July 21, 2016 Dr. Frank Summers

The Final Frontier of the Universe

[Note: this article is cross-posted on the Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered blog.]

Gravitational lensing in galaxy cluster Abell S1063 Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz (STScI)

Fifty years ago, in 1966, the Star Trek television series debuted. Given the incredible longevity of the franchise, it seems remarkable that the original television series only lasted three seasons.

Each episode famously began with the words “Space: the final frontier.” To me, those thoughts evoke an idea of staring into the night sky and yearning to know what is out there. They succinctly capture an innate desire for exploration, adventure, and understanding. Such passions are the same ones that drive astronomers to decipher the universe through science.

While Captain Kirk and company could make a physical voyage into interstellar space, our technology has (so far) only taken humans to the Moon and sent our probes across the solar system. For the rest of the cosmos, we must embark on an intellectual journey. Telescopes like Hubble are the vehicles that bring the universe to us.

To explore remote destinations, the Enterprise relied upon a faster-than-light warp drive. Astronomy, in turn, can take advantage of gravitational warps in space-time to boost the light of distant galaxies. Large clusters of galaxies are so massive that, under the dictates of general relativity, they warp the space around them. Light that travels through that warped space is redirected, distorted, and amplified by this “gravitational lensing.”

Gravitational lensing enables Hubble to see fainter and more-distant galaxies than would otherwise be possible. It is the essential “warp factor” that motivates the Frontier Fields project, one of the largest Hubble observation programs ever. The “frontier” in the name of the project reflects that these images will push to the very limits of how deeply Hubble can see out into space.

But is this the “final frontier” of astronomy? Not yet.

Abell S1063 Parallel Field – This deep galaxy image is of a random field located near the galaxy cluster Abell S1063. As part of the Frontier Fields Project, while one of Hubble’s instruments was observing the cluster, another instrument observed this field in parallel. These deep fields provide invaluable images and statistics about galaxies stretching toward the edge of the observable universe.

The expanding universe stretches the light that travels across it. Light from very distant galaxies travels across the expanding universe for so long that it becomes stretched beyond the visible and near-infrared wavelengths Hubble can detect. To see the most distant galaxies, one needs a space telescope with Hubble’s keen resolution, but at infrared wavelengths.

In what may have been an homage to the Star Trek television series with Captain Picard, the project for such a telescope was originally called the “Next Generation Space Telescope.” Today we know it as the James Webb Space Telescope, and it is slated to launch in October 2018. Webb has a mirror 6.5 meters (21 feet) across, can observe wavelengths up to ten times longer than Hubble can observe, and is the mission that will detect and study the first appearances of galaxies in the universe.

In the Star Trek adventures, Federation starships explore our galaxy, and much of that only within our local quadrant. Astronomical observatories do the same for scientific studies of planets, stars, and nebulae in our Milky Way; and go beyond to galaxies across millions and billions of light-years of space. Telescopes like Hubble and Webb carry that investigation yet further, past giant clusters of galaxies, and out to the deepest reaches of the cosmos. With deference to Gene Roddenberry, one might say “Space telescopes: the final frontier of the universe.”

June 23, 2015 Tracy Vogel

Galaxy Shapes in the Frontier Fields Observations

We can learn a lot about galaxies by analyzing their light, through computer modeling, and using other complex techniques. But at the most basic level, we can learn about galaxies by studying their shapes.

Galaxy appearance immediately reveals certain characteristics. Elliptical galaxies contain a wealth of old stars. Spiral galaxies are full of gas and dust. Distorted galaxies have likely experienced a gravitational interaction with another galaxy that warped their structure.

The Mice, as these colliding galaxies are called, are a pair of spiral galaxies seen about 160 million years after their closest encounter. Gravity has drawn stars and gas out of the galaxies into long tails. Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA

The Mice, as these distorted colliding galaxies are called, are a pair of spiral galaxies seen about 160 million years after their closest encounter. Gravity has drawn stars and gas out of the galaxies into long tails. Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA

The Frontier Fields project adds another dimension to this simple analysis. When we look at extremely distant galaxies with the magnification of gravitational lensing, we see new detail that was previously obscured by distance. Their shapes are clues to what occurred within those galaxies when they were very young.

