# Presentation: 475566

## Astrophysics Division UpdatetoAAACOctober 12, 2006

- Rick Howard
- Astrophysics Division Director (acting)
- Science Mission Directorate
- NASA Headquarters

## Recent Cover Stories

- September 4, 2006

**Notes:**
   Astronomers have discovered nearly 300 galaxy clusters & groups, including almost 100 located 8 to 10 billion light-yrs away, using Spitzer & the ground-based Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Ariz. The new sample represents a 6-fold increase in the number of known galaxy clusters & groups at such extreme distances, & will allow astronomers to systematically study massive galaxies two-thirds of the way back to the Big Bang.
   A mosaic portraying a bird's eye view of the field in which the distant clusters were found is shown at upper left. It spans a region of sky 40 times larger than that covered by the full moon as seen from Earth. Thousands of individual images from Spitzer's IR array camera instrument were stitched together to create this mosaic. The distant clusters are marked with orange dots.
   Close-up images of 3 of the distant galaxy clusters are shown in the adjoining panels. The clusters appear as a concentration of red dots near the center of each image. These images reveal the galaxies as they were over 8 billion yrs ago, since that's how long their light took to reach Earth & Spitzer's IR eyes.
   These pictures are false-color composites, combining ground-based optical images captured by the Mosaic-I camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, with IR pictures taken by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Blue & green represent visible light at wavelengths of 0.4 microns & 0.8 microns, respectively, while red indicates infrared light at 4.5 microns.
Kitt Peak National Observatory is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tuscon, Ariz.
Object type:Galaxy Clusters   Position (J2000):RA: 14h32m5.00s  Dec: 34d16m48.00s
Spitzer Data
Image Credit:	NASA/JPL-Caltech/ M. Brodwin (JPL)
Instrument:IRAC   Wavelength:4.5 microns (red)
Exposure Date:January 10 - 14, 2004   Exposure Time:90 seconds
Image scale:	7 x 7 arcminutes per inset
Other Data
Instrument:	Mosaic-I camera on KPNO Mayall 4-m telescope
Wavelength:	0.4 micron (blue), 0.8 micron (green)
Exposure Date: April 2000 - April 2004   Exposure Time: 1 - 2 hours (blue), 2 - 4 hours (green)

- NASA/JPL-Caltech/Yale Univ.

## Slide 5

## Slide 6

**Notes:**
   The HST observation of the diminutive companion to the low-mass red dwarf star CHXR 73 is a dramatic reminder that astronomers do not have a consensus in deciding which objects orbiting other stars are truly planets — even though they have at last agreed on how they will apply the definition of "planet" to objects inside our solar system.
   Kevin Luhman (Penn State Univ, University Park, PA) leader of the team that found the object, called CHXR 73 B, is casting his vote for a brown dwarf. "New, more sensitive telescopes are finding smaller and smaller objects of planetary-mass size," said Luhman. "These discoveries have prompted astronomers to ask the question, are planetary-mass companions always planets?"
   Some astronomers suggest that an extrasolar object's mass determines whether it is a planet. Luhman & others advocate that an object is only a planet if it formed from the disk of gas & dust that commonly encircles a newborn star. Our solar system planets formed 4.6 billion yrs ago out of a dust disk around our Sun.   Brown dwarfs, by contrast, form just like stars: from the gravitational collapse of large, diffuse clouds of hydrogen gas. Unlike stars, brown dwarfs do not have quite enough mass to ignite hydrogen fusion reactions in their cores, which power stars such as our Sun.
   CHXR 73 B is 19.5 billion miles from its red dwarf sun. That's ~200 times farther than Earth is from our Sun. At 2 million yrs old, the star is very young when compared with our middle-aged 4.6-billion-yr-old Sun.
   "The object is so far away from its star that it is unlikely to have formed in a circumstellar disk," Luhman explained. Disks around low-mass stars are about 5 to 10 billion miles in diameter. There isn't enough material at that distance from the red dwarf to create a planet. Theoretical models show that giant planets like Jupiter form no more than about 3 billion miles from their stars.
   HST’s Advanced Camera for Surveys discovered the object while conducting a survey of free-floating brown dwarfs. Astronomers have found hundreds of brown dwarfs in our galaxy since the first brown dwarfs were spied about a decade ago. Most of them are floating through space and not orbiting stars.
   "It is important to study young star systems to understand how small bodies formed. Young brown dwarfs are brighter than older, cooler brown dwarfs. This allows them to be seen even at lower masses, where older dwarfs would still be undetectable," said team member John Wilson(Univ. of VA, Charlottesville).
   One way to further settle the uncertainty would be if a disk of dust could be observed around CHXR 73's companion. Like stars, brown dwarfs have circumstellar disks, too. They would be no more than about 2 billion miles in diameter.
   Spitzer has detected disks around several free-floating brown dwarfs. But CHXR 73 B is too close to its star for Spitzer to detect the disk. So astronomers will have to wait for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2013 to determine if this companion has a disk. The Webb telescope will combine Hubble's sharpness, which is needed for detecting close companions, and Spitzer's infrared sensitivity, which is necessary for seeing cool, dusty disks.
   The team's result will appear in the Sept. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

