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Michael Garcia Hubble Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC)
Hubble Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC) April 16, 2015 Michael Garcia HST Program Scientist [email protected] 1 Hubble Sees Supernova Split into Four Images by Cosmic Lens 2 NASA’s Hubble Observations suggest Underground Ocean on Jupiter’s Largest Moon Ganymede file:///Users/ file:///Users/ mrgarci2/Desktop/mrgarci2/Desktop/ hs-2015-09-a-hs-2015-09-a- web.jpg web.jpg 3 NASA’s Hubble detects Distortion of Circumstellar Disk by a Planet 4 The Exoplanet Travel Bureau 5 TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite CURRENT STATUS: • Downselected April 2013. • Major partners: - PI and science lead: MIT - Project management: NASA GSFC - Instrument: Lincoln Laboratory - Spacecraft: Orbital Science Corp • Agency launch readiness date NLT June 2018 (working launch date August 2017). • High-Earth elliptical orbit (17 x 58.7 Earth radii). Standard Explorer (EX) Mission PI: G. Ricker (MIT) • Development progressing on plan. Mission: All-Sky photometric exoplanet - Systems Requirement Review (SRR) mapping mission. successfully completed on February Science goal: Search for transiting 12-13, 2014. exoplanets around the nearby, bright stars. Instruments: Four wide field of view (24x24 - Preliminary Design Review (PDR) degrees) CCD cameras with overlapping successfully completed Sept 9-12, 2014. field of view operating in the Visible-IR - Confirmation Review, for approval to enter spectrum (0.6-1 micron). implementation phase, successfully Operations: 3-year science mission after completed October 31, 2014. launch. - Mission CDR on track for August 2015 6 JWST Hardware Progress JWST remains on track for an October 2018 launch within its replan budget guidelines 7 WFIRST / AFTA Widefield Infrared Survey Telescope with Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets Coronagraph Technology Milestones Widefield Detector Technology Milestones 1 Shaped Pupil mask fabricated with reflectivity of 7/21/14 1 Produce, test, and analyze 2 candidate 7/31/14 -4 10 and 20 µm pixel size. -
To Here from Eternity: the Story of the Bovedy, Crumlin and Leighlinbridge Meteorites
TO HERE FROM ETERNITY The story of the Bovedy, Crumlin and Leighlinbridge meteorites Mike Simms, Ulster Museum Friday 25th April 1969 9.25 p.m. A fireball streaks across the night sky Friday 25th April 1969 9.25 p.m. A fireball streaks across the night sky It takes less than a minute to cross the UK! …and barely 15 seconds to cross Northern Ireland A small rock smashes a roof near Lisburn A bigger one lands in a field near Garvagh. These are meteorites - the first found in Ireland since 1902, and the last for another 30 years. Where else have they fallen in Ireland? Only 8 meteorite falls in 230 years! The Bovedy, Crumlin and Leighlinbridge meteorites all fell in the 20th Century Bovedy meteorite all are L3 Ordinary Chondrite Type L Ordinary Chondrites Crumlin meteorite (these are slices) L5 Ordinary Chondrite Leighlinbridge meteorite L6 Ordinary Chondrite Types of meteorites and their abundance (%) Stony Meteorites Falls Finds Ordinary Chondrites 76.9% 50.9% Carbonaceous Chondrites 3.7% Other chondrite types 1.7% Achondrites 7.7% Ungrouped 4.3% Irons 4.2% 20.8% Stony-irons 1.3% …which is why they are called Ordinary Chondrites. Types of Ordinary Chondrite (each comes from its own parent planet) Type H (High in iron) Mooresfort 1810 Limerick 1813 Killeter 1844 Dundrum 1865 Crumlin 1902 Bovedy 1969 Leighlinbridge 1999 Type L (Low in iron) In the beginning, >4568 million years ago… Star formation triggered by a supernova Al26 Fe60 The Sun forms. Planets accrete and melt. Planetismal accretion Melting (due to Al26 and Fe60) Differentiation Pallasite meteorites (planet mantle) Iron meteorites (planet core) Achondrite meteorites (planet crust) Pallasite meteorites (planet mantle) But none of these are chondrite meteorites… Iron meteorites (planet core) Achondrite meteorites (planet crust) How and when did the chondrules form? Sprucefield slice Splashes from the collision of molten planetismals. -
Report by the ESA–ESO Working Group on Extra-Solar Planets
