| Program Number | Principal Investigator | Program Title |
|---|---|---|
| 14079 | Matthew James Hayes, Stockholm University | Unveiling the Dark Baryons II: the First Sample of OVI Emission Imaging |
| 14096 | Dan Coe, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA | RELICS: Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey |
| 14114 | Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University | A Wide-Field WFC3 Imaging Survey in the COSMOS Field |
| 14135 | Gordon T. Richards, Drexel University | Are High-Redshift Spectroscopic Black Hole Mass Estimates Biased? |
| 14216 | Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University | RAISIN2: Tracers of cosmic expansion with SN IA in the IR |
| 14237 | Nial Rahil Tanvir, University of Leicester | r-process kilonova emission accompanying short-duration GRBs |
| 14594 | Rich Bielby, Durham Univ. | QSAGE: QSO Sightline And Galaxy Evolution |
| 14606 | Brooke Devlin Simmons, University of California - San Diego | Secular Black Hole Growth and Feedback in Merger-Free Galaxies |
| 14618 | Michael Shara, American Museum of Natural History | Ultraviolet Flashers in M87: Rapidly Recurring Novae as SNIa Progenitors |
| 14620 | Ryan F Trainor, University of California - Berkeley | QSO and Galaxy Growth Probed by Faint Lya-Emitters |
| 14633 | Kevin France, University of Colorado at Boulder | A SNAP UV Spectroscopic Study of Star-Planet Interactions |
| 14634 | Denis C Grodent, Universite de Liege | HST-Juno synergistic approach of Jupiter's magnetosphere and ultraviolet auroras |
| 14649 | Katherine Anne Alatalo, Carnegie Institution of Washington | Opening a New Window into Galaxy Evolution Through the Lens of CO-detected Shocked Poststarburst Galaxies |
| 14653 | James Lowenthal, Smith College | The most luminous galaxies: strongly lensed SMGs at 1 |
| 14655 | Sowgat Muzahid, Universiteit Leiden | Probing Warm-Hot Gas in the Outskirts of Galaxy Clusters Using Quasar Absorption Lines |
| 14682 | Bjoern Benneke, California Institute of Technology | A Search for Methane, Ammonia, and Water on Two Habitable Zone Super-Earths |
| 14698 | Christian Schneider, European Space Agency - ESTEC | The first spectrally resolved Ha measurement of an accreting planet |
| 14707 | Philip Louis Massey, Lowell Observatory | Searching for the Most Massive Stars in M31 and M33 |
| 14734 | Nitya Kallivayalil, The University of Virginia | Milky Way Cosmology: Laying the Foundation for Full 6-D Dynamical Mapping of the Nearby Universe |
| 14746 | Thomas Rauch, Eberhard Karls Universitat, Tubingen | Stellar Laboratories: High-precision Atomic Physics with STIS |
| 14762 | Justyn Robert Maund, University of Sheffield | A UV census of the sites of core-collapse supernovae |
| 14767 | David Kent Sing, University of Exeter | The Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanetary Treasury Program |
| 14774 | Trent J. Dupuy, University of Texas at Austin | Dynamical Masses for Free-Floating Planetary-Mass Binaries |
| 14776 | Trent J. Dupuy, University of Texas at Austin | Mapping the Substellar Mass-Luminosity Relation Down to the L/T Transition |
| 14778 | Douglas Russell Gies, Georgia State University Research Foundation | Hiding in Plain Sight: The Low Mass Helium Star Companion of EL CVn |
| 14779 | Melissa Lynn Graham, University of Washington | A NUV Imaging Survey for Circumstellar Material in Type Ia Supernovae |
| 14812 | Walter Peter Maksym, Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory | Long-Term Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of a Tidal Disruption Event at only 90 Mpc |
| 14840 | Andrea Bellini, Space Telescope Science Institute | Schedule Gap Pilot |
| 14872 | Patrick Kelly, University of California - Berkeley | A Hidden Potential Counterimage of a Highly Magnified Star at Redshift z=1.49 |
| 14873 | Julien de Wit, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Exploratory observations of the TRAPPIST-1 system: essential prelude to an immediate JWST follow-up |
GO 14634: HST-Juno synergistic approach of Jupiter's magnetosphere and ultraviolet aurorae
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 arrived at Jupiter on July 4th 2016 and entered a 53-day orbit. Hubble is obtaining a series of far-UV images using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). Those data complement the on-board instrumentation by providing global maps of auroral activity. |
GO 14734: Milky Way Cosmology: Laying the Foundation for Full 6-D Dynamical Mapping of the Nearby Universe
The low-mass dwarf galaxy, Leo II |
