| Program Number | Principal Investigator | Program Title |
|---|---|---|
| 14119 | Luciana C. Bianchi, The Johns Hopkins University | Understanding Stellar Evolution of Intermediate-Mass Stars from a New Sample of SiriusB-Like Binaries |
| 14216 | Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University | RAISIN2: Tracers of cosmic expansion with SN IA in the IR |
| 14221 | David Ehrenreich, Observatoire de Geneve | HST Confirmation and Characterization of a Potentially Habitable World |
| 14251 | Amy E. Reines, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, AURA | The Structures of Dwarf Galaxies Hosting Massive Black Holes |
| 14606 | Brooke Devlin Simmons, University of California - San Diego | Secular Black Hole Growth and Feedback in Merger-Free Galaxies |
| 14611 | Or Graur, Harvard University | Going gently into the night: constraining Type Ia supernova nucleosynthesis using late-time photometry |
| 14618 | Michael Shara, American Museum of Natural History | Ultraviolet Flashers in M87: Rapidly Recurring Novae as SNIa Progenitors |
| 14621 | Jason J. Wang, University of California - Berkeley | Probing the young circumplanetary environment of a directly-imaged exoplanet through a rare transit event |
| 14634 | Denis C Grodent, Universite de Liege | HST-Juno synergistic approach of Jupiter's magnetosphere and ultraviolet auroras |
| 14644 | Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University | Exploring the extremely low surface brightness sky: distances to 23 newly discovered objects in Dragonfly fields |
| 14645 | Schuyler D. Van Dyk, California Institute of Technology | The Stellar Origins of Supernovae |
| 14653 | James Lowenthal, Smith College | The most luminous galaxies: strongly lensed SMGs at 1 |
| 14658 | Eric W. Peng, Peking University | Massive Star Clusters and the Origin of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies |
| 14673 | Charles R. Proffitt, Space Telescope Science Institute | A Definitive Test of Rotational Mixing in Massive Stars |
| 14675 | Julia Christine Roman-Duval, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA | Metal Evolution and TrAnsport in the Large Magellanic Cloud (METAL): Probing Dust Evolution in Star Forming Galaxies |
| 14677 | Tim Schrabback, Universitat Bonn, Argelander Institute for Astronomy | Probing the most distant high-mass galaxy clusters from SPT with HST weak lensing observations |
| 14678 | Benjamin John Shappee, Carnegie Institution of Washington | Whimper of a Bang: Documenting the Final Days of the Nearby Type Ia Supernova 2011fe |
| 14707 | Philip Louis Massey, Lowell Observatory | Searching for the Most Massive Stars in M31 and M33 |
| 14708 | Smita Mathur, The Ohio State University | Probing the circumgalactic medium of galaxies with deep observations. |
| 14713 | Raghvendra Sahai, Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Binarity and Accretion Activity in AGB Stars with Variable UV and X-Ray Emission |
| 14728 | John S. Gallagher, University of Wisconsin - Madison | Hearts of Darkness: Compact Obscured Nuclei in S0/a Galaxies |
| 14729 | Rajib Ganguly, University of Michigan | A New Twist in the Quasar Radio Dichotomy: The Case of the Missing Outflows |
| 14772 | Bart P. Wakker, University of Wisconsin - Madison | Observing gas in Cosmic Web filaments to constrain simulations of cosmic structure formation |
| 14796 | Denija Crnojevic, Texas Tech University | An extremely asymmetric dwarf satellite distribution around M101 |
| 14797 | Ian Crossfield, University of California - Santa Cruz | Atmospheric Albedos, Alkalis, and Aerosols of Hot Jupiters |
| 14840 | Andrea Bellini, Space Telescope Science Institute | Schedule Gap Pilot |
| 14918 | Hannah Ruth Wakeford, Space Telescope Science Institute | Definitive measurement of WASP-17b's water abundance in preparation for JWST |
| 14919 | Bruce McCollum, American University | First UV Spectroscopy of an Incipient Stellar Merger in Its Pre-Merger Phase |
| 14928 | Keith S. Noll, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Orbit of the Patroclus-Menoetius Binary, a Lucy Mission Target |
| 14930 | William B. Sparks, Space Telescope Science Institute | Coordinated HST and SOFIA observations of Europa's plumes |
| 14934 | Juan Venancio Hernandez Santisteban, Universiteit van Amsterdam | Characterising the global accretion inflow variability for PSR J1023+0038 |
GO 14611: Going gently into the night: constraining Type Ia supernova nucleosynthesis using late-time photometry
A recent supernova in M100 |
