HST this week: 200



This week on HST


HST Programs: July 18 - July 24, 2016

Program Number Principal Investigator Program Title
13776 Michael D. Gregg, University of California - Davis Completing The Next Generation Spectral Library
14072 Martha L. Boyer, University of Maryland The Evolution of Metal-rich Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars
14074 Roger Cohen, Universidad de Concepcion Opening the Window on Galaxy Assembly: Ages and Structural Parameters of Globular Clusters Towards the Galactic Bulge
14076 Boris T. Gaensicke, The University of Warwick An HST legacy ultraviolet spectroscopic survey of the 13pc white dwarf sample
14080 Anne Jaskot, Smith College LyC, Ly-alpha, and Low Ions in Green Peas: Diagnostics of Optical Depth, Geometry, and Outflows
14082 Dan Maoz, Tel Aviv University - Wise Observatory Connecting white dwarf rotation and debris accretion
14084 Seth Redfield, Wesleyan University Connecting Earth with its Galactic Environment: Probing Our Interstellar Past Along the Historical Solar Trajectory
14086 Jay Strader, Michigan State University Dynamical Confirmation of a Stellar-mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster M62
14096 Dan Coe, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA RELICS: Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey
14098 Harald Ebeling, University of Hawaii Beyond MACS: A Snapshot Survey of the Most Massive Clusters of Galaxies at z>0.5
14105 Jonathan David Nichols, University of Leicester Observing Jupiter's FUV auroras near Juno orbit insertion
14119 Luciana C. Bianchi, The Johns Hopkins University Understanding Stellar Evolution of Intermediate-Mass Stars from a New Sample of SiriusB-Like Binaries
14121 Edward M. Cackett, Wayne State University Probing the accretion disk in the Seyfert 1 NGC 4593
14134 Swara Ravindranath, Space Telescope Science Institute Spectral Diagnostics for the Reionization Era: Exploring the Semi-Forbidden CIII] Emission in Low Metallicity Green Pea Galaxies
14164 Ata Sarajedini, University of Florida Exploring the nature and synchronicity of early cluster formation in the Local Group
14171 Guangtun Zhu, The Johns Hopkins University Characterizing the Circumgalactic Medium of Luminous Red Galaxies
14172 Brendan Bowler, University of Texas at Austin Imaging Accreting Protoplanets in the Young Cluster IC 348
14178 Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey: The WISP Deep Fields
14181 S Thomas Megeath, University of Toledo A Snapshot WFC3 IR Survey of Spitzer/Hershel-Identified Protostars in Nearby Molecular Clouds
14212 Karl Stapelfeldt, Jet Propulsion Laboratory A Snapshot Imaging Survey of Spitzer-selected Young Stellar Objects in Nearby Star Formation Regions*.t23
14219 John P. Blakeslee, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Homogeneous Distances and Central Profiles for MASSIVE Survey Galaxies with Supermassive Black Holes
14230 Jane R. Rigby, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Ultimate Emission Line Diagnostics Study at z=1.4
14236 Sangmo Tony Sohn, The Johns Hopkins University The First Proper Motions of Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxies: Probing Reionization and Planar Associations of Satellites
14255 Sjoert van Velzen, The Johns Hopkins University A First Look at the Late Stages of Accretion in Tidal Disruption Flares
14268 Nicolas Lehner, University of Notre Dame Project AMIGA: Mapping the Circumgalactic Medium of Andromeda
14277 John Thomas Stocke, University of Colorado at Boulder Probing Hot Gas in Spiral-Rich Galaxy Groups
14327 Saul Perlmutter, University of California - Berkeley See Change: Testing time-varying dark energy with z>1 supernovae and their massive cluster hosts
14331 Jeremy J. Drake, Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory The first mass and angular momentum loss measurements for a CV-like binary
14456 Mark Brodwin, University of Missouri - Kansas City Determining the Role of Merging in the Growth of the Galaxy Cluster Population in the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey
14496 Andrew B. Newman, Carnegie Institution of Washington Resolving the Stellar Populations, Structure, and Kinematics of the NIR-Brightest Lensed Galaxy at z=2
14528 Patrick Kelly, University of California - Berkeley Caustic Crossing of a Strongly Lensed Massive Star

Selected highlights

GO 14084: Connecting Earth with its Galactic Environment: Probing Our Interstellar Past Along the Historical Solar Trajectory


The Sun's path through the local interstellar medium
The Sun's motion around the Galaxy takes it through a range of environments within the interstellar medium.At the present time the Sun lies on the edge of the "Local Bubble", a region of very low gas density. Its recent motions took it through a cloud of interstellar material that is moving radially outward within the disk. It is not clear how, or indeed whether, the local ISM has a significant effect on solar heliosphere and the individual bodies in the Solar System, including Earth. The present program aims to explore that issue through high resolution ultraviolet spectroscopy of eight stars that lie in the direcion of the Sun's past motion. These stars serve as backlights to the local ISM, whose component elements manifest themselves by absorbing the stellar light. The observations will use the Cosmic origins Spectrograph to search for characteristics features due to ionised Fe II and Mg II.

