| Program Number | Principal Investigator | Program Title |
|---|---|---|
| 12114 | Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington | A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I |
| 12115 | Julianne Dalcanton, University of Washington | A Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury - I |
| 12495 | Drake Deming, University of Maryland | Near-IR Spectroscopy of the Hottest Known Exoplanet, WASP-33b |
| 12603 | Timothy M. Heckman, The Johns Hopkins University | Understanding the Gas Cycle in Galaxies: Probing the Circumgalactic Medium |
| 12685 | Dean C. Hines, Space Telescope Science Institute | Enabling Dark Energy Science for JWST and Beyond |
| 12790 | Marc Postman, Space Telescope Science Institute | Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos |
| 12870 | Boris T. Gaensicke, The University of Warwick | The mass and temperature distribution of accreting white dwarfs |
| 12878 | Igor D. Karachentsev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Special Astrophysical Obs. | The Near Edge of Infall into the Virgo Cluster |
| 12880 | Adam Riess, The Johns Hopkins University | The Hubble Constant: Completing HST's Legacy with WFC3 |
| 12883 | Denis Grodent, Universite de Liege | Unraveling electron acceleration mechanisms in Ganymede's space environment through N-S conjugate imagery of Jupiter's aurora |
| 12903 | Luis C. Ho, Carnegie Institution of Washington | The Evolutionary Link Between Type 2 and Type 1 Quasars |
| 12911 | Luigi R. Bedin, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova | A search for binaries with massive companions in the core of the closest globular cluster M4 |
| 12914 | Tuan Do, University of Toronto | Measuring the Milky Way Mass with the Proper Motion of Leo T |
| 12917 | Martin Durant, University of Toronto | The FUV bow-shock nebula of PSR J0437-4715 |
| 12918 | Kristin Chiboucas, Gemini Observatory, Northern Operations | Origin of UCDs in the Coma Cluster |
| 12927 | Andrew B. Newman, California Institute of Technology | The role of the environment in the growth of compact red galaxies at z~2 |
| 12934 | Clive N. Tadhunter, University of Sheffield | The importance warm outflows in the most rapidly evolving galaxies in the local Universe |
| 12938 | Sergio B. Dieterich, Georgia State University Research Foundation | Probing Fundamental Stellar Parameters with HST/STIS Spectroscopy of M Dwarf Binaries |
| 12942 | Eilat Glikman, Yale University | Testing the Merger Hypothesis for Black Hole/Galaxy Co-Evolution at z~2 |
| 12944 | Katelyn Allers, Bucknell University | A High-Resolution Survey of the Very Youngest Brown Dwarfs |
| 12982 | Nicolas Lehner, University of Notre Dame | Are the Milky Way's High Velocity Clouds Fuel for Star Formation or for the Galactic Corona? |
| 13003 | Michael D. Gladders, University of Chicago | Resolving the Star Formation in Distant Galaxies |
| 13007 | Lee Armus, California Institute of Technology | UV Imaging of Luminous Infrared Galaxies in the GOALS Sample |
| 13019 | Edward F. Guinan, Villanova University | Probing the Complicated Atmospheres of Cepheids with HST-COS: Plasma Dynamics, Shock Energetics and Heating Mechanisms |
| 13022 | Edo Berger, Harvard University | Staring into the Beasts' Lair: HST Observations of the Host Galaxies of Pan-STARRS Ultra-luminous Supernovae |
| 13033 | Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute | COS-Halos: New FUV Measurements of Baryons and Metals in the Inner Circumgalactic Medium |
GO 12495: Near-IR Spectroscopy of the Hottest Known Exoplanet, WASP-33b
Probing the atmosphere of a transiting exoplanet |
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, most detected through wide-field photometric surveys with the Kepler satellite providing the highest sensitivity dataset. These transiting systems are invaluable, since they not only provide unambiguous measurements of mass and diameter, but they also provide an opportunity to probe the atmospheric structure by differencing spectra taken during and between primary secondary transit. Such observations are best done from space: indeed, the only unequivocally successful atmospheric observations to date have been with HST and Spitzer, although ground-based observations are making significant progress. WASP-33b was discovered by the SuperWASP ()Wide Angle Search for planets) survey around the 8th magnitude F star, HD 15082. The planet has a mass of ~4.6 MJup, and has an orbital period of only 1.22 days, corresponding to a semi-major axis of 0.026 astronomical units. As such, it is the closest and hottest of the hot jupiters. The present program aims to use scanning observations with the WFC3-IR G141 grism to search for characteristic near-infrared spectral features during the planetary transits. |
