| Program Number | Principal Investigator | Program Title |
|---|---|---|
| 12304 | Jon A. Holtzman, New Mexico State University | Metallicity distribution functions of 4 Local Group dwarf galaxies |
| 12468 | Keith S. Noll, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | How Fast Did Neptune Migrate? A Search for Cold Red Resonant Binaries |
| 12488 | Mattia Negrello, Open University | SNAPshot observations of gravitational lens systems discovered via wide-field Herschel imaging |
| 12603 | Timothy M. Heckman, The Johns Hopkins University | Understanding the Gas Cycle in Galaxies: Probing the Circumgalactic Medium |
| 12816 | David Syphers, University of Colorado at Boulder | Probing the Reionization Epoch of IGM Helium: A Detailed Follow-up Study of Three High-Quality He II Quasars |
| 12860 | Xiaohui Fan, University of Arizona | Detecting Sources of Early IGM Enrichment |
| 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 |
| 12893 | Ronald L Gilliland, The Pennsylvania State University | Study of Small and Cool Kepler Planet Candidates with High Resolution Imaging |
| 12902 | Matthew A. Malkan, University of California - Los Angeles | WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey WISP: A Survey of Star Formation Across Cosmic Time |
| 12903 | Luis C. Ho, Carnegie Institution of Washington | The Evolutionary Link Between Type 2 and Type 1 Quasars |
| 12939 | Elena Sabbi, Space Telescope Science Institute - ESA | Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project {HTTP: unraveling Tarantula's web} |
| 12945 | Gregory Rudnick, University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. | Spatially Resolved Observations of Gas Stripping in Intermediate Redshift Clusters and Groups |
| 12954 | Thomas M. Brown, Space Telescope Science Institute | A New Instability Strip in the HR Diagram of Massive Globular Clusters |
| 12970 | Michael C. Cushing, University of Toledo | Completing the Census of Ultracool Brown Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood using HST/WFC3 |
| 12977 | Ivana Damjanov, Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory | Local Turbulent Disks: analogs of high-redshift vigorously star-forming disks and laboratories for galaxy assembly? |
| 12985 | Kailash C. Sahu, Space Telescope Science Institute | Determining the Mass of Proxima Centauri through Astrometric Microlensing |
| 12990 | Adam Muzzin, Sterrewacht Leiden | Size Growth at the Top: WFC3 Imaging of Ultra-Massive Galaxies at 1.5 < z < 3 |
| 13003 | Michael D. Gladders, University of Chicago | Resolving the Star Formation in Distant Galaxies |
| 13009 | Guido De Marchi, European Space Agency - ESTEC | Studying pre-main sequence stars across the metallicity ladder |
| 13017 | Timothy M. Heckman, The Johns Hopkins University | UV Spectroscopy of Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs: A Local Window on the Early Universe |
| 13021 | Jacob L. Bean, University of Chicago | Revealing the Diversity of Super-Earth Atmospheres |
| 13033 | Jason Tumlinson, Space Telescope Science Institute | COS-Halos: New FUV Measurements of Baryons and Metals in the Inner Circumgalactic Medium |
| 13039 | Chris Simpson, Liverpool John Moores University | The environment of the z=7.085 QSO ULAS J1120+0641 |
| 13046 | Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University | RAISIN: Tracers of cosmic expansion with SN IA in the IR |
| 13063 | Adam Riess, The Johns Hopkins University | Supernova Follow-up for MCT |
| 13108 | Nathalie Degenaar, University of Michigan | The X-ray and UV spectra of the quiescent neutron star X-ray binary EXO 0748-676 |
| 13112 | Xin Liu, University of California - Los Angeles | The Hierarchical Assembly of Massive Black Holes: Identifying Kpc-Scale Triple AGNs with Chandra, HST, and EVLA |
| 13115 | W. Nielsen Brandt, The Pennsylvania State University | A High-Resolution Study of Long-Term Absorption Variation and the X-ray/UV Connection in NGC 3783 |
GO 12304: Metallicity distribution functions of 4 Local Group dwarf galaxies
The Leo I dwarf galaxy |
The Milky Way has at least fifteen satellite galaxies. The most prominent are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, irregular galaxies which have been known since at least the tenth century. The remaining systems are all gas-poor dwarf spheroidal systems, with luminosities less than 109 LSun and masses less than 108 MSun. Most of these systems are relatively metal poor, with metallicities significantly less than one-tenth solar. The present prorgam targets four systems: leo I, Leo II, Phoenix and IC 1613. All four were discovered in the twentieth century: IC 1613 by Max Wolf in 1906; Leo I and leo II by Robert Harrington and Albert Wilson, using the Palomar Schmidt; and the Phoenix dwarf in 1976, when it was initially classed as a globular cluster by Hans-Emil Schuster and Richard West on photographic plates taken by the ESO Schmidt. The present program aims to probe the metallicity distribution of evolved stars within these systems by using WFC3 camera to obtain deep images in a range of filters at both optical and near-infrared wavelengths. The observations will cover giant branch stars brighter than the red clump, and will set strong constraints on the frequency of extermely metal-poor stars in these systems. |
