The Impact of HST on European Astronomy

308 Pages·2010·11.965 MB·English

by  Paul A. Crowther (auth.), F. Duccio Macchetto (eds.)

Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings
The Impact of HST
on European Astronomy
F. Duccio Macchetto
Editor
SpaceTelescopeScienceInstitute(STScI),
Baltimore,MD21218, USA
Editor
Dr.F.DuccioMacchetto
SpaceTelescopeScience
Institute(STScI)
3700SanMartinDr.
Baltimore,MD21218
USA
[email protected]
ISSN1570-6591 e-ISSN1570-6605
ISBN978-90-481-3399-4 e-ISBN978-90-481-3400-7
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-3400-7
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
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Foreword
Remembrance of Things Past
ItscarcelyseemscrediblethatitwasalmostexactlythirtyyearsagothatIfirstmet
DuccioMacchettoatthefirstmeetingofthenewlyformedScienceWorkingGroup
ofwhatwasthencalledtheSpaceTelescopeproject.Wewerethereinslightlydif-
ferentroles,DuccioastheprojectscientistfortheFaintObjectCameraandIasan
interdisciplinary scientist. Henk van de Hulst was also there as the official repre-
sentativeofESO.Theapprovaloftheprojectwastheendresultofagreatdealof
lobbying and politicking both in the USA and Europe, the European contribution
provingessentialtotheapprovalprocessintheUSA.Thoseinterestedinthenitty-
grittyoftheprocessshouldreadRobertSmith’soutstandinghistoryoftheHubble
SpaceTelescope.
Weshouldhaverealizedearlyonthatwewereinforaroughtime.Atthatfirst
meeting of the Science Working Group I remember vividly NASA Headquarters
telling us that the Space Telescope was a success-oriented programme that would
costM$680.Well,wecouldlivewiththecost-tag,butweshouldhavehadconcerns
abouttheexpression“success-oriented”.Thismeantthateverythingshouldturnout
exactlyasplanned,theprojectwouldbecarriedoutwithintheprojectedtime-scale
andbudgetandthetelescopewouldbelaunchedin1983.Well,therestishistory.
We learned a lot of useful jargon along the way. During one particularly wor-
risomeperiod,theprojectmanagerannouncedwithconfidence“Wehavenoprob-
lems;wehavethefollowingconcerns”—allspokenwithacompletelystraightface.
During the difficult years up to about 1983, the programme ran through a number
ofprojectmanagers.Therootcausewasthesame—theprojectcouldnotbecar-
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
undertheirbeltandwasexactlytherightpersontosolvealltheSpaceTelescope’s
fundingandmanagementproblems.Theyneverlastedmorethanabouttwoorthree
meetingsbeforetheywerereplacedbyanotheroutstandingmanagerwiththesame
credentialswhowouldsoonsufferthesamefate.Eventually,whentheprojectwas
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
successfulconclusion.
v
vi Foreword
TheEuropeanswereinaninterestingpositionsinceweonlyhada15%stakein
theproject,butmanyofushadarguedsuccessfullythatwehadtobeintheSpace
Telescopeprojectasofrightratherthanasguests.Probablythemostimportantthing
thethreeofushadtodowastoremindourAmericancolleaguesthatthisreallywas
aninternationalprojectandthatEuropehadalottocontributetotheprojectinmany
differentways.ItwasinterestingtocontrasttheESAapproachwiththatofourUS
colleagues who were largely University based, but supported by major aerospace
companies.TheprofessionalismofDuccioandhisESAcolleaguesshonethrough
whilealltheagonizingwascentredonthemanyproblemswhichtheUSinstruments
hadtoovercomeandbuildingthetelescopewithinareasonablebudget.
Despitealltheagonies,thetelescopewaslaunchedin1990andthenthespherical
aberration problem with the primary mirror surfaced. This was the mirror which
hadcompletelyblownourmindswhenwewereshowntheamazinginterferometer
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
withthesameset-upwhichhadbeenusedtopolishit.Theinterestingaspectofthe
story was that the ScienceWorking Groupcould not actuallyget their hands dirty
inparticipatinginthetests.Theysimplyhadtoacceptwhattheywereshownbythe
contractors.
Theverypositivesideofthisstorywasthesubsequentcrashprogrammetorescue
themissionandrestorethefullscientificcapabilityofthetelescope.TheSpaceTele-
scopeScienceInstituteandNASAworkedtogetherin an extraordinaryendeavour
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-
allyreceivemyguaranteedtimeobservationsin1996.MystudentPhilipBestdida
splendidjobinanalyzingourwonderfulimagesoflargeredshiftradiogalaxies.As
heremarkedinthecolloquiumhegavedescribinghisexcellentanalysisofthedata,
hewasonlyfouryearsoldwhenIhadsubmittedtheoriginalproposalin1977.
Whatisreallyremarkableistheextraordinarychangeinastronomicalperspective
since the project was approved in 1977. It was a really brave decision to adopt
CCDdetectorsfortheWideField-PlanetaryCamerawhentherewasnotreallyany
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
solutionstothemanyproblemsofimplementingCCDcamerasinspace.
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
proposershadimagined.ThatiswhatthisESLABSymposiumcelebrated.TheEu-
ropeancontributionwasessentialtothesuccessoftheprogrammeandbroughtwith
itadifferentastronomicalperspectivewhichIbelievewasveryimportantscientifi-
cally,aswellastechnicallyandpolitically.
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
operationalphaseoftheHubbleSpaceTelescope.Hehasdonethisquiteexception-
allywellanditwillbedifficulttothinkofEuropeaninvolvementintheprogramme
