1 / 27

HUBBLE

HUBBLE. Past …future?. Spitzer. Chandra. NASA’s Great Observatories “an astronomical Mount Rushmore”. Compton. Hubble. Gains in orbit. No atmospheric blurring Wider accessible wavelength range Instrumental stability No clouds/daylight (timing).

astin
Download Presentation

HUBBLE

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HUBBLE Past …future?

  2. Spitzer Chandra NASA’s Great Observatories “an astronomical Mount Rushmore” Compton Hubble

  3. Gains in orbit • No atmospheric blurring • Wider accessible wavelength range • Instrumental stability • No clouds/daylight (timing)

  4. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies

  5. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies • Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars

  6. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies • Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars • Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei

  7. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies • Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars • Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei • Protoplanetary material near young stars

  8. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies • Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars • Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei • Protoplanetary material near young stars • Gravitational lenses

  9. Some HST Science highlights • Structures of distant galaxies • Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars • Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei • Protoplanetary material near young stars • Gravitational lenses • Intergalactic gas and its history • Stuff scattered all the way through the textbooks

  10. Instrument history • 1990: FGS HSP FOS GHRS FOC WF/PC • 1993: FGS CoSTAR FOS GHRS FOC WFPC2 • : FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS FOC WFPC2 • 2002: FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS ACS WFPC2 • 200? COS, WFC3

  11. Hubble status, Sept. 2004 • Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph dead (only high-res/small-region spectrometer) • 3 of 6 gyros (RSUs) functional (3 needed for full tracking, some observations with 2) • Battery capacity decreasing (will be useless circa 2010) • Estimated 50% failure time on above: 2007 • Instrument/transmitter power cycling now reduced by rescheduling/eliminating parallel imaging

  12. Options • Shuttle SM4 (O’Keefe ruled out, CAIB concerns) • Robotic mission (new tech, some changeouts very risky) • Replace the whole thing (HOP proposal to refly COS/WFC3)

  13. Shuttle? • “Safe haven” would mean standby orbiter • Limited remaining flights earmarked to ISS • Need for independent orbital inspection • Victim of the Vision? • Orbital mechanics: 28.5-degree inclination, getting heaviest payloads highest from Cape Canaveral, restricts options now

  14. Servicing non-options • Prohibitive energy requirements to co-orbit with ISS in reach of astronauts • 28-degree orbit out of reach from Baikonur (ITAR restrictions aside) • Ion thrusters would take the estimated telescope lifetime for orbit change • ~2015 estimated deorbit without boosting

  15. Robotics/teleoperation? • Canadian ISS arm not required yet – “spare” • Some tasks straightforward, actually robotic plus teleoperations mission • Double big/small arm • Robot docking/deorbit committed already • Tests make this look possible • 2-piece spacecraft, Delta/Atlas launch • 2007 a challenge; budget is ballooning • Political aspects re pinning blame

  16. Solar array connectors

  17. Replace capabilities? • Technology since 1980: lots cheaper. Thin flexible mirrors, lightweight structures, stabilize mirrors rather than structure… • Unique access to optical/UV range • Plan on table to fly 2.4m mirror with existing HST instruments (Hubble Origins Probe or HOP); could be as low as $250M. • Need to decide who gets the instruments!

  18. Next up: JWST

  19. James Webb Space Telescope • Launch 2011, on Ariane V, to L2 region • 6.5m deployable primary • 0.6-20 microns (far red to mid-IR) • Key problems: formation of galaxies, first stars, maybe planets • Spacecraft weight/mirror area ratio roughly that of Hubble mirror alone!

  20. And at other wavelengths… Chandra and its complement XMM-Newton

  21. Across the spectrum - now FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray gamma FUSE INTEGRAL Spitzer GALEX WMAP Hubble Chandra

  22. Intergalactic gas Starburst galaxies High-redshift galaxies Evaporating planets Protoplanetary disks Growth of black holes Complexity of stardeath Gamma-ray bursts Supernova chemistry Quasar jets Stripped galaxies Pregalactic lumps Galaxy history Relativistic jets Multispectral Greatest Hits

  23. A panchromatic view -spiral galaxy M81 ROSAT GALEX Kitt Peak Spitzer VLA

  24. Across the spectrum - soon FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray gamma JWST FUSE? INTEGRAL Spitzer Swift GALEX? Planck Hubble? Chandra and XMM SIM TPF? Herschel

  25. A new Universe to explore • The full electromagnetic spectrum • Open international competition for observations • Public data archives (without mailing tapes!) • The beginnings of the Virtual Observatory • But astronomers think about facilities differently from NASA and ESA…

More Related