Galaxies viewed through the gravitational lenses of the Frontier Fields clusters can be seen at a resolution 10 times greater than non-lensed galaxies. That means those tiny red dots that so thrill astronomers in normal Hubble images actually have some structure in Frontier Fields imagery.

Previous studies, such as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey, or even adaptive optics-enhanced studies by ground telescopes have shown that young, star-forming galaxies at about a redshift of 2 (existing when the universe was about 3.3 billion years old) appear to have a certain lumpiness. But without gravitational lensing, we lack the resolution to say for sure whether those lumps were massive clusters of newly forming stars, or whether some other factor was causing those galaxies to have a clumpy appearance.

Frontier Fields has revealed that yes, many of those galaxies have star-forming knots that really are quite large, implying that star formation occurred in a very different way in the early universe, perhaps involving greater quantities of gas in those young galaxies than previously expected.

Frontier Fields has also given us a better grasp of the physical size of gravitationally lensed young galaxies even farther away, at a redshift of 9 (when the universe was around 500 million years old). Observations show that these galaxies are actually quite small – perhaps 200 parsecs across, while a typical galaxy you see today is closer to 10,000 parsecs across. These observations help plan future observations with the Webb Space Telescope, picking out what will hopefully be the best targets for study.

This composite image shows examples of galaxies similar to our Milky Way at various stages of construction over a time span of 11 billion years. The galaxies are arranged according to time. Those on the left reside nearby; those at far right existed when the cosmos was about 2 billion years old. The Frontier Fields project is collecting galaxies from the earliest epochs of the universe to add to such comparisons. Credit: NASA, ESA, P. van Dokkum (Yale University), S. Patel (Leiden University), and the 3D-HST Team

Galaxy shape also plays a role in discoveries in the Frontier Fields’ six parallel fields, which are unaffected by gravitational lensing but provide a view into space almost as deep as Hubble’s famous Ultra Deep Field, with three times the area.

It’s well known that galaxies collide and interact, drawn to one another by gravity. Most galaxies in the universe are thought to have gone through the merger process in the early universe, but the importance of this process is an open question. The transitional period during which galaxies are interacting and merging is relatively short, making it difficult to capture. A distant galaxy may appear clumpy and distorted, but is its appearance due to a merger – or is it just a clumpy galaxy?

Collision-related features — such as tails of stars and gas drawn out into space by gravity, or shells around elliptical galaxies that occur when stars get locked into certain orbits – are excellent indicators of merging galaxies but are hard to detect in distant galaxies with ordinary observations. Frontier Fields’ parallel fields are providing astronomers with a collection of faraway galaxies with these collision-related features, allowing astronomers to learn more about how these mergers affected the galaxies we see today.

As time goes on and the cluster and parallel Frontier Fields are explored in depth by astronomers, we expect to to learn much more about how galaxy evolution and galaxy shapes intertwine. New results are on the way.

February 26, 2015 Dr. Frank Summers

The Marvel of Gravitational Lensing

A Giant Lensed Galaxy Arc
The view of a distant galaxy (nearly 10 billion light-years away) has been warped into a nearly 90-degree arc of light by the gravity of the galaxy cluster known as RCS2 032727-132623 (about 5 billion light-years away).
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Rigby (NASA GSFC), K. Sharon (KICP, U Chicago), and M. Gladders and E. Wuyts (U Chicago)

One of the coolest marvels in the universe is a phenomenon known as “gravitational lensing.” Unlike many topics in astronomy, the images are not what makes it appealing. Gravitational lensing produces streaks, arcs, and other distorted views that are intriguing, but don’t qualify for cosmic beauty pageants. What makes these images special is the intellectual understanding of how they are created, and the fact that they are even possible at all. The back story takes an ordinary, everyday process, and transforms it into cosmic proportions.

Most of us are familiar with the workings of a glass lens. If you have ever used a magnifying glass, you have seen how it changes the view of an object seen through it.

The glass lens collects light across its surface, which is generally much larger than the pupil of a human eye. Hence, a lens can amplify brightness. In addition, the path of a light ray is bent when it passes through the glass lens. [To be specific, the path bends when the light crosses from air to glass, and again when it crosses back from glass to air.] This bending is called refraction, and the common lens shape will focus the light to a point. When we view that collected light, our view of the object can be bigger or smaller depending on the distances involved, both from the object to the lens and from the lens to our eyes. In summary, a glass lens can amplify and magnify the light from an object.

