This week on HST

HST Programs: January 27 - February 2, 2014

Selected highlights

GO 13286: Understanding the Progenitor Systems, Explosion Mechanisms, and Cosmological Utility of Type Ia Supernova

Image of the recent supernova in M82, Jan 24th (Katzman Automated Imaging Telescope/LOSS)

Type Ia supernovae are generally believed to be produced by the explosive deflagration of white dwarf star that exceeds the Chandrasekhar due to accretion from a binary companion, either a hydrogen-burning main-sequence/red giant star or another degenerate. Besides providing crucial information on stellar evolution and how stars enrich the interstellar medium, Type Ia supernovae have acquired global importance in recent years through their use as distance indicators. Indeed, these objects played a crucial role in identifying dark energy and the accelerating universe. In that context, it is important to understand the distribution of intrinsic properties of these exploding stars, and whether those properties, particularly lumunisuty, correlate with other parameters, such as metallicity. Relatively nearby supernovae that can be probed in detail are therefore crucial to the large mapping of the cosmic flow. Astronomers were therefore delighted with the discovery of a type Ia supernova in the relatively nearby starburst galaxy, M82. This object, designated SN2014J, was discovered on January 21st by a group of UCL undergraduates and their lecturer in a series of short exposures taken as a quick test as clouds closed in on London's Mill Hill Observatory. The supernoa is expected to reach maximum around February 2nd, at which time the supernova is expected to reach ~10th magnitude. As the second closest Type Ia of recent years (SN 1993J in M81 was at a similar distance), this object has attracted significant attention, despite the substantial line of sight reddening. The current program will use STIS to obtain a time series of spectra in the ultraviolet, probing the intrinsic metallicity and the variation as ejecta permeate the surrounding environment.

GO 13510: Joint Chandra and HST Monitoring of the Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula

Messier 1, the Crab Nebula, provides astronomy with one of its iconic images. The remnant of a bright supernova observed in 1054 by Arabian and Chinese astronomers, the Crab was first recorded in 1731 by the English astronomer, John Bevis, thirt-seven years before Messier compiled his catalogue of non-comets. The energy source for the gaseous emission is the neutron star that lies in the centre of nebulosity, and was one of the first pulsars to be identified. The Crab is also a source of high energy emission, including radiation at X-ray and gamma ray wavelengths. Overall, this system plays a crucial role in aiding our understanding of post-supernova evolutionary processes. However, there are still some notable undertainties in the detailed processes within even this system. In particular, in September of 2010 the Crab surprised the astronomial community by producing a powerful flare at gamma-ray wavelengths that persisted for 4 days (see GO 12381 ).A second flare of similar magnitude occurred in May, 2011. Observations taken during the 2010 flare by HST and Chandra provided some insight into the effects of the flare, but analysis was hampered by the absence of a comparison set of pre-outburst images of comparable resolution and depth. The present program aims to address that issue through coordinated monitoring of the Crab at X-ray and optical wavelengths. Tne Advanced Camera for Surveys on HST was used to take images in the F550M filter at 6 epochs in 2012, with the observations timed to be within 10 days of X-ray images taken by Chandra using the AXAF CCD Imaging Spectrometer; the present program will obtain a further series of observations through 2013 and 2014. These data will establish a reference set should a further flare occur.

GO 13344: A 1% Measurement of the Distance Scale with Perpendicular Spatial Scanning

HST WFPC2 image of NGC 4639, one of the Cepheid-rich spiral galaxies used to calibrate SNe Ia

The cosmic distance scale and dark energy are two key issues in modern astrophysics, and HST has played a vital role in probing both. On the one hand, HST has been involved in cosmic distance measurements since its inception, largely through the H0 Key Project, which used WFPC2 to identify and photometer Cepheids in 31 spiral galaxies at distances from 60 to 400 Mpc. On the other, HST is the prime instrument for investigating cosmic acceleration by searching for and following Type Ia supernovae at moderate and high redshift. These two cosmological parameters are directly related, and recent years have seen renewed interest in improving the accuracy of H0 with the realization that such measurements, when coupled with the improved constraints from the Cosmic Microwave Background, provide important constraints on cosmic acceleration and the nature of Dark Energy. Previous HST programs have focused on identifying and measuring light curves for cepheids in external galaxies (eg GO 10802 , GO 11570 ) or quantifying the effects of variations in intrinsic stellar parameters, such as metallicity (eg GO 10918 , GO 11297 ). The present program focuses on the Galactic Cepheids that form the foundation for the whole distance ladder, employing a revived version of an old technique to determine accurate astrometry, and hence trigonometric parallaxes and reliable distances. The technique is drift-scanning - tracking HST during the observation so that stars form trails on the detector. This mode of observations was available in the early years of HST's operations, and has been revived primarily as a means of obtaing high signal-to-noise grism spectroscolpic data of stars hosting transiting exoplanets. However, the same technique can be used in imaging mode, and the extended trails allow multiple measurements of position differences for stars in the field. The net result is a significant improvement in the relative precision of the final astrometry. The present program, a continuation of Cycle 20 program GO 12879, targets 11 Galactic cepheids and aims for astrometric accuracies of 20 micro-arcseconds.

GO 13619: Confirmation of Europa's water vapor plume activity

The HST imaaging of a potential water plume around Europa's south pole superimposed on an image of the satellite

Europa is the smallest, and the most intriguing, of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter. With a diameter of 3139 km, Europa is almost twice the size of Earth's moon and significantly larger than Mercury. In 1957, Gerard Kuiper commented that both infrared spectroscopy and the optical colours and albedo suggested that Jovian satellite II (Europa) is covered "by H2O snow". Images taken by the Voyager space probes in the late 1970s (see left) reveal a smooth surface, with only a handful of craters larger than a few kilometres. These features are consistent with a relatively young, icy surface. Subsequent detailed investigations by the Galileo satellite strongly suggest that a substantial body of liquid water, heated by tidal friction, underlies a 5 to 50 km thick icy crust. The presence of this subterranean (subglacial?) ocean clearly makes Europa one of the two most interesting astrobiology targets in the Solar System. Most recently, analysis of observations taken by the Space Telescope imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on Hubble indicated the presence of an extended cloud of Lyman-alpha emission near the polar regions while Europa was furthest in its orbit from Jupiter, stongly suggesting that Europa's oceans may be vaporising into space. The present HST program aims to confirm those observations through obtaining further observations of Europa at the same orbital phase. The program uses STIS to search for H and O auroral emissions at UV wavelengths.