GO 12790: Through a Lens, Darkly - New Constraints on the Fundamental Components of the Cosmos
The cluster MACS J1206.2-0.47, imaged by HST as part of the CLASH program |
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. Moreover, as intense concentrations of mass, galaxy clusters provide 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 aims to capitalise fully on HST's imaging capabilities, utilising the refurbished Advanced Camera for Surveys and the newly-installed Wide-Field Camera 3 to obtain 17-colour imaging of 25 rich clusters. The data will be use to map the mass profiles of the clusters and probe the characteristics of the high-redshift lensed galaxies. Since ACS and WFC3 can be operated in parallel, the program will also use parallel imaging in offset fields to search for high-redshift supernovae. The present observations target the cluster MACS1423+240 at z=0.213. |
GO 12944: A High-Resolution Survey of the Very Youngest Brown Dwarfs
Multi-colour image of the Rho Ophiuchus region
|
Rho Ophiuchus is a star-forming region that lies within a molecular cloud complex at a distance of ~130 parsecs from the Sun. There are two major stellar concentrations, the young clusters Lynds 1688 and 1689. Both have been the subject of extensive ground-based observations, which have succeeded in identifying over several members, spread over an area of ~0.5 square degrees, with masses ranging from 2-3 solar masses to below the hydrogen burning limit. The clusters are much less massive than the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC), and appears to break into two sub-units. Matched against theoretical isochrones, the colour-magnitude data suggest that the cluster is significantly younger than the ONC, with age estimates around ~0.5 Myrs These clusters therefore presents an interesting opportunity to investigate brown dwarfs at extremely young ages, and probe the extent to which environment plays a role in determining the properties of stars and brown dwarfs. The present program aims to focus on the lower mass members, using WFC3 to obtain multiwaveband, high resolution images that can search for extremely low-mass planetary companions. |
GO 12982: Are the Milky Way's High Velocity Clouds Fuel for Star Formation or for the Galactic Corona?
A map of the high velocity cloud systems surrounding the Milky Way (B. Wakker, U. Wisconsin). |
The stellar components of the Milky Way Galaxy are well known: the disk, the central bulge and the old, metal-poor stellar halo. However, the Milky Way is also surrounded by a halo of hot, gas that is itself embedded within a much more tenuous corona of even hotter, ionised gas. Within that structure lie high velocity clouds. Originally discovered in the 1930s as absorption features in stellar spectra, these clouds have velocities that differ significantly from the rotational velocity along that line of sight, and they are generally believed to be undergoing infall into the Galaxy. The origin and nature of these systems remains uncertain, with some favouring a Galactic origin, driven by star formation and feedback between disk and halo, and others supporting their origin within the warm-hot intergalactic medium. HVCs are not self luminous, so indirect methods need to be applied to examine their characteristics. The most effective is to identify stars that lie behind individual systems and, as with their discovery in the 1930s, search the stellar spectra for signature absorption lines produced by material within the cloud. Many, indeed most, of the key absorption features lie at ultraviolet wavelengths, a spectral region that has been opened up with the installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on HST. The present observations build on a Cycle 17 program that used COS to obtain spectra of distant halo stars aligned with a subset of the known HVCs within the Milky Way. The results indicate that HVCs are streams of gas in the lower halo, ruling out several models for their formation and evolution. The current observations will probe several known features for structure closer to the Disk by using COS to target stars significantly closer to the Sun. |