Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings The Impact of HST on European Astronomy F. Duccio Macchetto Editor Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, MD 21218, USA Editor Dr. F. Duccio Macchetto Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 3700 San Martin Dr. Baltimore, MD 21218 USA [email protected] ISSN 1570-6591 e-ISSN 1570-6605 ISBN 978-90-481-3399-4 e-ISBN 978-90-481-3400-7 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3400-7 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009942446 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover design: eStudio Calamar S.L. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword Remembrance of Things Past It scarcely seems credible that it was almost exactly thirty years ago that I first met Duccio Macchetto at the first meeting of the newly formed Science Working Group of what was then called the Space Telescope project. We were there in slightly dif- ferent roles, Duccio as the project scientist for the Faint Object Camera and I as an interdisciplinary scientist. Henk van de Hulst was also there as the official repre- sentative of ESO. The approval of the project was the end result of a great deal of lobbying and politicking both in the USA and Europe, the European contribution proving essential to the approval process in the USA. Those interested in the nitty- gritty of the process should read Robert Smith’s outstanding history of the Hubble Space Telescope. We should have realized early on that we were in for a rough time. At that first meeting of the Science Working Group I remember vividly NASA Headquarters telling us that the Space Telescope was a success-oriented programme that would cost M$ 680. Well, we could live with the cost-tag, but we should have had concerns about the expression “success-oriented”. This meant that everything should turn out exactly as planned, the project would be carried out within the projected time-scale and budget and the telescope would be launched in 1983. Well, the rest is history. We learned a lot of useful jargon along the way. During one particularly wor- risome period, the project manager announced with confidence “We have no prob- lems; we have the following concerns” — all spoken with a completely straight face. During the difficult years up to about 1983, the programme ran through a number of project managers. The root cause was the same — the project could not be car- ried through with the projected budget and the blame for this fell on the project managers. Duccio and I were bemused by the fact that each new project manager was introduced as the person who had large numbers of successful space projects under their belt and was exactly the right person to solve all the Space Telescope’s funding and management problems. They never lasted more than about two or three meetings before they were replaced by another outstanding manager with the same credentials who would soon suffer the same fate. Eventually, when the project was about to run out of money really seriously, a realistic budget for the project was agreed and Joe Rothenberg did a splendid job of bringing the whole mission to a successful conclusion. v vi Foreword The Europeans were in an interesting position since we only had a 15% stake in the project, but many of us had argued successfully that we had to be in the Space Telescope project as of right rather than as guests. Probably the most important thing the three of us had to do was to remind our American colleagues that this really was an international project and that Europe had a lot to contribute to the project in many different ways. It was interesting to contrast the ESA approach with that of our US colleagues who were largely University based, but supported by major aerospace companies. The professionalism of Duccio and his ESA colleagues shone through while all the agonizing was centred on the many problems which the US instruments had to overcome and building the telescope within a reasonable budget. Despite all the agonies, the telescope was launched in 1990 and then the spherical aberration problem with the primary mirror surfaced. This was the mirror which had completely blown our minds when we were shown the amazing interferometer fringes in the early 1980s. The late Bill Fastie, one of the two optics specialists on the Science Working Group, claimed it was the best large mirror that had ever been polished. He was right, but the problem was that the mirror had been tested with the same set-up which had been used to polish it. The interesting aspect of the story was that the Science Working Group could not actually get their hands dirty in participating in the tests. They simply had to accept what they were shown by the contractors. The very positive side of this story was the subsequent crash programme to rescue the mission and restore the full scientific capability of the telescope. The Space Tele- scope Science Institute and NASA worked together in an extraordinary endeavour which resulted in the successful refurbishment mission which took place in 1993. Again, the rest is history. Like the rest of the Science Working Group, I eventu- ally receive my guaranteed time observations in 1996. My student Philip Best did a splendid job in analyzing our wonderful images of large redshift radio galaxies. As he remarked in the colloquium he gave describing his excellent analysis of the data, he was only four years old when I had submitted the original proposal in 1977. What is really remarkable is the extraordinary change in astronomical perspective since the project was approved in 1977. It was a really brave decision to adopt CCD detectors for the Wide Field-Planetary Camera when there was not really any working CCD camera on any ground-based telescope. One of the great dramas of the construction programme was the remarkable ingenuity displayed by the late Jim Westphal, Jim Gunn and the team which constantly came up with innovative solutions to the many problems of implementing CCD cameras in space. The one really key lesson that we learned from the subsequent programme of observations was undoubtedly that the science which was undertaken by the HST was far more imaginative, creative and exciting than anything which the original proposers had imagined. That is what this ESLAB Symposium celebrated. The Eu- ropean contribution was essential to the success of the programme and brought with it a different astronomical perspective which I believe was very important scientifi- cally, as well as technically and politically. Equally amazingly, Duccio has seen the programme all the way through from 1977 to the present Symposium thirty years later. During this time, Duccio’s job Foreword vii has been to look after European interests in the construction, commissioning and operational phase of the Hubble Space Telescope. He has done this quite exception- ally well and it will be difficult to think of European involvement in the programme without him. I can even forgive him the time he nearly poisoned the whole Science Working Group in Paris by feeding them raw oysters. I was sorry I could not be at the Symposium, because of a wrecked right Achilles tendon, and share even more of my memories of these dramatic and ultimately su- perbly successful days. Memories will fade and we will only remember the fabulous success of the HST and Europe’s contribution to it. But there was a huge amount of human lifeblood and dedicated effort involved. Nobody epitomizes that spirit more than Duccio. His legacy is the superb quality of the science presented at this Symposium. Cambridge Malcolm Longair September 2007 Preface Since its launch in 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope has made major contribu- tions to all areas of astronomy and astrophysics. These range from the study of nearby planets, the processes of star and planet formation, the stellar and interstellar components of galaxies, the discovery that most, if not all, galactic nuclei harbor a massive black hole that profoundly affects their evolution, to the realisation that the universe as a whole is undergoing acceleration as a result of a yet unknown form of “dark energy”. European astronomers have made significant contributions to projects that have led to unprecedented progress in our understanding. However, the impact of HST goes beyond these direct contributions and continues to shape the key questions that need to be addressed not only with HST but with other space and ground based observatories. In addition Hubble has had an important role on the performance and productivity of several European facilities, such as the VLT or XMM-Newton, and in the near future it will benefit from the synergy with Herschel and ALMA. The primary aim of this symposium, the 41st in ESLAB series of the European Space Agency, was to review the key contribution that HST has made in all areas of astronomy and emphasise their impact on European astronomical research. The symposium took place from 29 May to 1 June 2007 at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, and this book contains the proceedings of the oral and poster papers that were presented and discussed during the meeting.