## Slide 7

**Notes:**
standing the origin of galaxies, considering that just a decade ago early galaxy formation was largely uncharted territory. Astronomers had not seen even 1 galaxy that existed when the universe was a billion yrs old, so finding 500 in a Hubble survey is a significant leap forward for cosmologists.
   The galaxies unveiled by Hubble are smaller than today's giant galaxies & very bluish in color, indicating they are ablaze with star birth. Images appear red because of the galaxies' tremendous distance from Earth. The blue light from their young stars took nearly 13 billion yrs to arrive at Earth. During the journey, the blue light was shifted to red light due to the expansion of space. "Finding so many of these dwarf galaxies, but so few bright ones, is evidence for galaxies building up from small pieces - merging together as predicted by the hierarchical theory of galaxy formation," said astronomer Rychard Bouwens (Univ of CA, Santa Cruz) who led the Hubble study.
   Bouwens & his team spied these galaxies in an analysis of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), completed in 2004, & the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), made in 2003. The results were presented Aug 17 at the 2006 General Assembly of the IAU, & will be published in the Nov 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
   The findings also show that these dwarf galaxies were producing stars at a furious rate, ~10 times faster than is happening now in nearby galaxies. Astronomers have long debated whether the hottest stars in early star-forming galaxies, such as those in this study, may have provided enough radiation to reheat the cold hydrogen gas that existed between galaxies in the early universe. The gas had been cooling since the Big Bang. "Seeing all of these starburst galaxies provides evidence that there were enough galaxies 1 billion yrs after the Big Bang to finish reheating the universe," explained team member Garth Illingworth (Univ of CA, Santa Cruz). "It highlights a period of fundamental change in the universe, and we are seeing the galaxy population that brought about that change."
   In terms of human lifetimes, cosmic events happen very slowly. The evolution of galaxies & stars, for example, occurs over billions of yrs. Astronomers, therefore, rarely witness dramatic, relatively brief transitions that changed the universe. One such event was the universe's "reheating." The reheating, driven by the galaxies' ultraviolet starlight, transformed the gas between galaxies from a cold, dark hydrogen soup to a hot, transparent plasma over only a few 100 million yrs. With Hubble's help, astronomers are now beginning to see the kinds of galaxies that brought about the reheating.
   Just a few years ago, astronomers did not have the technology to hunt for faraway galaxies in large numbers. The installation of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard HST in 2002 allowed astronomers to probe some of the deepest recesses of our universe. Astronomers used the ACS to observe distant galaxies in the HUDF and GOODS surveys.
   Another major step in the exploration of the universe's earliest yrs will occur if Hubble undergoes an upgrade with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 3 (WFC3). WFC3's IR sensitivity will allow it to detect galaxies so far away their starlight has been stretched to IR wavelengths by the expanding universe.	
Object Description:  Distant Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field   Constellation: Fornax
Position (J2000):  R.A. 3h 32m 40s.0  Dec. -27° 48' 00”   Exposure Time: 11.3 days
Instrument: 	ACS/WFC     Filters: F435W (B), F606W (V), F775W (i), F850LP (z)
Exposure Date(s): September 24, 2003 - January 16, 2004

## HST - 16 Candidate Planets at the Center of Our Galaxy

**HST - 16 Candidate Planets at the Center of Our Galaxy**

- This discovery is the culmination of the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS).   **The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was used to look farther than has ever successfully been searched for extrasolar planets**, looking at 180,000 stars in the crowded central bulge of our galaxy 26,000 light-years away.
**Five**** ****of the newly discovered planets represent a new extreme type of planet not found in any nearby searches.** Dubbed Ultra-Short-Period Planets (USPPs), these worlds whirl around their stars in less than one Earth day, and would heated to a temperature of 3,000 F.
- HST could not view directly the 16 newly found planet candidates. Astronomers used Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys to search for planets by measuring the slight dimming of a star due to the passage of a planet in front of it, an event called a ***transit***. The planet would have to be about the size of Jupiter to block enough starlight, about one to 10%, to be measurable by HST.   (They are called *candidates* because they are too distant to study for follow-up evidence, such as the wobble of the star caused by the planet.)
**The planets tend to be found with stars high in heavier elements,** supporting theories that higher elements are needed in star systems for planets to form.
- When extrapolated to the entire galaxy, HST's data provides strong evidence for the existence of **about 6 billion Jupiter-sized planets in the Milky Way.**