The Milky Way, M31 and M33 are the three largest galaxies in the Local Group. That system, however, includes more than 25 other members, with the majority being dwarf spheroidal galaxies that are satellites of either M31 or the Milky Way. Those galaxies have old, evolved stellar populations, and even the most prominent have masses that are less than a few x 107 MSun, or 10-4 that of the Milky Way. All of these galaxies are moving in the potential set by the overall Local Group system, but dominated by M31 and the Milky Way. Determining full space motions for the dwarfs therefore provide a means of constraining that potential. Even though the galaxies, and their brightest stellar constituents, are faint, measuring radial velocity is a relatively straightforward procedure. Deriving tangential motions is not, since the typical proper motions of these systems are a few mas/year at best. The present proposal aims to capitalise on the exceptional resolution and high stability of HST to address this issue. Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys will be used to obtain first epoch observations of the 32 known dwarf galaxies within 420 kpc. that currently lack such data. These observations will lay the foundation for future observations with both HST and future missions, including JWST and WFIRST. |
GO 14767: The Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanetary Treasury Program
Artist's impression of the GJ 1214 system |
The first exoplanet, 51 Peg b, was discovered through radial velocity measurements in 1995. 51 Pegb was followed by a trickle, and then a flood of other discoveries, as astronomers realised that there were other solar systems radically different from our own, where "hot jupiters" led to short-period, high-amplitude velocity variations. Then, in 1999, came the inevitable discovery that one of those hot jupiters. HD 209458b, was in an orbit aligned with our line of sight to the star, resulting in transits. Since that date, the number of known transiting exoplanet systems has grown to more than 100 from ground-based observations, most detected through wide-field photometric surveys, while the high-sensitivity data provided by Kepler has added a further 1000+ confirmed systems and ~2000 additional candidates. Transiting systems not only provide an accurate measure of the planetary radius (at least relative to the parent star), they also provide us with an opportunity to probe the atmospheric composition through spectroscopy during the transit. Hubble has made significant inroads in this area, while Spitzer has contributed measurements of planetary emissivity through observations during and after eclipse. The James Webb Space Telescope has the capability to revolutionise our knowledge in this field through highly sensitiive observations at near and mid-infra red wavelengths. The present program aims to lay the foundation for those programs by using Hubble to compile multiwavelength (UV to near-IR) spectroscopic observations of 20 exoplanets. The targets are all gas giants, ranging from super-jovian masses to neptunian masses. The observations will be obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the near-infrared grisms on Wide Field Camera 3. |
GO 14776: Mapping the Substellar Mass-Luminosity Relation Down to the L/T Transition
Epsilon Indi Bab, the binary brown dwarf companion of the nearby K dwarf |
Brown dwarfs are objects that form like stars, but lack sufficient mass to drive the central temperature above a few million degrees, and therefore never succeed in igniting core hydrogen fusion. Discovered in the mid-1990s, these objects initially have surface temperatures of ~3,500K, but cool rapidly and move through spectral types M, L, T and Y. Following their discovery, considerable theoretical attention has focused on the evolution of their intrinsic properties, particularly the details of the atmospheric changes in the evolution from type L through T to Y and beyond. The initial transition marks the emergence of methane as a dominant absorber at near-infrared wavelengths, while ammonia becomes increasingly apparent in the coolest dwarfs identified by the WISE mission. Current models suggest that the L to T transition occurs at ~1400-1200K, while the T to Y transition occurs around 600K. The spectral changes are at least correlated with, and perhaps driven by, the distribution and properties of dust layers ("clouds"). The overall timescales associated with this process remains unclear. Mass is a crucial factor in mapping those changes, but mass is also the most difficult quantity to measure in a reliable fashion. The present proposal tackles this issue through astrometry and photometry of ultracool binary systems, deriving the orbits, and hence dynamical masses, and mapping the spectral energy distributions to probe the temperatures. The targets in this multi-year program include three late-L/T dwarf binaries, spanning the L/T transition. |