| Program Number | Principal Investigator | Program Title |
|---|---|---|
| 12166 | Harald Ebeling, University of Hawaii | A Snapshot Survey of The Most Massive Clusters of Galaxies |
| 12184 | Xiaohui Fan, University of Arizona | A SNAP Survey for Gravitational Lenses Among z~6 Quasars |
| 12192 | James T. Lauroesch, University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc. | A SNAPSHOT Survey of Interstellar Absorption Lines |
| 12332 | Rogier A. Windhorst, Arizona State University | WFC3 imaging of z=6 QSO hosts: Zooming in on the First L>L* Galaxies & their Surroundings |
| 12456 | Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute | Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos |
| 12464 | Kevin France, University of Colorado at Boulder | Project MUSCLES: Measuring the Ultraviolet Spectral Characteristics in Low-mass Exoplanetary Systems |
| 12481 | Carrie Bridge, California Institute of Technology | WISE-Selected Lyman-alpha Blobs: An Extreme Dusty Population at High-z |
| 12482 | Jean-Michel Desert, Harvard University | Relative atmospheric compositions and metallicities of a multi-planet system |
| 12500 | Sugata Kaviraj, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine | High-resolution UV studies of SAURON galaxies with WFC3: constraining recent star formation and its drivers in local early-type galaxies |
| 12511 | Travis Stuart Barman, Lowell Observatory | Determining the Atmospheric Properties of Directly Imaged Planets |
| 12521 | Xin Liu, University of California - Los Angeles | The Frequency and Demographics of Dual Active Galactic Nuclei |
| 12528 | Philip Massey, Lowell Observatory | Probing the Nature of LBVs in M31 and M33: Blasts from the Past |
| 12540 | Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University | UV Studies of a Core Collapse Supernova |
| 12546 | R. Brent Tully, University of Hawaii | The Geometry and Kinematics of the Local Volume |
| 12550 | Daniel Apai, University of Arizona | Physics and Chemistry of Condensate Clouds across the L/T Transition - A SNAP Spectral Mapping Survey |
| 12557 | Kayhan Gultekin, University of Michigan | Low-Mass Black Holes and CIV in Low-Luminosity AGN |
| 12568 | Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles | WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey WISP: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time |
| 12578 | N. M. Forster Schreiber, Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik | Constraints on the Mass Assembly and Early Evolution of z~2 Galaxies: Witnessing the Growth of Bulges and Disks |
| 12581 | Julia Christine Roman-Duval, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA | A Direct CO/H2 Abundance Measurement in Diffuse and Translucent LMC and SMC Molecular Clouds |
| 12582 | Ariel Goobar, Stockholm University | Probing the explosion environment and origin of Type Ia supernovae |
| 12591 | Elena Gallo, University of Michigan | A Chandra/HST census of accreting black holes and nuclear star clusters in the local universe |
| 12593 | Daniel B. Nestor, University of California - Los Angeles | A Survey of Atomic Hydrogen at 0.2 < z < 0.4 |
| 12603 | Timothy M. Heckman, The Johns Hopkins University | Understanding the Gas Cycle in Galaxies: Probing the Circumgalactic Medium |
| 12615 | Olivier Schnurr, Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam | Weighing the most luminous main-sequence star in the Galaxy |
| 12658 | John M. Cannon, Macalester College | Fundamental Parameters of the SHIELD Galaxies |
| 12668 | Slawomir Stanislaw Piatek, New Jersey Institute of Technology | Proper Motion Survey of Classical and SDSS Local Group Dwarf Galaxies |
| 12801 | Harold A. Weaver, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory | Hubble Deep Search for Debris and Satellites in the Pluto System in Support of NASA's New Horizons Mission |
| 12812 | Zolt Levay, Space Telescope Science Institute | Hubble Heritage |
GO 12184: A SNAP Survey for Gravitational Lenses Among z~6 Quasars
Temporal variation in the intensities of the lensed components of the Einstein Cross |