GO 14105: Observing Jupiter's FUV auroras near Juno orbit insertion


Hubble ultraviolet image of auroral activity near Jupiter's north magnetic pole
Planetary aurorae are stimulated by the influx of charged particles from the Sun, which travel along magnetic field lines and funnel into the atmosphere near the magnetic poles. Aurorae therefore require that a planet has both a substantial atmosphere and a magnetic field. They are a common phenomenon on Earth, sometimes visible at magnetic latitudes more than 40 degrees from the pole, and have also been seen on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Jovian auroral activity is also affected by the Galilean satellites, which generate electric currents that can produce bright auroral spots (see figure), and, in some cases, have their own auroral storms. Hubble has monitored activity for more than two decades now, with a dedicated campaign during the International Heliosphysical Year (2007/2008) using the Advanced Camera for Surveys Solar Blind Channel. In 2011, NASA launched the JUpiter Near-polar Orbiter (JUNO) which will provide the first in situ measurements of Jupiter's magnetic field and polar magnetosphere since the Galileo satellite which actively monitored Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on july 4th 2016, and in prepartion for the orbital insertion, Hubble is obtaining a series of far-UV images using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). Those data will map auroral activity. In addition, the program will obtain spectral imaging by slewing STIS's slit across the auroral regions.

GO 14268: Project AMIGA: Mapping the Circumgalactic Medium of Andromeda


The extent of Andromeda's gaseous halo, as sampled by COS
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. Extensive observations of galaxies at modest redshift (0.15 < z < 0.35) have shown that material extends to radii of hundreds of kpc, with a total mass in metals that is at least comparable with the mass in the central galaxy. Andromeda, the nearest large spiral to the Milky Way,provides an unparalleled opportunity to probe the detailed structure of the gaseous halo. The present program will target background QSOs along 18 sightlines at radial distances between 25 and 330 kpc. from Andromeda's nucleus. Combined with archival data for 7 other background targets, these data will be sensitive to a wide range of key species OI 1302, CII 1334, SiII 1190, 1193, 1523, SiIII 1206, SiIV 1393,1402, CIV 1548, 1550), probing the composition and ionisation of the halo.

GO 14528: Caustic Crossing of a Strongly Lensed Massive Star


Finding chart for the multiply imaged supernova, SN Refsdal, discovered in November 2014 in cluster MACJ1149
Over the past three cycles, Hubble has been undertaking deep imaging observations 6 galaxy clusters as the Frontier Fields Director's Time program. Those observations have provided a basis for several synergistic programs. In particular, the observations enabled a search for supernovae at high redshifts, z> 1.5, aiming to set further constraints on dark energy and probing the frequency of supernovae as a function of redshift, the delay time and hence the likely progenitors.
In 2014, observations of the fourth cluster, MACSJ1149.5+2223, resulted in the detection of a particularly unusual object - multiple lensed images of a supernova in a redshift z=1.49 galaxy that is itself multiply lensed. Each of those images results from light following a different path due to the gravitational potential of the foreground cluster and galaxies. Dubbed Supernova Refsdahl, after the gravitational lensing pioneer, the original detections were followed over the course of their fading. But, more spectacularly, models of the cluster potential and the consequent light paths led to a prediction that the supernova should appear in one of the other lensed images of the parent galaxy in late 2015. The supernova was not present in observations obtained on November 14, 2015, but was detected in the December 11 observations, thus representing the first time that a supernova has been "predicted" successfully.Further observations are being obtained to monitor the light curve.
Subsequent observations have revealed a new variable object within the cluster, approximately 5 arcsec from Refsdahl; its brightness is being tracked. Models strongly suggest that the source originates from a single early-type star at edshift z~1.49 that is crossing a gravitational caustic, leading to an brightness amplfication of somehwere between 105 and 106. The present program aims to determine the source of the brightness fluctuations in the light curve.

Past weeks:
page by Neill Reid, updated 23/12/2014
These pages are produced and updated on a best effort basis. Consequently, there may be periods when significant lags develop. we apologise in advance for any inconvenience to the reader.

Forward this Message to a Friend »

Subscription Reminder: You're Subscribed to: [HST REPORTS] using the address: example@example.com

From: list.admin@aus-city.com
https://aus-city.com

Manage Your Subscription » or, Unsubscribe Automatically »