GO 12880: The Hubble Constant: Completing HST's Legacy with WFC3
A GALEX image of Messier 106 (NGC 4258), one of the galaxies targeted in this program
|
The Hubble constant remains a key parameter in understanding cosmology and the evolution of the Universe. Refining measurements of H0 therefore still represents a vital means of probing the nature of dark energy. The present program aims to tackle this question by laying a firmer foundation to the SNe Ia distance scale. The WFC3 IR camera will be used to identify and characterise Cepheid variables in eight relatively nearby galaxies that have hosted Type Ia SNe. Cepheids have signficantly lower amplitude at near-infrared wavelengths, and the measured magnitudes are less subject to uncertainties due to foreground reddening and variations in metallicity. As a consequence, determining the mean apparent magnitude, and hence the period/apparent magnitude relation, is substantially more straightforward than at optical wavelengths. WFC3 has revolutionised this field by providing substantial greater areal coverage and higher precision photometry than NICMOS. Past observational program have targeted the Cepheids in the maser galaxy, NGC 4258, as well as Galactic Cepheids. The present program targets eight galaxies that have hosted Type Ia supernovae, offering the prospect of tying the SNe Ia scale directly to the Galaxy and to NGC 4258, avoiding the many intermediate steps of previous analyses. The aim is to reduce the level of systematics in determinations of H0 to the 1-2 percent level, setting signficantly stronger constraints on dark energy. |
GO 13046: RAISIN: Tracers of cosmic expansion with SN IA in the IR
The first supernova discoevered by the Pan-STARRs survey |
Supernovae are the most spectacular form of stellar obituary. In recent years, these celestial explosions have acquired even more significance through the use of Type Ia supernovae as distance indicators in mapping the `dark energy' acceleration term of cosmic expansion. However, while there are well-established models for the two main types of supernovae (runaway fusion on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system for Type Ia, or detonation of the core in Type II), some uncertainties remain as to the uniformity of the events. Moreover, as the sample of known supernova has grown, so has the range of photometric systems and the methods used to fit the light curve and account for the ever-present uncertainites inroduced by dust absorption. Consequently, the potential remains for systematic bias in distance estimates due both to intrinsic differences and to measurement errors. The persent program aims to minimise these systematics by compiling standard sequences of observations, primarily in the Y, J, and H filters, of supernovae at redshifts between z~0.3 and 0.5. Focusing on those wavelengths minises the effects, and hence the uncertainties, due to dust absorption. The supernovae themselves are drawn from the Pan-STARRS survey, with the WFC3-IR camera on HST employed to obtain the photometry. |
GO 13017:UV Spectroscopy of Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs: A Local Window on the Early Universe
Mosaic of HST images of M82, the best-known starburst galaxy
|
Current Big Bang cosmological models predict that the universe should have undergone a global re-ionisation at redshifts between 6 and 20. The first generation of stars is generally tapped as the most likely source of the ionising radiation, perhaps enhanced through merger-stimulated starbursts. Candidate galaxies at high redshift have been identified by searching for "dropouts": objects where the flux decreases significantly in the photometric passband associated with the Lyman break at a particular redshift. Deep observations with WFC3 have extended coverage to redshifts 7 and 8. However, detailed observations of such systems are not yet possible. Consequently, there is great interest in identifying galaxies at lower redshifts that could serve as analogues for the z>6 systems. Over the last few years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) has proved an important new tool in identifying "Lyman Break Analogues". GALEX has conducted an all-sky survey at ultraviolet wavelengths, and has uncovered sigificant numbers of UV luminous galaxies at low and moderate redshifts. Many galaxies are starbursts, undergoing substantial outbursts of star formation. These galaxies have been categorised as "compact UV luminous galaxies" (UVLGs), and appear to be undergoing small-scale mergers, leading to extensive dissipation and vigorous star formation. The present program builds in past HST observations of candidate systems selected by combining UV-data from GALEX with optical imaging from the Sloan Survey. The G130M and G160M grisms on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph will be used to characterise the UV spectral energy distributions for an extended sample of objects, probing the detailed nature of star formation in these systems. |