Gravitational lensing is a consequence of general relativity. Its importance as an astrophysical tool first became apparent with the realisation (in 1979) that the quasar pair Q0957+561 actually comprised two lensed images of the same background quasar. In the succeeding years, lensing has been used primarily to probe the mass distribution of galaxy clusters, using theoretical models to analyse the arcs and arclets that are produced by strong lensing of background galaxies, and the large-scale mass distribution, through analysis of weak lensing effects on galaxy morphologies. Gravitational lensing also increases the apparent brightness of the background sources. This effect can be used to our advantage, in enabling detailed observations of high-redshift sources that be too faint to observe under normal circumstances, but it can also lead to statistical biases in parameters such as luminosity functions. These effects are likely to be of most importance for higher redshift sources, where the longer pathlength leads to a higher probability of the light encountering a foreground lens. The present program aims to address this issue for by using WFC3 to obtain high resolution images F105W ("Y"-band) of a subset of 54 QSOs with redshifts in the range 5.7 < z < 6.4. |
GO 12511: Determining the Atmospheric Properties of Directly Imaged Planets
HST-NICMOS imaging of the three outer planets in the HR 8799 system |
HR 8799 is bright A-type star, lying ~39 parsecs from the Sun within the constellation Pegasus. It is one of the youngest stars in the Solar Neighbourhood, with an age of roughly 30 million years, and is likely a member of the loose group known as the Columba Association. The star itself is a member of the Lambda Bootis class, a type of star that exhibits unusually weak metallic features, suggesting that the surface atmospheric layers are depleted in abundance. Possible explanations include accretion of metal-poor gas from a surrounding circumstellar disk. HR 8799's main claim to fame is as the first star to have direct imaging observations of an associated planetary system. In 2008, a Canadian team led by Christian Marois announced the discovery of three giant planet companions, denoted HR 8799b, c and d, at orbital separations from 24 to 68 AU. The discoveries were based on near-infrared adaptive-optics assisted observations with the Gemini North and Keck telescopes. The planets likely have masses between 5 and 10 times that of Jupiter. Subsequent observations revealed a fourth planet, HR8799e, lying at a projected distance of ~14.5 AU from the parent star. Moreover, an examination of data within the HST archives showed that the outer three planets were detected on NICMOS observations taken in 1998, and careful re-analysis of those data, together with subsequent observations, by a team led by Remi Soummer has resulted in strong constraints on the orbital parameters. Mid-infrared observations with Spitzer have revealed complex debris disk structure. Program GO 12511 targets HR 8799 with the IR channel of Wide-Field Camera 3. The prime aim of this program is to obtain photometry of the planetary companions at a range of wavelengths between 8,000 Angstroms and 1.6 microns, and use the resultant data to constrain the spectral properties,and hence the likely composition of the planetary atmospheres. |
GO 12481: WISE-selected Lyman-alpha blobs: An extremely dusty population at high-z
Lab-1, the largest Lyman-alpha blob currently known, at z=3.1 |
Lyman-alpha blobs are large concentrations of gas that have been detected through their strong emission of Lyman alpha radiation. Most of those found have been foudnt rhough imaging at optical wavelengths, and therefore tend to lie at reshifts exceeding z=2. Some of these form coherent structures, including 3-D ~70-Mpc scale filamentary structures. The present program aims to capitalise on recent discoveries made by the Wide-field infrare Survey Explorer. WISE has identified a number of Ly-alpha emitting blobs that have strikingly different energy distributions at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths, strongly suggestive of the presence of substantial quantities of dust. These objects have radically different energy distributions that the optically-identified LABs at z>2. The present program will use ACS and the WFC3-IR camera to obtain high-resolution images of these unusual systems at red and near-infrared wavelengths, mapping both the overall energy distribution and the detailed morphology in lyman-alpha and the rest-frame UV continuum. |
GO 12582: Probing the explosion environment and origin of Type Ia supernovae
Supernova in M101 |
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 WFC3-UVIS and STIS to obtain deep UV-imaging and spectroscopy of Type Ia SNe occuring within the (relatively - z<0.05) local universe. The supernovae will eb chosen to span a range of dust obscuration/reddening, offering the prospect of detecting and characterising the 2175-Angstrom absorption feature in a range of systems. The UV data will also provide a means of investigating the stellar populations within the immediate vicinity of the SNe, and hence potentially provide some constraints on the progenitor. The present observations have beent riggered to observe SN2012CG in NGC 4424. |