This week on HST

HST Programs: November 2 - November 8, 2009

Selected highlights

GO 11563: Galaxies at z~7-10 in the Reionization Epoch: Luminosity Functions to <0.2L* from Deep IR Imaging of the HUDF and HUDF05 Fields

The ACS optical/far-red image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Galaxy evolution in the early Universe is a discipline of astronomy that has been transformed by observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. The original Hubble Deep Field, the product of 10 days observation in December 1995 of a single pointing of Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, demonstrated conclusively that galaxy formation was a far from passive process. The images revealed numerous blue disturbed and irregular systems, characteristic of star formation in galaxy collisions and mergers. Building on this initial progam, the Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS) provided matching data for a second southern field, allowing a first assessment of likely effects due to field to field cosmic variance, and the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (UDF) probed to even fainter magitude with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The highest redshift objects found in the UDF have redshifts approaching z~7. Pushing to larger distances, and greater ages, demands observatons at near-infrared wavelengths, as the characteristics signatures of star formation are driven further redward in the spectrum. The present program aims to extend observations beyond z~8 to z+9 or even 10 by using the WFC3-IR camera to obtain deep F850LP (Y), F105W (J) and F160W (H) images centred on the UDF and two flanking fields. Parallel observations with ACS will be used to extend the visible and red iamging data to even fainter magitudes.

GO 11670: The Host Environments of Type Ia Supernovae in the SDSS Survey

SN 2007uy and 2008D in NGC 2770

Supernovae have long attracted the attention of both amateur and professional astronomers as a means of studying the violent eruption and death of massive stars and degenerates. However, in the last decade they have also acquired considerable importance as distance indicators, tracing the expansion of the universe to redshifts well beyond the reach of more conventional yardsticks, such as cepheids, and providing a key underpinning for the hypothesised existcen of dark energy. Understanding the supernovae themselves, and, in particular, their progenitors, is key to accurately interpreting their luminosities and distances. The present program aims to tackle that aspect of the problem by using ACS to obtain deep, high resolution images of galaxies that have harboured recent type Ia supernovae. The targets are all drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which has uncovered more than than 500 type Ia supernovae,. The supernovae themselves are long gone from view, but the ACS data will be used to probe the stellar populations in the immediate vicinity of the explosion, and hence gain a better understanding of the likely progenitor.

GO 12045: Evolution of the 2009 Single Impact on Jupiter

HST WFC3 observations of the comet scar on Jupiter

One of HST's most cited set of observations was the series of images taken in July 1994 as the dishevelled remnants of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter. That event highlighted the catastrophic consequences of cosmic impacts, and sparked considerable interest in identifying earth-crossing asteroids and comets. Fifteen years later, on 19 July 2009, an Australian amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley, noticed a strange dark 'scar" near Jupiter's southern pole. The feature was quickly confirmed by other astronomers, both amateur and professional, and was quickly judged as likely to be the result of another, completely unexpected, cometary impact. The SL9 impact was thought to be a once-in-a-lifetime (if not more) event; clearly, the impact rate is higher than previously suspected. At the time of the new event, HST was deeply immersed in the initial on-orbit instrument performance tests, but the science staff were able to interrupt those procedures for a few orbits to obtain images with Wide-Field Camera 3. Further observations were obtained in the following weeks to track the evolution of the feature, as Jovian winds disperse the detritus through the atmosphere. The present observation, also with WFC3, will track the final stages of the dispersal, as the scar fades from view in the atmosphere.