NASA's Great Observatories 'an astronomical Mount Rushmore

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Spitzer
Chandra
NASAs Great Observatories an astronomical
Mount Rushmore
Compton
Hubble
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Gains in orbit

• No atmospheric blurring
• Wider accessible wavelength range
• Instrumental stability
• No clouds/daylight (timing)

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HUBBLE
Past future?
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Some HST Science highlights

• Structures of distant galaxies

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Some HST Science highlights

• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars

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Some HST Science highlights

• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
• Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei

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Some HST Science highlights

• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
• Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
• Protoplanetary material near young stars

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Some HST Science highlights

• Structures of distant galaxies
• Hubble constant from Cepheid variable stars
• Black holes in (almost all) galactic nuclei
• Protoplanetary material near young stars
• Gravitational lenses

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Some HST Science highlights

• 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

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Supernova progenitor in M51
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(Li et al. in press)
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Gravitational microlensing in NGC 3314
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Instrument history

• 1990 FGS HSP FOS GHRS FOC
  WF/PC
• 1993 FGS CoSTAR FOS GHRS FOC WFPC2
• FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS FOC WFPC2
• 2002 FGS CoSTAR NICMOS STIS ACS WFPC2
• 200? COS, WFC3

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Hubble status, August 2005

• Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph dead
• (only high-res/small-region spectrometer)
• 3 of 6 gyros (RSUs) functional (3 normally
  needed, 2-gyro mode successful in tests)
• 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

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UPDATE 31 AUG 05 2 GYROS
DAILY REPORT     3934 PERIOD COVERED UT
August 29, 2005 (DOY 241) All commanding for
the transition to Two Gyro Science mode was
successful. Commanding included modifying
control law gains for T2G, loading FSW support
files for TGS, modifying D SPA commanding in
new TGS safemode macros, transitioning to TGS
mode, and performing a full RAM dump. Transition
to TGS mode took place at 241/0217. The first FGS
guide acquisition at 0812 was successful, as have
all subsequent acquisitions. Jitter in F2G
(FGS/2 Gyro mode) was measured at approximately 3
milliarcseconds. All three acquisitions
performed have been successful with no LOL.
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Options

• Shuttle SM4 (OKeefe ruled out, CAIB concerns,
  Griffin optimistic)
• Replace the whole thing (HOP proposal to refly
  COS/WFC3)

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Shuttle?

• 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

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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
• 2015-30 estimated deorbit without boosting

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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!

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Final servicing status

• Current policy do not preclude
• Depends on next (2?) STS flight results
• COS, WFC3, STIS repair, batteries, gyros
• Deorbit module status unclear
• Target late 2007

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Next up JWST
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James Webb Space Telescope

• 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!

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Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
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Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory

• Deployed April 1991 by Atlantis crew. Deorbited
  mid-2000.
• Distribution, distance of gamma-ray bursts
• Gamma-ray blazars, relativistic beaming
• Microquasars
• Radioisotopes in interstellar medium
• Successors Swift, INTEGRAL, GLAST

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And at other wavelengths
Chandra and its complement XMM-Newton
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The galactic-center black hole and its attendants
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Hot gas between galaxies
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The chemistry of a supernova
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Fireball impact in Supernova 1987A
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The history of black holes a Chandra deep field
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Spitzer Space Telescope
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Spitzer Space Telescope

• Warm launch, radiative cooling
• Cryogen management, 2 years of 5 so far
• Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit
• 2 cameras, 2 spectrographs, 3.6-160 mm

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Temperatures of extrasolar planets
Direct detection of IR from two hot Jupiters
during eclipses, two wavelengths give temperature
estimates
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Looking into dusty star cradles
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Across the spectrum -
now FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray
gamma
GALEX
INTEGRAL
Spitzer
FUSE
WMAP
Hubble
Chandra
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Multispectral Greatest Hits

• Intergalactic gas
• Starburst galaxies
• High-redshift galaxies
• Evaporating planets
• Protoplanetary disks
• Growth of black holes
• Complexity of stardeath

• Gamma-ray bursts
• Supernova chemistry
• Quasar jets
• Stripped galaxies
• Pregalactic lumps
• Galaxy history
• Relativistic jets

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A panchromatic view -spiral galaxy M81
ROSAT GALEX Kitt Peak Spitzer VLA
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Across the spectrum -
soon FarIR MidIR nearIR opt UV farUV X-ray
gamma
FUSE?
JWST
INTEGRAL
Spitzer
Swift
GALEX?
Planck
Hubble?
Chandra and XMM
SIM TPF?
Herschel
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A new Universe to explore

• 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