## Division Press Events

**WMAP:**	Universe’s First Trillionth of a Second Glimpsed	March 16, 2006
**Spitzer:**	Finds Hints of Planet Birth Around Dead Planet	April 5, 2006
**HST:**	“Tenth Planet” Slightly Larger than Pluto	April 11, 2006
**ATP/LISA: **Black Hole Merger Simulation Breakthrough	April 18, 2006
**Chandra:** Black Holes found to be Energy Efficient	April 24, 2006
**FUSE:**      Infant Solar System Awash in Carbon	June 7, 2006
**Chandra:** Solves Black Hole Paradox 	June 21, 2006
**Hubble:** 	Update on Hubble Camera Operations	June 30, 2006
**Chandra:** Dark Matter Discovery	August 21, 2006
**2006 Nobel Physics** Prize to Mather & Smoot	October 3, 2006 *
**Hubble:** Exosolar Planets Far Across Galaxy	October 4, 2006 *

- *  Televised events

**Notes:**
Hubble: Heaviest Stars - Mar 9, 05 (Donald Figer)
   - HST observes the Arches cluster which is a rich, nearby star cluster with massive stars.
   - Sets upper limit of 150 solar masses for stars that form in our galaxy.
Spitzer: Marks new age - Mar 22, 05 (David Charbonneau and Drake Deming)
   - Spitzer first to directly see light from an extrasolar planet.
   - IR detection -> planets bright in IR relative to their “suns”
Spitzer: Asteroid belt - Apr 20, 05 (Charles Beichman)
   - First evidence for an asteroid belt around a star like our Sun.
   - This is the rubble of planet formation.
Chandra: X-ray super flares - May 10, 05  (team led by Eric Feigelson)
   - Observation of Orion Nebula.   These are young stars.
   - X-ray super flares torched our young solar system at the time that planets were forming.
Hubble: Unruly planet - Jun 22, 05  (team led by Paul Kalas)
   - Warped dust ring around nearby star suggests it is being gravitationally “tugged” by unseen planet.
Swift: Most distant explosion detected - Sep 12, 05  (?)
   - Most distant gamma-ray burst ever seen.
   - Ground-based observations find redshift of ~6.2 - burst occurred ~900 million years after the Big Bang.
   - Death of an early massive star.

## Recent Activities in Astrophysics Division

- SOFIA reinstated (funding from SIM in 07) - July 6.
- Kepler held Replan Continuation Review - July 26.
- GLAST LAT TV completed, at Spectrum Astro.
- WISE provided budget profile and program direction (Delta CR October 13.)
- Spitzer went into safehold Aug. 19. Switched from Side A to Side B on C+DH (13 days of science lost in total).
- 3 JDEM concept studies selected for two year study - Aug 9.
- JDEM Joint response to Congress in early August.
- Exo-Planet Task Force (ExoPTF) in the works.
- BE NRC assessment - request letter sent, proposal received, funding started.
- SOFIA Program Office moved to DFRC, Baseline Plan Review Nov 1.
- GP-B SAC - Sept 6-8, approved DA extension.

## Recent Activities in Astrophysics Division (cont.)

- HST ACS went into suspend mode June 19, +15V PS in side 1 suspected, switch to side 2 electronics box successful June 30 .
- HST ACS (HRC) went into suspend mode Sept 23, relay toggle worked/ACS back to nominal Oct 10.
- Division Director position posted Sept 1 - Oct 31, open to all sources.
- Program Scientist position will be posted within NASA soon.
- Jennifer Wiseman will be transferring to GSFC effective mid-November 2006.  She will be the Chief of the Laboratory for Exoplanet and Stellar Astrophysics.
- Hubble PS assignment will transition to Jeff Hayes.
- SIM PS assignment will transition to Stephen Ridgway.
- Herschel PS assignment will transition to Doug Hudgins.