Report by the ESA–ESO Working Group on Extra-Solar Planets 4 March 2005 Summary Various techniques are being used to search for extra-solar planetary signatures, including accurate measurement of radial velocity and positional (astrometric) dis- placements, gravitational microlensing, and photometric transits. Planned space experiments promise a considerable increase in the detections and statistical know- ledge arising especially from transit and astrometric measurements over the years 2005–15, with some hundreds of terrestrial-type planets expected from transit mea- surements, and many thousands of Jupiter-mass planets expected from astrometric measurements. Beyond 2015, very ambitious space (Darwin/TPF) and ground (OWL) experiments are targeting direct detection of nearby Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone and the measurement of their spectral characteristics. Beyond these, ‘Life Finder’ (aiming to produce confirmatory evidence of the presence of life) and ‘Earth Imager’ (some massive interferometric array providing resolved images of a distant Earth) arXiv:astro-ph/0506163v1 8 Jun 2005 appear as distant visions. This report, to ESA and ESO, summarises the direction of exo-planet research that can be expected over the next 10 years or so, identifies the roles of the major facilities of the two organisations in the field, and concludes with some recommendations which may assist development of the field. The report has been compiled by the Working Group members and experts (page iii) over the period June–December 2004. Introduction & Background Following an agreement to cooperate on science planning issues, the executives of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA) Science Programme and representatives of their science advisory structures have met to share information and to identify potential synergies within their future projects. -
Stsci Newsletter: 2011 Volume 028 Issue 02
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Interacting Galaxies UGC 1810 and UGC 1813 Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) 2011 VOL 28 ISSUE 02 NEWSLETTER Space Telescope Science Institute We received a total of 1,007 proposals, after accounting for duplications Hubble Cycle 19 and withdrawals. Review process Proposal Selection Members of the international astronomical community review Hubble propos- als. Grouped in panels organized by science category, each panel has one or more “mirror” panels to enable transfer of proposals in order to avoid conflicts. In Cycle 19, the panels were divided into the categories of Planets, Stars, Stellar Rachel Somerville, [email protected], Claus Leitherer, [email protected], & Brett Populations and Interstellar Medium (ISM), Galaxies, Active Galactic Nuclei and Blacker, [email protected] the Inter-Galactic Medium (AGN/IGM), and Cosmology, for a total of 14 panels. One of these panels reviewed Regular Guest Observer, Archival, Theory, and Chronology SNAP proposals. The panel chairs also serve as members of the Time Allocation Committee hen the Cycle 19 Call for Proposals was released in December 2010, (TAC), which reviews Large and Archival Legacy proposals. In addition, there Hubble had already seen a full cycle of operation with the newly are three at-large TAC members, whose broad expertise allows them to review installed and repaired instruments calibrated and characterized. W proposals as needed, and to advise panels if the panelists feel they do not have The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), the expertise to review a certain proposal. Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and The process of selecting the panelists begins with the selection of the TAC Chair, Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) were all close to nominal operation and were avail- about six months prior to the proposal deadline. -
An Implementation Concept for the ASPIRE Mission
