Hubble Space Telescope status and Solar System observing

Max Mutchler (STScI) NASA Astrophysics Assets Workshop at DPS National Harbor

10 November 2015

Observing  the  Solar  System  with  Hubble    

•  Hubble’s  is  capable  of  observing  almost  any  moving  target  in  the  Solar  System,  and  can  respond  to  transient  events  via  mid-­‐cycle  Director’s  Discre>onary  (DD)  proposals  

•  Hubble  has  a  strong  history  of  suppor>ng  planetary  missions  •  HST  and  JWST  ground  systems  share  some  commonality  

–  Today:  new  moving  target  features  for  the  Astronomer’s  Proposal  Tool  (APT)  

Observatory  Systems  Status  

   

Science  Instruments  

ACS   WFC  opera>ng  well.  Charge  transfer  degrada>on  correc>ons  in  place  for  WFC.  No  more  high-­‐res  (HRC).    

COS   New  blue  mode  extends  λ  to  900  Å.    Far-­‐UV  sensi>vity  remains  excellent  (ini>al  decline  has  arrested).  

STIS   Opera>ng  well.    Imaging,  spectroscopy,  coronagraphy.  

NICMOS   Safed,  warm.  

WFC3   Visible  and  near-­‐IR  channels.  Excellent  stability,  sensi>vity.    Spa>al  scanning  available.  Charge  transfer  correc>ons  for  UVIS  channel.  Persistence  maps  available  for  IR  channel.  

Fine  Guidance  Sensors   Slow  degrada>on  being  monitored,  understood.  

Electrical  and  Power  System   BaXeries  and  solar  arrays    -­‐  no  serious  issues.  

Poin>ng  and  Control  System   Gyros  opera>ng  beXer  than  expected  –  no  serious  issues.  

Data  Management  System   Lockups  are  rare  (1-­‐2x  per  year)  and  understood.  

Thermal  Control  System   Excellent,  no  serious  issues.  

One  or  more  years  of  opera>ons  overlap  with  JWST    appears  feasible  at  this  >me.  

Hubble  is  As  Powerful  As  Ever  Deep,  precise,  stable  pan-­‐chroma>c  imaging  

SliXed  and  slitless  spectroscopy,  coronagraphy,  astrometry  

Life  stories  of  galaxies  

Architecture  of  the  universe  

Recipes  for  building  planets  

Mysteries  of  dark  maXer  and  dark  energy  

Births  and  deaths  of  stars  

Hubble  Science  Output  •  12,673  papers  based  on  HST  data  through  2014  •  12,953  individuals  have  (co)authored  a  paper  based  on  HST  data  •  Roughly  40  PhD  theses  per  year  have  been  based  on  HST  data    

Year  of  Publica>on  

Refereed

 Papers  p

er  Year  

Dawn

New Horizons

Pluto 2015

Hubble support for planetary missions… …including hazard mitigation!

Comet Siding Spring at Mars

KBO destination for New Horizons: 2014 MU69 1 January 2019

Planning and visualizing HST and JWST Solar System observations with the Astronomers Proposal Tool (APT) and Aladin

apt.stsci.edu

Open  an  HST  Phase  II  program,  define  a  target  

Select  target  type  

Define  visits  and  exposures  

Scroll  to  Ephemeris  Generator  

Specify  date  range,  step  size  

Generate  ephemeris  

View  on  sky  in  Aladin,  load  DSS  

Strategizing:  offsets,  dithers,  >ming  

More  informa>on  and  acknowledgements  

•  APT website: apt.stsci.edu •  HST Phase II proposal instructions:

www.stsci.edu/hst/programs •  JWST Solar System observing:

jwst.nasa.gov/faq_solarsystem.html •  APT Solar System visualization development:

Chris Moriarity, Dave Sahnow, Ron Downes