Glass lenses, however, are not the only way that the path of light can be changed. Another way to redirect light comes from Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

My three-word summary of general relativity is “mass warps space.” The presence of a massive object, like a star, warps the space around it. When light crosses through warped space, it will change its direction. The result is that light that passes close enough to a massive object will be deflected. This deflection by mass is similar to refraction by glass.

Clusters of galaxies are huge concentrations of mass, including both the normal matter we see in the visible light from galaxies and the unseen dark matter spread throughout. Many galaxy clusters are massive enough to produce noticeable deflections of the light passing through or near them. The combined gravity in the cluster can warp space to act like a lens that gathers, amplifies, and magnifies light. Such a gravitational lens will be lumpy, not smooth, and will generally create distorted images of background galaxies seen through them. Also, this lensing often produces multiple images of the same background galaxy, as light from that galaxy is re-directed toward us along multiple paths through the cluster.

The simple idea of a glass lens becomes both cosmic and complex in gravitational lensing. Imagine a lens stretching millions of light-years across (many million million millions of miles). We don’t need to construct such a lens, as nature has provided a good number of them through the warping of the fabric of space. These lenses allow us to see very distant galaxies in the universe, some of which could not otherwise be observed. That’s the marvelous reality of galaxy clusters acting as gravitational lenses.

February 17, 2015 Tracy Vogel

Celebrating Hubble’s 25th Anniversary

In April, Hubble will celebrate a quarter-century in space. The telescope, launched into orbit in 1990, has become one of NASA’s most beloved and successful missions, its images changing our understanding of the universe and taking root in our cultural landscape. Hubble pictures have not only expanded our scientific knowledge, they have altered the way we imagine the cosmos to appear.

Hubble took its iconic “Pillars of Creation” image of these star-forming clouds of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula in 1995. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University)

Hubble’s prolonged success has been a testament to its innovative design, which allowed it to be periodically updated by astronauts with new equipment and improved cameras. Hubble has been able, to an extent, to keep up with technological changes over the past 25 years. The benefits are evident when comparing the images of the past and present.

This new image of the Eagle Nebula’s “Pillars of Creation” was taken in 2014 to launch Hubble’s year-long celebration of its 25th anniversary. The image was captured with Wide Field Camera 3, an instrument installed on the telescope in 2009. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Hubble’s new instruments — specifically, the near-infrared capabilities of Wide Field Camera 3 — are what makes the Frontier Fields project possible. The faint infrared light of the most distant, gravitationally lensed galaxies sought in the Frontier Fields project would be beyond the reach of Hubble’s earlier cameras. Frontier Fields highlights Hubble’s continuing quest to blaze new trails in astronomy — and pave the path for the upcoming Webb Space Telescope — so it makes sense that its imagery is included in a collection of 25 of Hubble’s significant images, specially selected for the anniversary year.

The immense gravity in this foreground galaxy cluster, Abell 2744, warps space to brighten and magnify images of far-more-distant background galaxies as they looked over 12 billion years ago, not long after the big bang. This is the first of the Frontier Fields to be imaged.

Abell 2744, the first of the Frontier Fields to be imaged, is part of Hubble’s 25th anniversary collection of top images. The immense gravity of the foreground galaxy cluster warps space to brighten and magnify images of far-more-distant background galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and the HFF Team (STScI)

The 25th birthday is a significant milestone, so Hubble is throwing a year-long celebration, with events happening in communities and online throughout 2015. Last week, Tony Darnell hosted a discussion of the beauty and scientific relevance of the Hubble 25th anniversary images, one of the many anniversary-themed Hubble Hangouts he’ll be doing as the months go on. To keep an eye on upcoming events, see the images, and learn about the science, visit our special 25th anniversary website, Hubble25th.org.

January 21, 2015 Tracy Vogel

MACS J0416 Data is Complete

Observations of another Frontier Fields galaxy cluster and parallel field are complete. This time, we have new images for you of MACS J0416.1-2403. Here’s the galaxy cluster:

And here is the parallel field:

Beautiful, aren’t they? This is the second Frontier Fields cluster and parallel field to be fully imaged. You can see the first here.