An Implementation Concept for the ASPIRE Mission. W. D. Deininger* ([email protected]), W. Purcell,* P. Atcheson,*G. Mills,* S. A Sandford,** R. P. Hanel,** M. McKelvey,** and R. McMurray** *Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) P. O. Box 1062 Boulder, CO, USA 80306-1062 **NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, USA 94035 Abstract—The Astrobiology Space Infrared Explorer complex and tied to the cyclic process whereby these (ASPIRE) is a Probe-class mission concept developed as elements are ejected into the diffuse interstellar medium part of NASA’s Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept (ISM) by dying stars, gathered into dense clouds and studies. 1 2 ASPIRE uses infrared spectroscopy to explore formed into the next generation of stars and planetary the identity, abundance, and distribution of molecules, systems (Figure 1). Each stage in this cycle entails chemical particularly those of astrobiological importance throughout alteration of gas- and solid-state species by a diverse set of the Universe. ASPIRE’s observational program is focused astrophysical processes: hocks, stellar winds, radiation on investigating the evolution of ices and organics in all processing by photons and particles, gas-phase neutral and phases of the lifecycle of carbon in the universe, from ion chemistry, accretion, and grain surface reactions. These stellar birth through stellar death while also addressing the processes create new species, destroy old ones, cause role of silicates and gas-phase materials in interstellar isotopic enrichments, shuffle elements between chemical organic chemistry. ASPIRE achieves these goals using a compounds, and drive the universe to greater molecular Spitzer-derived, cryogenically-cooled, 1-m-class telescope complexity. -
Meteorite Collections: Sample List
Meteorite Collections: Sample List Institute of Meteoritics Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences University of New Mexico October 01, 2021 Institute of Meteoritics Meteorite Collection The IOM meteorite collection includes samples from approximately 600 different meteorites, representative of most meteorite types. The last printed copy of the collection's Catalog was published in 1990. We will no longer publish a printed catalog, but instead have produced this web-based Online Catalog, which presents the current catalog in searchable and downloadable forms. The database will be updated periodically. The date on the front page of this version of the catalog is the date that it was downloaded from the worldwide web. The catalog website is: Although we have made every effort to avoid inaccuracies, the database may still contain errors. Please contact the collection's Curator, Dr. Rhian Jones, ([email protected]) if you have any questions or comments. Cover photos: Top left: Thin section photomicrograph of the martian shergottite, Zagami (crossed nicols). Brightly colored crystals are pyroxene; black material is maskelynite (a form of plagioclase feldspar that has been rendered amorphous by high shock pressures). Photo is 1.5 mm across. (Photo by R. Jones.) Top right: The Pasamonte, New Mexico, eucrite (basalt). This individual stone is covered with shiny black fusion crust that formed as the stone fell through the earth's atmosphere. Photo is 8 cm across. (Photo by K. Nicols.) Bottom left: The Dora, New Mexico, pallasite. Orange crystals of olivine are set in a matrix of iron, nickel metal. Photo is 10 cm across. (Photo by K. -
Meteorite Auction at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, 2006
http://www.nyrockman.com/tucson-auction-2006.htm METEORITE AUCTION AT THE TUCSON GEM AND MINERAL SHOW, 2006 Founded by prominent collector Allan Lang in 1971, the R.A. Langheinrich Meteorite Collection is one of the foremost private collections in the world. Comprising hundreds of witnessed falls; unique historic documented meteorites — many with original museum numbers and specimen cards; large irons with unusual character; and lunar and planetary material, the collection is internationally recognized as an important reference and research resource. Many specimens were acquired by the collection through institutional trades with the world's major museums. Much of of the Langheinrich Meteorite Collection is viewable online in the R.A. Langheinrich Museum of Meteorites, and private viewings can be arranged by appointment. Occasionally, specimens from the collection are made available for sale to private collectors and institutions. The specimens shown below will be offered at auction on Saturday, February 4th, 2006 during the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE LOT 1R 24 WITNESSED FALL ALLENDE Large complete fusion-crusted individual 1,667 grams Stone, CV3.2 Fell Chihuahua, Mexico February 8, 1969 LOT 2 OT 24 WITNESSED FALL - MARTIAN METEORITE NAKHLA With Humboldt University Label 6.0 grams Stone, achondrite, nakhlite Fell Alexandria, Egypt June 28, 1911 LOT 3 WINONA 10.35 gram fragment Stone, winonaite (WIN) Found Coconino County, AZ, USA 1928 http://www.nyrockman.com/tucson-auction-2006.htm (1 z 10) [2008-05-26 18:19:13] -