## Prizes and Appointments

- Astronomer Adam Riess of STScI and John Hopkins University (and two colleagues) were awarded the $1M Shaw Prize in Astronomy, for their discovery of the mysterious “dark energy” that is causing the universe to expand at an ever-faster rate.
- The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named Dr. Robert Williams (Space Telescope Institute) as its 2009 President-Elect.
- John Mather (GSFC) and the COBE science team, including Dr Michael G. Hauser (Space Telescope Institute deputy director), are sharing the Peter Gruber Foundations 2006 Cosmology Prize for fundamental advances in the field of cosmology.
- R&A Grantee Andrew Lange (Caltech) and his co-investigator Paulo de Bernardis of Italy are the 2006 Balzan Prize for Astronomy and Astrophysics for their contributions to cosmology, in particular the Boomerang Antarctic balloon experiment.
- Mather (GSFC) and Smoot (LBNL) are sharing 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.

**Notes:**
Hubble: Heaviest Stars - Mar 9, 05 (Donald Figer)
   - HST observes the Arches cluster which is a rich, nearby star cluster with massive stars.
   - Sets upper limit of 150 solar masses for stars that form in our galaxy.
Spitzer: Marks new age - Mar 22, 05 (David Charbonneau and Drake Deming)
   - Spitzer first to directly see light from an extrasolar planet.
   - IR detection -> planets bright in IR relative to their “suns”
Spitzer: Asteroid belt - Apr 20, 05 (Charles Beichman)
   - First evidence for an asteroid belt around a star like our Sun.
   - This is the rubble of planet formation.
Chandra: X-ray super flares - May 10, 05  (team led by Eric Feigelson)
   - Observation of Orion Nebula.   These are young stars.
   - X-ray super flares torched our young solar system at the time that planets were forming.
Hubble: Unruly planet - Jun 22, 05  (team led by Paul Kalas)
   - Warped dust ring around nearby star suggests it is being gravitationally “tugged” by unseen planet.
Swift: Most distant explosion detected - Sep 12, 05  (?)
   - Most distant gamma-ray burst ever seen.
   - Ground-based observations find redshift of ~6.2 - burst occurred ~900 million years after the Big Bang.
   - Death of an early massive star.

## 2006 Balzan Prize for 

- Fisica Spazielw Universita’ degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza
- Physics Department, California Institute of Technology
**"For their contributions to cosmology, in particular the Boomerang Antarctic balloon experiment.”**
- Details about  the Prize are available at:
- _http://www.balzan.com/en/preistraeger/preistraeger06.cfm_
- “One of the highest awards for science, culture and humanitarian achievement, ranking close to the Nobel Prize”
- This prize comes with 1 Million Swiss Francs
- Awarded only occasionally for **Observational ****	****	****Astronomy and Astrophysics**
- Reinhard Genzel  (2003)
- Fred Hoyle and Martin Schwarzchild (1994)
- Martin Rees  (1989)
- Jan Oort  (1984)
- Award ceremony in Rome on November 2
- Alternates with Bern, Switzerland

**0**

**2006 Balzan Prize for **
**Astronomy and Astrophysics**

*04-27-00 issue*

**Notes:**
The picture shows the cover from the scientific journal “Nature” featuring results form the BOOMERANG balloon flight in Antarctica. 

## 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics

- Goddard Space Flight Center
- University of California, Berkeley
** “****for their discovery of the blackbody form and anistropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation”**
- Details about the Prize:  _[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/)_
- This prize comes with $10 million in Swedish kronor (SEK).

**0**

**2006 Nobel Prize in Physics**

- COBE

- Awarded only occasionally for astrophysical topics:
- Davis, Koshiba & Giacconi (2002)
- Hulse & Taylor (1993)
- Chandrasekhar & Fowler (1983)
- Penzias & Wilson (1978)
- Hans Bethe (1967)
- Award ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

**Notes:**
The picture shows the cover from the scientific journal “Nature” featuring results form the BOOMERANG balloon flight in Antarctica. 

## Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Result

- Mather COBE Project Scientist.
- Mather PI for COBE Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrometer (FIRAS) instrument.
- Measured temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB): 2.726 +/- 0.010 K over the wavelength range from 0.5 to 5 mm.
- Deviates from _pure blackbody spectrum_ by less than 0.01%.
- Small deviation places strict limits on energy release after Universe was 1 year old! (z~3x106).
- Supreme confirmation of Big Bang theory for creation of the universe which requires relic radiation signature to be a black body.

- COBE satellite

##  Astrophysics Division

** ****Astrophysics Division**
**Developmental Missions Status**

## Slide 17

##  Astrophysics Division

** ****Astrophysics Division**
**Operating Missions Status**