Remember that to maximize scientific discovery, Hubble is using two of its instruments simultaneously to examine both the cluster and the parallel field, then observing the same areas again with the instruments switched.

Hubble takes two sets of observations, called epochs, in order to thoroughly examine the two areas. During the first, Hubble spent 80 orbits with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) pointing at the main galaxy cluster, and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) looking at the parallel field. ACS provides a visible-light view, and WFC3 adds near-infrared light.

During the second epoch, Hubble spent 70 orbits targeting WFC3 on the main cluster and ACS on the parallel field.

Scientists are poring over the new data, and one result is already in. Expect to hear more about these observations in the near future.

December 9, 2014 Tracy Vogel

Mapping Mass in a Frontier Fields Cluster

The Frontier Fields project’s examination of galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403 has led to a precise map that shows both the amount and distribution of matter in the cluster. MACS J0416.1-2403 has 160 trillion times the mass of the Sun in an area over 650,000 light-years across.

The mass maps have a two-fold purpose: they identify the location of mass in the galaxy clusters, and by doing so make it easier to characterize lensed background galaxies.

Mass map of galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1–2403

The galaxy clusters under observation in Frontier Fields are so dense in mass that their gravity distorts and bends the light from the more-distant galaxies behind them, creating the magnifying effect known as gravitational lensing. Astronomers use the lensing effect to determine the location of concentrations of mass in the cluster, depicted here as a blue haze. Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, HST Frontier Fields

Astronomers use the distortions of light caused by mass concentrations to pinpoint the distribution of mass within the cluster, including invisible dark matter. Weakly lensed background galaxies, visible in the outskirts of the cluster where less mass accumulates, may be stretched into slightly more elliptical shapes or transformed into smears of light. Strongly lensed galaxies, visible in the inner core of the cluster where greater concentrations of mass occur, can appear as sweeping arcs or rings, or even appear multiple times throughout the image. And as a dual benefit, as the clusters’ mass maps improve, it becomes easier to identify which galaxies are strongly lensed, and which galaxies are farther away.

Stronger lensing produces greater distortions. Astronomers can work backwards from the distortions to pinpoint the greater concentrations of mass responsible for producing such altered images. Credit: A. Feild (STScI)

The depth of the Frontier Fields images allows astronomers to see extremely faint objects, including many more strongly lensed galaxies than seen in previous observations of the cluster. Hubble identified 51 new multiply imaged galaxies around this cluster, for instance, quadrupling the number found in previous surveys. Because the galaxies are multiples, that means almost 200 strongly lensed images appear in the new observations, allowing astronomers to produce a highly constrained map of the cluster’s mass, inclusive of both visible and dark matter.

The dark matter aspect is particularly intriguing. Because these types of Frontier Fields analyses create extremely precise maps of the locations of dark matter, they provide the potential for testing the nature of dark matter. Learning where dark matter concentrates in massive galaxy clusters can give clues to how it behaves and changes. And as the mass maps become more precise, astronomers are better able to determine the distance of the lensed galaxies.

In order to obtain a complete picture of MACS J0416.1-2403’s mass, astronomers will also need to include weak lensing measurements. Follow up observations will include further Frontier Fields imaging, as well as X-ray measurements of hot gas and spectroscopic redshifts to break down the total mass distribution into dark matter, gas, and stars.

December 2, 2014 Tracy Vogel

Frontier Fields Finds Faint Light of Homeless Stars

The Frontier Fields’ project has detected the glow of about 200 billion freely drifting stars within the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The stars were dragged from their home galaxies by gravitational tides during collisions and interactions over the course of 6 billion years.

As many as six Milky Way-sized galaxies were torn apart in the cluster. The light of the outcast stars is believed to contribute to 10 percent of the cluster’s brightness, though that light is quite faint because the density of the stars is low. The combination of depth and multiwavelength observations provided by the Frontier Fields program makes this study of such dim stars possible.

The total starlight of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 is depicted here in blue in this Frontier Fields image. Not all the starlight is contained within the galaxies, which appear as blue-white objects. A portion of the light comes from stars that have been pulled from their galaxies and now drift untethered within the cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Montes (IAC), and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and the HFF Team (STScI)

The stars are rich in heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, which means they formed from material released by earlier generations of stars. The presence of these elements indicates that the stars likely came from galaxies with similar mass and metallicity to our own Milky Way galaxy, which have the ability to sustain ongoing star formation and thus build populations of such chemically enriched stars. Elliptical galaxies are low in star formation while dwarf galaxies lack the kind of constant star formation that would be essential.