Astronomers Mull Merger of Missions
NEWS IN FOCUS project along these lines — was indefinitely postponed in 2007, but the agency has contin- ued to put US$6 million a year into developing technology for exoplanet searches. Now planet NASA/JPL-CALTECH hunters think that joining forces with COPAG will be the winning strategy. Jim Kasting, a plan- etary scientist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park who is chair of the exoplanet group, says the two communities would both like to see a 4–8-metre telescope in space that would cost in excess of $5 billion. “Our interests are basically aligned,” he says. Such a mission would compete for top billing in the next decadal survey of astronomy by the US National Academy of Sciences, due in 2020. The big question, which follow-up meetings will consider, is whether the same technology can do both kinds of science. A cosmic-origins mission would need to collect as much ultraviolet and visible light as possible to image intergalactic gas, star formation and Exoplanet hunters want something to replace the postponed Terrestrial Planet Finder. Sun-like stars in nearby galaxies. A planet-hunt- ing probe would need a coronagraph to block SPACE SCIENCE direct light from host stars, and would have to be sensitive to the visible and near-infrared wavelengths that Earth-like planets primar- ily emit. The infrared 6.5-metre James Webb Astronomers mull Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch in 2014, will be able to see larger planets but will not be sensitive to Earth-sized ones. The key to making the joint concept work will be develop- merger of missions ing a reflective coating for the telescope’s mirror that works from the ultraviolet to the infrared ranges and does not distort the incoming light Cosmic-origins scientists convene with exoplanet hunters. -
Cosmic Origins Program Analysis Group
Cosmic Origins Program Analysis Group Ken Sembach (STScI) 2014 COPAG Execuve CommiEee Daniela Julianne Dennis James Sally CalzeH Dalcanton Ebbets Green Heap Lynn David James Paul Ken Hillenbrand Leisawitz Lowenthal Scowen Sembach2 2014 COPAG Ex-Officio Members Susan Neff Mario Perez Michael Garcia GSFC COR Program Office NASA HQ NASA HQ COPAG members recently compleCng service: Jonathan Gardner Paul Goldsmith Charles Lillie Christopher MarCn 3 Cosmic Origins Quesons • How did we get here? – How and when did galaxies form? – How do stars form, evolve, and eventually die? – How are maer and the chemical elements distributed throughout the universe? 4 COPAG Tasks • Solicit and coordinate community input into the development and execuCon of NASA’s Cosmic Origins (COR) Program • Analyze this input in support of the planning and prioriCzaon of future exploraon within the COR program • Specific types of tasks include – ArCculang and prioriCzing key science drivers for COR research – Evaluang capabiliCes of potenCal missions for achieving COR science goals – Providing input and analysis on related acCviCes (e.g., ground-based observing, theory invesCgaons, laboratory astrophysics, suborbital invesCgaons, data archiving, etc) needed to achieve COR science goals – IdenCfying focus areas for technologies needed to advance COR science • All input is provided to the NASA Astrophysics SubcommiEee 5 2014 Science Analysis Groups (SAGs) and Science Interest Groups (SIGs) • SAG #6: Cosmic Origins Science Enabled by the WFIRST-AFTA Coronagraph • SAG #7: Science -
Interferometric Space Missions for Exoplanet Science: Legacy of Darwin/TPF
Interferometric Space Missions for Exoplanet Science: Legacy of Darwin/TPF D. Defrere` 1, O. Absil1, and C. Beichman2 1 Space sciences, Technologies & Astrophysics Research (STAR) Institute, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium. 2 NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Califor- nia, USA. Abstract DARWIN/TPF is a project of an infrared space-based interferometer designed to directly detect and charac- terize terrestrial exoplanets around nearby stars. Unlike spectro-photometric instruments observing planetary transits, an interferometer does not rely on any particular geometric constraints and could characterize exoplanets with any orbital configuration around nearby stars. The idea to