withouthim.IcanevenforgivehimthetimehenearlypoisonedthewholeScience
WorkingGroupinParisbyfeedingthemrawoysters.
IwassorryIcouldnotbeattheSymposium,becauseofawreckedrightAchilles
tendon,andshareevenmoreofmymemoriesofthesedramaticandultimatelysu-
perblysuccessfuldays.Memorieswillfadeandwewillonlyrememberthefabulous
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
morethanDuccio.Hislegacyisthesuperbqualityofthesciencepresentedatthis
Symposium.
Cambridge MalcolmLongair
September2007
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
nearbyplanets,theprocessesofstarandplanetformation,thestellarandinterstellar
componentsofgalaxies,thediscoverythatmost,ifnotall,galacticnucleiharbora
massiveblackholethatprofoundlyaffectstheirevolution,totherealisationthatthe
universeasawholeisundergoingaccelerationasaresultofayetunknownformof
“darkenergy”.
Europeanastronomershavemadesignificantcontributionstoprojectsthathave
led to unprecedented progress in our understanding. However, the impact of HST
goesbeyondthesedirectcontributionsandcontinuestoshapethekeyquestionsthat
need to be addressed not only with HST but with other space and ground based
observatories.InadditionHubblehashadanimportantroleontheperformanceand
productivityofseveralEuropeanfacilities,suchastheVLTorXMM-Newton,and
inthenearfutureitwillbenefitfromthesynergywithHerschelandALMA.
Theprimaryaimofthissymposium,the41stinESLABseriesoftheEuropean
Space Agency, was to review the key contribution that HST has made in all areas
ofastronomyandemphasisetheirimpactonEuropeanastronomicalresearch.The
symposiumtookplacefrom29Mayto1June2007attheEuropeanSpaceResearch
and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, and this book contains the
proceedingsoftheoralandposterpapersthatwerepresentedanddiscussedduring
themeeting.
The publication of this book took longer than anticipated, since obtaining the
individual contributions from some very busy colleagues proved harder than we
thought. However, we gladly decided to wait for them, as the purpose of this vol-
umeistoofferabroadperspectiveoftheadvancementsmadepossiblebytheHST
overitsalmosttwodecadesofoperation,ratherthanportrayingjustthemostrecent
discoveries.Wearefortunatethatthisvolumeseesthelightrightatthetimewhena
newHST,fullyrefurbishedandupgradedafterServicingMission4,becomesavail-
able to the European and world-wide astronomical community to answer some of
themanystillopenquestions.
Noordwijk DuccioMacchetto&GuidoDeMarchi
May2009
ix
Contents
PartI Stars,StarFormation,StellarPopulationsandPlanets
1 HotMassiveStars:TheImpactofHST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PaulA.Crowther
2 HSTSpectroscopyoftheHottestWhiteDwarfs . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
ThomasRauchandKlausWerner
3 KeyAbundanceTracersintheUV:FromtheLightesttotheHeaviest 15
FrancescaPrimas
4 UV Spectroscopy of Metal-Poor Massive Stars in the Small
MagellanicCloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
DanielJ.Lennon
5 StarFormationHistoriesofResolvedGalaxies . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
MonicaTosi
6 HST’sViewoftheYoungestMassiveStarsintheMagellanicClouds 31
M.Heydari-Malayeri,M.R.Rosa,V.Charmandaris,L.Deharveng,
F.Martins,F.Meynadier,D.Schaerer,andH.Zinnecker
7 PlanetaryNebulaeandTheirCentralStarsintheMagellanicClouds 37
EvaVillaver,LetiziaStanghellini,andRichardA.Shaw
8 ALookatNeutronStarswithHST:FromPositionstoPhysics . . . . 41
PatriziaCaraveo
9 TheHSTContributiontoNeutronStarAstronomy . . . . . . . . . . 47
RobertoP.Mignani
10 ExoticPopulationsinGalacticGlobularClusters . . . . . . . . . . . 51
FrancescoR.Ferraro
xi
xii Contents
11 TheStellarMassFunctioninGlobularClusters . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
GuidoDeMarchi
12 EarlyPhasesofProtoplanetaryDiskEvolution . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
IngaKamp
13 UnveilingtheRoleofJetsinStarFormation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
DeirdreCoffey,FrancescaBacciotti,ThomasP.Ray,andJochenEislöffel
14 AHubbleViewofStarFormingRegionsintheMagellanicClouds 71
Dimitrios A. Gouliermis, Thomas Henning, Wolfgang Brandner,
Michael R. Rosa, Andrew E. Dolphin, Markus Schmalzl,
Eva Hennekemper,Hans Zinnecker, Nino Panagia, You-HuaChu,
Bernhard Brandl, Sascha P. Quanz, Massimo Robberto,
GuidoDeMarchi,RobertA.Gruendl,andMartinoRomaniello
15 APreliminaryBudgetfortheIonizingPhotonsinHIIRegionsofM51 77
LeonelGutiérrezandJohnBeckman
PartII NearbyGalaxies,Bulges,SpheroidsandGalaxyFormation
16 NewHSTViewsatOldStellarSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
AlvioRenzini
17 YoungMassiveStarClustersintheEraoftheHubbleSpaceTelescope 91
RicharddeGrijs
18 TheCentralRegionsofEarly-TypeGalaxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
AndrésJordán
19 NuclearStarClustersAcrosstheHubbleSequence . . . . . . . . . . 99
TorstenBöker
20 StellarPopulationsintheOutskirtsofM31:TheViewfromHST . . 105
AnnetteM.N.Ferguson
21 VariableStarsin“Nearby”GalaxieswithHST . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
GisellaClementini
22 ExtremelyMetal-PoorStar-FormingDwarfGalaxies . . . . . . . . . 119
AlessandraAloisi
23 ResolvedStellarPopulationsinNearbyGalaxyHalos . . . . . . . . . 123
MarinaRejkuba