Download Great Observatories

HUBBLE
Past
…future?
Spitzer
Chandra
NASA’s Great Observatories
“an astronomical Mount Rushmore”
Compton
Hubble
Gains in orbit
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No atmospheric blurring
Wider accessible wavelength range
Instrumental stability
No clouds/daylight (timing)
Some HST Science highlights
• Structures of distant galaxies
Some HST Science highlights
• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
Some HST Science highlights
• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
• Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
Some HST Science highlights
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Structures of distant galaxies
Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
Protoplanetary material near young stars
Some HST Science highlights
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Structures of distant galaxies
Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
Protoplanetary material near young stars
Gravitational lenses
Some HST Science highlights
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Structures of distant galaxies
Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
Protoplanetary material near young stars
Gravitational lenses
Intergalactic gas and its history
Stuff scattered all the way through the textbooks
Instrument history
1990:
1993:
1997:
2002:
FGS HSP
FOS
GHRS FOC WF/PC
FGS CoSTAR FOS
GHRS FOC WFPC2
FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS FOC WFPC2
FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS ACS WFPC2
200? COS, WFC3
Hubble status, Sept. 2004
• Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph dead
(only high-res/small-region spectrometer)
• 3 of 6 gyros (RSUs) functional (3 needed for full
tracking, some observations with 2)
• Battery capacity decreasing (will be useless circa
2010)
• Estimated 50% failure time on above: 2007
• Instrument/transmitter power cycling now reduced by
rescheduling/eliminating parallel imaging
Options
• Shuttle SM4 (O’Keefe ruled out, CAIB
concerns)
• Robotic mission (new tech, some
changeouts very risky)
• Replace the whole thing (HOP proposal to
refly COS/WFC3)
Shuttle?
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“Safe haven” would mean standby orbiter
Limited remaining flights earmarked to ISS
Need for independent orbital inspection
Victim of the Vision?
Orbital mechanics: 28.5-degree inclination,
getting heaviest payloads highest from Cape
Canaveral, restricts options now
Servicing non-options
• Prohibitive energy requirements to co-orbit
with ISS in reach of astronauts
• 28-degree orbit out of reach from Baikonur
(ITAR restrictions aside)
• Ion thrusters would take the estimated
telescope lifetime for orbit change
• ~2015 estimated deorbit without boosting
Robotics/teleoperation?
• Canadian ISS arm not required yet – “spare”
• Some tasks straightforward, actually robotic plus
teleoperations mission
• Double big/small arm
• Robot docking/deorbit committed already
• Tests make this look possible
• 2-piece spacecraft, Delta/Atlas launch
• 2007 a challenge; budget is ballooning
• Political aspects re pinning blame
Solar array connectors
Replace capabilities?
• Technology since 1980: lots cheaper. Thin
flexible mirrors, lightweight structures,
stabilize mirrors rather than structure…
• Unique access to optical/UV range
• Plan on table to fly 2.4m mirror with
existing HST instruments (Hubble Origins
Probe or HOP); could be as low as $250M.
• Need to decide who gets the instruments!
Next up: JWST
James Webb Space Telescope
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Launch 2011, on Ariane V, to L2 region
6.5m deployable primary
0.6-20 microns (far red to mid-IR)
Key problems: formation of galaxies, first
stars, maybe planets
• Spacecraft weight/mirror area ratio roughly
that of Hubble mirror alone!
And at other wavelengths…
Chandra and its complement XMM-Newton
Across the spectrum - now
FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray gamma
FUSE
Spitzer
WMAP
INTEGRAL
GALEX
Hubble
Chandra
Multispectral Greatest Hits
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Intergalactic gas
Starburst galaxies
High-redshift galaxies
Evaporating planets
Protoplanetary disks
Growth of black holes
Complexity of stardeath
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Gamma-ray bursts
Supernova chemistry
Quasar jets
Stripped galaxies
Pregalactic lumps
Galaxy history
Relativistic jets
A panchromatic view spiral galaxy M81
ROSAT
GALEX
Kitt Peak
Spitzer
VLA
Across the spectrum - soon
FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray gamma
JWST
FUSE?
Spitzer
Planck
GALEX?
Hubble?
Herschel
INTEGRAL
Chandra and XMM
SIM
TPF?
Swift
A new Universe to explore
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The full electromagnetic spectrum
Open international competition for observations
Public data archives (without mailing tapes!)
The beginnings of the Virtual Observatory
But astronomers think about facilities differently
from NASA and ESA…