This discovery indicates that a significant fraction of the stars that would otherwise end up in these galaxies is being stripped out in the merger process. Astronomers intend to look for the light of such estranged stars in the remainder of the Frontier Fields galaxy clusters.

November 24, 2014 Dr. Frank Summers

A Black Hole Visits Baltimore

[NOTE: This post is the fourth in a four-part series. Previous posts are: 1) Einstein’s Crazy Idea, 2) Visual “Proof” of Gravitational Lensing, and 3) Gravitational Lensing in Action.]

For the final part of this series of blog posts, let’s bring things back to Earth. The demonstration of a physical process will always seem a bit arcane when using unfamiliar objects as the example. Most folks don’t have a working relationship with galaxies, let alone the strange varieties one gets in the distant universe. Instead of taking the viewer into the universe, it can be more intuitive to bring the cosmic phenomenon closer to home.

Suppose that, say, a black hole decided to take a short vacation. Perhaps it got tired of the enormous responsibilities of being such a tremendous distortion of space-time. It needed a weekend off to cool its jets (absurdly geeky pun intended – sorry). Around Baltimore, where I work, the black hole might go down to the Inner Harbor, enjoy the sights and activities, indulge in a crab feast, and leave completely rejuvenated. Now, while I haven’t yet tried to visualize a black hole eating crabs, and the concomitant singularity eruptions due to Old Bay seasoning, we can approximate what tourists might have seen during the visit.

A Black Hole Visits Baltimore

Credit: Frank Summers (STScI), special thanks to Brian McLeod (Harvard).

This scientific visualization presents a black hole of about the mass of Saturn passing through Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The initial view from Federal Hill shows the usual boats, shops, and office buildings along the water. As the black hole passes across the harbor, the view of the background buildings is distorted due to gravitational lensing. Light is redirected such that, in the region around the singularity, imagery is flipped top/bottom and left/right, with multiple views of the same object. This transformation of a familiar skyline scene can help one imagine the transformation of unfamiliar galaxies in the distant universe.

Note: As in the previous simulated lensing image, a simplified, planar approach of gravitational lensing is used for this visualization. However, in this case, the foreground objects were not removed. The visual distortion of ship’s masts on the near side of the harbor would not occur. We humbly ask your indulgences.

While in graduate school, I had to solve problems using the complex collection of general relativity equations – but only a few times. And all of those instances were for problems with enough symmetry that things could be considerably simplified. I gained an appreciation for the essential character, and some of the beauty, of the mathematics behind it. However, as stated in the first post in this series, the whole concept still has a feeling of weirdness.

Perhaps that notion would have dissipated had I specialized in relativity. Instead, as I developed into a scientific visualization specialist, I’ve gotten to revisit things from a public presentation, rather than research, perspective. The visual allure of gravitational lensing can attract an audience for topics typically mired in equations. It shows how a simple magnifying glass can have a truly cosmic analogue. It helps explore the perspective changing shift in gravity from Newton’s force to Einstein’s geometric re-interpretation. It opens the pathway to deeper philosophical thoughts about the fabric of space-time and the very underpinnings of our universe. Now, that’s quite the opportunity for an outreach astrophysicist like me.

In this case, weird is cool.

July 9, 2014 Tracy Vogel

Seeing Double (or More!) in Frontier Fields Images

Galaxy cluster Abell 2744, the first of the Frontier Fields to be imaged.

Take a long look at this image. You’re seeing a lot of distant galaxies magnified by the natural “gravitational lens” of galaxy cluster Abell 2744. But you aren’t seeing as many as you think.

Gravitational lenses, natural magnifiers created in space when light is bent by the enormous mass of galaxy clusters, distort and enlarge the images of distant galaxies behind the cluster. But they do more than that: sometimes they replicate them, like multiple images in a funhouse mirror.

Galaxy cluster Abell 2744, with multiple images of individual galaxies marked. These multiple images are produced by the cluster’s gravitational lens.

