VOL 18 ISSUE 03 Space Telescope Science Institute HubbleHubble Heritage:Heritage: Scowen and Brian Moore (ASU) NASA, (SCSU), Paul Donald Walter FromFrom InspirationInspiration toto RealizationRealization Keith Noll, [email protected] hances are you’ve seen some of our images. They are popping up support. More than a year of planning and team-building later, Hubble everywhere in textbooks, magazines, and online. Perhaps you’ve Heritage unveiled its first four images on October 21, 1998. In the first month used them in a lecture or maybe pinned one on your bulletin board. thereafter, our new web site recorded 14 million hits from people coming to You may be one of the 200,000 people who view our web site each view our images of the “Fried Egg” Seyfert Galaxy NGC 7742, a colorful field C of stars in Sagittarius near the center of the Milky Way, the wisps of the month or the millions more who see our monthly images in other venues. You may have even noticed an image credit to NASA/Hubble Heritage and Bubble Nebula, and Saturn’s classic rings. (http://heritage.stsci.edu) wondered briefly what that signified. Early on in our project, we settled on the pace of producing one new image Hubble Heritage is many things. It is an idea—an idea born in a holiday each month. We have attempted to include as broad and representative a conversation with relatives who wanted to know if I had worked on “that selection of astronomical objects as possible. We use both public, archival picture from Hubble”—Jeff Hester’s image of the Eagle Nebula, M16. More data and new images planned by us. We release our images on our web site than any other, that particular image proved to the public that Hubble was and have benefited from simultaneous press releases from the Institute’s back after its shaky, out-of-focus start. Office of Public Outreach (OPO). The images reach a wide audience, My holiday epiphany crystallized in three facets. I was reminded that with many being picked up by other online sites and other forms of beautiful images have a great power to communicate across barriers of traditional media. Hubble Heritage is a tool for outreach from Hubble to the world. By educational level and language. This communication is immensely valuable 2001 to scientists who rely on public support for the pursuit of their sometimes- requiring only that an image be esthetically impressive, we are able to bypass the usual narrow filter for press releases, the requirement that the esoteric goals. From my experience as an instrument scientist for the Wide Field Planetary Camera (WFPC2), I realized that few other images like the image contain a “revolutionary discovery”. This doesn’t mean, of course, that Eagle would come directly from the Hubble science program itself. Hard- the images have little scientific value. Indeed, most of science is the result nosed Time Allocation Committees and overburdened General Observers of the slow accumulation of incremental results that are a necessary (GOs) could be expected to have little sympathy for “pretty pictures”. Most prerequisite for the much more rare breakthrough. Also, since we are an importantly, I saw that I was in a position to change the course of events. inherently visual species, simply seeing a familiar object more clearly can Returning from my holiday, I shared my idea for Hubble Heritage with inspire a deeper understanding of the processes and Continued relationships in complex fields. (See article by Nolan FALL Anne Kinney and Howard Bond, who were immediately enthusiastic. We page 5 went to Bob Williams, then Institute Director, and were happy to receive his Walborn, this issue.) By focusing on the appeal of the DIRECTOR’S PERSPECTIVE Faith Steven Beckwith n the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, it has been difficult to turn our attention to science. At the time they occurred, we watched helplessly, and our thoughts went to our families, to their safety, and toward ways that we could help the victims. Donating blood, sending contributions, making phone calls in support of friends near the scenes—any response seemed more important than feeding a satellite orbiting serenely 370 miles above the fray. We knew at the time that our nation would recover quickly, for two greatest physical theories—relativity and quantum we are a people of great resilience. I knew that STScI would do its mechanics—are contradictory in their basic tenets. Our habit of job, too, despite the emotional trauma the staff experienced. Dave skepticism breeds a reluctance to act in extreme ways on the basis Soderblom stayed after we closed on that fateful day to inform me of theory alone, a reluctance that obviously lacks in persons willing how long we could wait before another schedule build was needed to take the lives of others in the name of their faith or frustration. to keep HST running. Pat Fraher assured me that we would Children learn the name of Archimedes but not the name of the continue to process the data even without operators, such was the soldier who killed him. We all know Galileo, but few of us recall the ability of our automated data pipeline. We heightened security at pope who made him recant his views. Newton, Einstein, Watson the Institute. Hubble is also a national symbol. But the next day, we and Crick are better known to most people than many important were back to the business of science. political leaders of their day. We still use scientific discoveries It is precisely because of the progress science has brought several millennia old. Human politics both noble and evil will come to our culture that our job remains important. Astronomy may and go, but true understanding builds upon itself. be far removed from the daily struggle required to keep death In the wake of the human tragedy that gripped our nation in in abeyance, yet it has a power to transcend this struggle in a way September, our job is to do what we do best: to tease nature’s few other endeavors can. Our progress in understanding the secrets from her grasp and give ourselves a basis for understand- universe has been profound and lasting. It gives us insight into ing the universe based on more than faith alone. It is an important nature’s workings, and it has been the engine of material progress job, one of the pinnacles of modern society. We will not necessar- since its first use several millennia ago. ily make society better, but we will help make society worth having Progressive enlightenment is our common goal. Our creed is in the first place. Our contributions to civilization will stand and will agnosticism, testing each new belief with experiments designed to be appreciated in the future. ferret out the inadequacy of our understanding. We look with The Institute will help you with your own contributions to skepticism upon those who are too strong in their commitments to science. You can count on us to keep the flame of scientific inquiry theories of the day, knowing that even the greatest scientific ideas alive and to make the Hubble Space Telescope a symbol for our are often overturned by new discoveries, and knowing also that our faith in the future. 2 NGST Enters Hot Winter Season Nino Panagia, [email protected], John Mather, Bernie Rauscher, Marcia Rieke, Peter Stockman, [email protected] he Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) project is on the eve of major decisions, including selecting the prime contractor to build the telescope, selecting the team to develop the NIRCam, and appointing the Flight Science Working Group, which will direct the NGST science in the early mission. The imminent Announcement of Opportunity will be posted on the WWW at http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/code_s.cfm TMeanwhile, there is NGST news on procuring the Science & Operations Center, defining the mid-infrared instrument and the near-infrared spectrograph, and deciding the institutional arrangements for developing the NGST instruments. NGST Science & Operations Center at the Institute The NGST Project at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been authorized by NASA Headquarters to issue a sole-source Request for Proposal (RFP) to AURA/Space Telescope Science Institute for the development of the NGST Science & Operations Center. The approval was based on the Institute’s excellent performance in Hubble science operations, the expertise of the staff, and the significant savings that can be realized by inheriting systems developed for Hubble. That is, significant portions of the science operations system will be based on Hubble counterparts, such as the multi- mission archive. The Institute has reviewed draft versions of the statement of work (SOW) and anticipates receiving the formal RFP in early September. Approximately two months thereafter, AURA will submit a full cost and management proposal to NASA. The contract will run from April 2002 to one year following NGST launch (nominally January 1, 2010). One of the lessons learned from Hubble is the importance of having the operations center involved early, during the design and implementation phases of the mission. Thus, in the NGST SOW, the Institute will be responsible for developing or procuring the entire NGST ground system and for making some elements available early to test the science instruments and spacecraft. The Institute will also work directly with the instrument teams, the NGST prime contractor, the European Space Agency (ESA), and other NGST contractors during the development and testing phases to ensure a smooth transition from development to science operations. Mid-infrared Steering Committee Meets in Edinburgh, Scotland The Mid-infrared Steering Committee (MISC) met at the UK Astronomical Technology Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 16-17 July, 2001.