Supernovae mark the (spectacular) evolutionary endpoint for a subset of stellar systems. Standard models predict that they originate from massive stars and (probably) close binaries with a compact (WD, neutron star) component, although there are still some questions remaining over whether we fully understand the range of possible progenitors. During the eruption, supernovae return a wide range of nucleosynthetic products to the interstellar medium through their ejecta. The remnants fade over time; theory predicts that the primary residual heat source for Type Ia supernovae is radioactive decay from cobalt to iron. The present program aims to test these theoretical predictons through late-time observations of two recent Type Ia supernovae, SN 2015F in NGC 2442 and ASASSN-14lp in NGC 4666 (from December 2014). Wide Field Camera 3 is being used to monitor the photometric behaviour at optical wavelengths (essentially B, V, R and I) to match against the theory. |
GO 14677: Probing the most distant high-mass galaxy clusters from SPT with HST weak lensing observations
The South Pole Telescope at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station |
The overwhelming majority of galaxies in the universe are found in clusters. As such, these systems offer an important means of tracing the development of large-scale structure through the history of the universe. Galaxy clusters can be identified at moderate redshifts by searching for signatures of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect: high energy electrons in the hot intercluster medium interact with radiation from the cosmic microwave background to distort the microwave spectrum. The South Pole Telescope is a 10-metre microwave/millimetre telescope located at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on the Antarctiva high plateau, close to the geographic South Pole. That telescope has been used to search for galaxy clusters. As intense mass concentrations, these systems are highly efficient gravitational lenses, capable of concentrating and magnifying light from background high redshift galaxies to allow detailed spectropic investigations of star formation in the early universe. Hubble imaging has already revealed lensed arcs and detailed sub-structure within a handful of rich clusters. At the same time, the lensing characteristics provide information on the mass distribution within the lensing cluster. The present program targets nine high-mass galaxy clusters that represent the strinbgest SZ detections. The Wide Field Camera on the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3 near-IR camera will be used to image those systems to measure the shapes of background galaxies. Those observations will be combined with Chandra X-ray data and Spitzer infrared data with the goal using weak lensing to characterise the cluster mass distributions. |
GO 14797: Atmospheric Albedos, Alkalis, and Aerosols of Hot Jupiters
 An artist's impression of the hot Jupiter circling a solar-type star |
Since the 1995 announcement of the discovery of 51 Peg b, more than 3500 extrasolar planets have been discovered in more than 2600 stellar systems. The catalogue is dominated by ~2000 transiting systems, a particularly valuable subset: not only do these systems eliminate the uncertainties in the orbital inclination, thereby providing unambiguous mass estimates, but photometry and spectroscopy at optical and near-infrared wavelengths during the primary and secondary eclipses can probe the planetary atmospheres. The planets themselves span a wide rfange of mass, from gas giants that are 10 times to mass of Jupiter to near-terrestrial mass (probably) rocky planets. While most of these systems were discovered through Kepler observations, the relatively small number of ground-based detections are particularly useful since they tend to brighter, enabling more detailed spectroscopic follow-up observations. Those observations are best done from space; indeed, the overwhelming majority of successful atmospheric observations to date have been with HST and Spitzer, probing individual elements (eg sodium) and molecular species (water, methane). The present program targets four hot Jupiter companions to bright stars (HD 189733, HD 20458, WASP 12 and WASP 43) and aims to use observations with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) to probe the reflective spectrum (the planetary albedo) at UV and optical wavelengths. The sepctral distribution can provide insight on scattering and hence the atmospheric composition. |
GO 14930: Coordinated HST and SOFIA observations of Europa's plumes
The HST imaging 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, strongly suggesting that Europa's oceans may be vaporising into space. Initial follow-up observations failed to detect any emission, but more recent measurements have obtained independent confirmation. This clearly suggests that the emission is either sporadic or periodic. The present program aims to build on those results by using Hubble to check for outgassing while (much lower resolution) observations taken with the SOFIA observatory are used to search to water emission. |