In the above image, we’ve marked the galaxies that are actually images of the same galaxy by overlaying them with numbered triangles. Each galaxy has a number. The multiple images are identified by letters. The galaxies labeled 1a, 1b, and 1 c, for instance, are one galaxy, its image repeated three times. (Only numbers and letters are significant. The colors don’t represent anything, but are used to make it easier to distinguish the various numbered galaxies.)

In previous posts, we explained that mass distorts space. Light from a distant galaxy follows space’s curve like a ball rolling along a putting green. (Think of space as a miniature golf course with fewer animatronic dinosaurs.)

Sometimes, the level of distortion sends the light to multiple places. If you’ve ever seen a single candle reflected multiple times in the bottom of a wineglass, you’ve seen this distorting effect occur in lenses. In fact, gravitational lensing is so similar to glass lensing that you could replicate the distortions of a gravitational lens by grinding a glass lens to the same proportions and bumps.

And cosmic lenses are quite lumpy. The galaxies of the cluster, embedded in halos of dark matter, create bumps of mass. Light can take multiple paths around the galaxy cluster as it encounters the distortions in space-time created by the cluster’s mass. The closer the light of more-distant galaxies passes to the lens, the stronger the deflection. If the light passes close enough to the lens, these multiple images are likely to appear. The individual galaxies in the cluster also add small deflections, and occasionally help produce multiple paths for the light to reach us.

When astronomers look at a lensed image, they’re looking at a giant puzzle. They need to figure out where all the mass is in the image – most of it, being dark matter, is invisible. Pinpointing the multiple images of identical galaxies helps accomplish this because they’re a good indicator of how dramatically the light is being deflected.

Some of the multiple images are obvious. Galaxy images 1a, 1b and 1c (left image) are good examples – they’re blue galaxies with red centers, and they look very like one another. The green-hued galaxy identified by 3a, 3b and 3c (right image) is another good example. Astronomers seek out those obvious candidates to start with, then try to build a model of how the mass in the cluster is distributed. Based on that model, they start identifying the multiple images that aren’t so obvious: Does this reddish galaxy to the side have a counterpart where the model says it should be? Analysis of attributes like color, and especially distance, also play an important role in determining which galaxies are multiples — a technique that comes in handy in many situations.

Thanks to reader Judy Schmidt for the idea for this post.

June 9, 2014 Ann Jenkins

How Hubble Observations Are Proposed

This is the first in a three-part series.

Time on the Hubble Space Telescope is a precious commodity. As a space telescope, Hubble can observe 24 hours a day, but its advantageous perch also attracts a large number of astronomers who want to use it. The current oversubscription rate—the amount of time requested versus time awarded—is six to one.

The process of observing with Hubble begins with the annual Call for Proposals issued by the Space Telescope Science Institute to the astronomical community. Astronomers worldwide are given approximately two months to submit a Phase I proposal that makes a scientific case for using the telescope. Scientists typically request the amount of telescope time they desire in orbits. It takes 96 minutes for the telescope to make one trip around the Earth, but because the Earth usually blocks the target for part of the orbit, typical observing time is only about 55 minutes per orbit.

Longer observations require a more compelling justification since only a limited number of orbits are available. Winning proposals must be well reasoned and address a significant astronomical question or issue. Potential users must also show that they can only accomplish their observations with Hubble ’s unique capabilities and cannot achieve similar results with a ground-based observatory.

The Institute assembles a time allocation committee (TAC), comprising experts from the astronomical community, to determine which proposals will receive observing time. The committee is subdivided into panels that review the proposals submitted within a particular astronomical category. Sample categories include stellar populations, solar system objects, and cosmology. The committee organizers take care to safeguard the process from conflicts of interest, as many of the panel members are likely to have submitted, or to be a co-investigator, on their own proposals.

The time allocation committee (TAC) discusses which proposals will receive observing time on Hubble.

Proposals are further identified as general observer (GO), which range in size from a single orbit to several hundred, or snapshot, which require only 45 minutes or less of telescope time. Snapshots are used to fill in gaps within Hubble ’s observing schedule that cannot be filled by general observer programs. Once the committee has reviewed the proposals and voted on them, it provides a recommended list to the Institute director for final approval.

In my next post, I will discuss how observations are planned.

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