster	OB Association
Open Cluster	T Association
Young Association

 

Table 3.5: Descriptive Keywords for GALAXY

Spiral (Spiral Galaxy)	Quasar (Radio Loud)
Lenticular (Lenticular Galaxy)	Radio Galaxy
Elliptical (Elliptical Galaxy; Not A Dwarf Elliptical)	BL Lac (BL Lac or BLAZAR)
Dwarf Elliptical	Liner
Magellanic Irregular	Starburst
Amorphous Irregular	Ultraluminous IR Gal
Dwarf Compact (Dwarf Compact/HII Galaxy)	Interacting Galaxy
Dwarf Spheroidal	Lyman Alpha Cloud
BCM (Brightest Cluster Member)	Protogalaxy
BGM (Brightest Group Member)
LSB (Low Surface Brightness/HI Rich Galaxy)	Einstein Ring
Seyfert	High Redshift Galaxy (z > 0.5)
QSO (Radio Quiet)

 

Table 3.6: Descriptive Keywords for CLUSTER OF GALAXIES

Supercluster	Interacting Galaxy
Void	BCM (Brightest Cluster Member)
Group	BGM (Brightest Group Member)
Rich Cluster
Poor Cluster	Einstein Ring
High Redshift Cluster (z > 0.5)	Blank Sky
Galaxy Pair

 

Table 3.7: Descriptive Keywords for ISM and EXT-MEDIUM 

Herbig-Haro Object	Cometary Nebula
Planetary Nebula	Molecular Cloud
HII Region	Bipolar Outflow
Reflection Nebula	Absorption Line System
Dark Cloud	Absorption Line System – Galactic
SNR (Supernova Remnant)	Absorption Line System – Extragalactic
Ring Nebula	Damped Lyman Alpha Cloud (Extragalactic)
HI Cloud	Coronal Gas (105–106 K)
High Velocity Cloud	Hot Gas (107–108 K)
Intermediate Velocity Cloud	IGM
IRAS Cirrus	ICM
PDR (Photon Dominated Region)

 

Table 3.8: Descriptive Keywords for UNIDENTIFIED

Radio Emitter	Ultraviolet Emitter	Blank Field	Low Latitude Field
Infrared Emitter	X-ray Emitter	Parallel Field
Optical Emitter	Gamma Ray Emitter	High Latitude Field

 

Table 3.9: Descriptive Keywords for CALIBRATION 

Astrometric	Narrow Band Filter Calibration	Target Acquisition Test
Photometric	FGS Stability	Detector Sensitivity Test
Wavelength	Quantum Efficiency Test	Focus Test
Point Spread Function	Pointing and Jitter Test	Spacecraft Glow
Occulting Finger Location	Raster & Step/Dwell Scan Verification	Occultation Mode Test
Ion	Spatial Distortion Test	Throughput Test
Taled	Polarimetry	Echelle Blaze Function
Scattered Light Test	Aperture Location	Virtual Pointing
Sky Background	Detector Linearity Test	FGS Transfer Function Test
Instrument Sensitivity Test	Carrousel Stability Test	Shutter Control Test

 

Table 3.10: Discrete Features and Descriptors for All Categories 

Corona	Disk	BLR (Broad Line Region)
Ring	Bulge	NLR (Narrow Line Region)
Ansae	Polar Ring	Filament
Protoplanetary Disk	Dust Lane	Ejecta
Wind	Spiral Arm	Knot
Accretion Disk	Shell	Star Forming Region
Jet	Tidal Tail	Shock Front
Lobe	Bar	Ionization Front
Hotspot	Multiple Nuclei	Conduction Front
Nucleus	Cooling Flow	Undesignated
Halo	Emission Line Nebula	Gravitational Lens