This week on HST

HST Programs: April 8 - April 14, 2013

Selected highlights

GO 12533: Escape of lyman-Alpha Photons from Dusty Starbursts

HST NICMOS image of the interacting Luminous IR Galaxy, NGC 6090

Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) are systems that are characterised as having luminosities that exceed 1012 LSun, with most of the energy emitted at wavelengths longward of 10 microns. Many (perhaps most) of these galaxies are interacting or merging disk galaxies, with the excess infrared luminosity generated by warm dust associated with the extensive star formation regions. Many systems also exhibit an active nucleus, and may be in the process of evolving towards an S0 or elliptical merger remnant. One of the surprising discoveries in recent years has been the extent to which Lyman-alpha ionising emission can be detected escaping from these dusty systems. The present program looks to quantify the distribution of these properties through COS observations of sixteen ULIRGs in the local universe (z~0.1). These relatively nearby systems can provide insight into the structure of these systems, and give clues to the likely behaviour at higher redshifts.

GO 12980: Absolute Measurement of the Cosmic Near-Infrared Background Using Eclipsed Galilean Satellites as Occulters

Jupiter and the Galilean satellite Ganymede

The Cosmic Infrared Background is generally conjectured to represent the diffuse, redshifted light from star formation early in the post-recombination Universe. It provides an important link between the resolved structure that we see today and the primordial fluctuations measured by the cosmic mcirowave background. Measuring the CIB, however, is not a straightforward task, since there are several other sources of infrared radiation that dominate the measured fluxes, notably stars at near-infrared wavelengths, the zodiacal light at mid-infrared wavelengths and emission from Galactic cirrus in the far infrared. The present program proposes a novel mean of isolating the near-infrared contribution from one of those components, the zodiacal light. The WFC3 IR camera will be used to observe the two of the Galilean satellites during the period when they have entered the jovian shadow, and are therefore under a solar eclipse, but are still visible from Earth. The overwhelming majority of the zodiacal light is contributed by scattered light from dust particles between us and Jupiter; the Galilean satellites obscure any contribution to the near-infrared background from sources that lie beyond Jupiter's orbit, including contributions from the CIB. If the latter contributions are significant, then one would expect to see reduced flux (ie dark spots) in the satellite locations. The present observations target Europa during an ecliopse on April 8.

GO 12998: STIS Coronagraphy of Bright New Debris Disks from the WISE All-Sky Survey

HST image of the face-on debris disk in the G2 dwarf, HD 107146

Planet formation occurs in circumstellar disks around young stars. Most of the gaseous content of those disks dissipates in less than 10 million years, leaving dusty debris disks that are detectable through reflect light at near-infrared and, to a lesser extent, optical wavelengths. The structure of those disks is affected by massive bodies (i.e. planets and asteroids), which, through dynamical interactions and resonances, can produce rings and asymmetries. Analysis of the rangle of morphological structure in these systems provides insight into the distribution of properties of planetary systems. HST currently provides almost the only means of achieving the high-contrast required for the detection of scattered light from these disks in the presence of the bright parent stars. While many such systems have been observed, only a relatively small number of disks have been imaged successfully at visual or near-infrared wavelengths. The present program aims to expand the sample by targetting six solar-type stars that are known to have circumstellar disks based on mid-infrared observations with WISE, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. This sample constitutes the brightest new discoveries, and therefore the most likely candidates for detection by Hubble. The present proposal will use the occulting bar on the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to carry out coronagraphic imaging at visual wavelengths.

GO 13033: COS-Halos: New FUV Measurements of Baryons and Metals in the Inner Circumgalactic Medium

A computer simulation of galactic gas accretion and outflow

Galaxy formation, and the overall history of star formation within a galaxy, clearly demands the presence of gas. The detailed evolution therefore depends on how gas is accreted, recycled, circulated through the halo and, perhaps, ejected back into the intergalactic medium. Tracing that evolutionary history is difficult, since gas passes through many different phases, some of which are easier to detect than others. During accretion and, probably, subsequent recycling, the gas is expected to be reside predominantly at high temperatures. The most effective means of detecting such gas is through ultraviolet spectroscopy, where gas within nearby systems can be detected as absorption lines superimposed on the spectra of more distant objects, usually quasars. The present program builds on a Cycle 17 program (GO 11598) that used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to observe z>1 QSOs that lie at small angular separations from SDSS galaxies at redshifts between z=0.15 and 0.35. The sightlines run through the halos of the galaxies, and the QSOs therefore provide a pencilbeam backlight that probes hot gas in the foreground systems. The original observations covered the spectral region 1150-1750 Angstroms; the present program targets 14 quasars for observations at shorter wavelengths, adding information on the neutral hydrogen column density by measuring absorption at the Lyman limit in these systems.