use an infrared nulling interferometer to characterize exoplanets dates back to Bracewell(1978), and was extensively studied in the 1990s and 2000s by both ESA and NASA. The project focuses on the mid-infrared regime (5-20 mm), which provides access to key features of exoplanets, such as their size, their temperature, the presence of an atmosphere, their climate structure, as well as the presence of impor- tant atmospheric molecules such as H2O, CO2,O3, NH3, and CH4. This wavelength regime also provides a favorable planet/star contrast to detect the thermal emission of temperate (∼ 300 K) exoplanets (107 vs 1010 in the visible). In this chapter, we first review the scientific rationale of a mid-infrared nulling interferometer and present how it would provide an essential context for interpreting detections of possible biosignatures. Then, we present the main techno- logical challenges identified during the ESA and NASA studies, and how they have progressed over the last 10 years. -
Significance of Calcium-Rich Differentiates in Chondritic Meteorites Pyrite-Haematite Alteration As a Source of Colour in Red Be
Nature Vol. 255 June 5 1975 471 ' Walker, G. P. L., in Geodynamics of Iceland and the North Atlamic area (edit. elements makes confirmation of this impossible. Accepting by Kristjansson, L.), 189-201 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974). 9 Jakobsson, S. P., Lithos, 5, 365-386 (1972). this, it is likely that at least one planetary body had been 10 Sigurdsson H. Earth planet. Sci. Lett., 10, 129-135 (1970). 11 Ward, P. L., P~lmason, G., and Drake, C., J. geophys. Res., 74, 665-684 (1969). differentiated and partially fragmented so that its disrupted 12 Walker, G. P. L., in Geodynamics of lcel:md and the North Atlantic area (edit. material was incorporated into an L-group, chondritic, parent by Kristjansson, L.), 177-188 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974). 13 Walker, G. P. L., Q. Jl geol. Soc. Land., 119,29-60 (1963). body. Goodland has a short gas retention age which precludes 14 Einarsson, T., J. geophys. Res., 73, 7561-7576 (1968). 12 15 Hast, N., Tectonophysics, 8, 169-211 (1969). speculation about its early history ; the age of Bovedy is 16 Brander, J., and Wadge, G., Nature, 244,496-498 (1973). currently under investigation in the hope that it will provide a 17 Johnston, G. L .. in Geodynamics of Iceland and the North Atlantic area (edit. by Kristjansson, L.), 49-62 (Reidel, Dordrecht 1974). younger limit to the time of differentiation of the parent of its 18 Serson, P. H., Hannaford, W., and Haines, G. V., Science, 162, 355-357 (1968). 19 Sigurdswn, H., Rit. visindafjelags islendinga, 38, 162-179 (1967). -
Meteorite Collections: Catalog
Meteorite Collections: Catalog Institute of Meteoritics Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences University of New Mexico July 25, 2011 Institute of Meteoritics Meteorite Collection The IOM meteorite collection includes samples from approximately 600 different meteorites, representative of most meteorite types. The last printed copy of the collection's Catalog was published in 1990. We will no longer publish a printed catalog, but instead have produced this web-based Online Catalog, which presents the current catalog in searchable and downloadable forms. The database will be updated periodically. The date on the front page of this version of the catalog is the date that it was downloaded from the worldwide web. The catalog website is: Although we have made every effort to avoid inaccuracies, the database may still contain errors. Please contact the collection's Curator, Dr. Rhian Jones, ([email protected]) if you have any questions or comments. Cover photos: Top left: Thin section photomicrograph of the martian shergottite, Zagami (crossed nicols). Brightly colored crystals are pyroxene; black material is maskelynite (a form of plagioclase feldspar that has been rendered amorphous by high shock pressures). Photo is 1.5 mm across. (Photo by R. Jones.) Top right: The Pasamonte, New Mexico, eucrite (basalt). This individual stone is covered with shiny black fusion crust that formed as the stone fell through the earth's atmosphere. Photo is 8 cm across. (Photo by K. Nicols.) Bottom left: The Dora, New Mexico, pallasite. Orange crystals of olivine are set in a matrix of iron, nickel metal. Photo is 10 cm across. (Photo by K.