Max MutchlerSTScI Research and Instrument Scientist

Bonnie MeinkeSTScI Outreach Scientist

Hubble Science Briefing2 April 2015

Hubble’s planetary mission

Hubble has been good for planetary science – and vice versa

• Hubble is capable of observing almost any moving target in the Solar System, with a quick response to transient events

• Best of both worlds: Hubble has a strong history of supporting (and sometimes inspiring) planetary missions

• Hubble’s superb sensitivity and resolution are ideal for studying small Solar System bodies or features

• Important planetary observations have happened at critical points in the Hubble mission

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Moving targets require special tracking, observation planning, and data processing

Jupiter24 Jan 2015

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Moving targets require special tracking, observation planning, and data processing

Jupiter24 Jan 2015

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Pre-launch hype, delays, and ground system development (including moving-target tracking)

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HST launch on 24 April 1990

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Hubble’s cameras

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Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

The Trouble with Hubble 99

This is the new era of astronomy?

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1111

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10. The guy at Sears promised it would work fine. 9. Some kids on Earth must be fooling around with a garage door opener. 8. There's a little doohickey rubbing against the part that looks kind of like a cowboy hat. 7. See if you can think straight after 12 days of drinking Tang. 6. Bum with squeegee smeared lens at red light. 5. Blueprints drawn up by that "Hey Vern!” guy. 4. Those damn raccoons! 3. Shouldn't have used G.E. components. 2. Ran out of quarters. 1. Race of super-evolved galactic beings are screwing with us.

Top Ten Hubble Telescope Excuses

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Solar System observations helped fill the void until the first HST Servicing Mission (SM1)

Despite bugs, breakdowns, and its famous mirror flaw, Hubble still gives a clear view of the cosmos - sometimes

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Views Major Storm On Saturnhttp://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/solar-system/1991/04/

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ESA Faint Object Camera (FOC) Images Pluto the "Double Planet"http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/solar-system/1990/14/

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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) is disrupted by Jupiter, and on course for a collision in 1994!

The stage is set…1717

Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

The comeback story begins 1818

The first Hubble Servicing Mission (SM1) in Dec 1993 was effectively a rescue mission

WFPC2 was installed1919

Wide Field 2(WF2)

Wide Field 3(WF3)

Wide Field 4(WF4)

Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images had a strange shape due to the high resolution planetary camera (PC)

Planetary Camera (PC1)

2020

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts Jupiter in July 1994, providing a showcase for the repaired Hubble’s capabilities 2121

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Hubble observations of Saturn 1996-2000

As Saturn takes its 29-year journey around the Sun, its tilt allows us to see its rings from different perspectives.

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Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

New instruments STIS and NICMOS provide ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) capability.

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Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

Getting the hardware up and running again2828

Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

Advanced Camera for Surveys is installed, providing greater sensitivity and resolution

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Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS):Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS):installed in 2002…failed in 2007… and partially installed in 2002…failed in 2007… and partially repaired in 2009repaired in 2009

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Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Planetary Camera 2

ACS / HRC (High Resolution Channel)

ACS / WFC

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Hubble observations of giant planets (and their rings and moons)

Without probes exploring these planets, Hubble is the best tool for exploring the outer solar system.

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Monitoring Mars

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Columbia accident in 2003

Hubble SM4 cancelled in 2004

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Ceres

Main Asteroid Belt Kuiper Belt Discovered 1801-1851 Discovered in 1992…or 1930 (Pluto)

Hubble observations of dwarf planets Ceres and PlutoSee ASP article: http://astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/70/pluto.html

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2005: Hubble images reveal two new moons of Pluto

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Jim Christy

Annette and Patsy TombaughAnnette and Patsy Tombaugh

Jim Christy Jim Christy

New HorizonsNew Horizons launch launch19 January 200619 January 2006 4242

2011-2012: Hubble discovers two more Pluto moons while looking for hazards for the New Horizons spacecraft

They were later named Styx and Kerberos – despite the suggestion from Captain Kirk and Spock

2014: Hubble discovers two Kuiper Belt Objects that New Horizons could fly by after Pluto

See Hubble Science Briefing from 2012:http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/services/events/telecons/

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New Horizons spots Nix and Hydra orbiting Pluto(“Better Than Hubble” date in late April or early May)

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150218 4444

Citation from IAU Minor Planet Circular 56612 on the naming of

Asteroid “6815 Mutchler”

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dwarf planet asteroid (small solar system body)

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Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres

Launched September 27, 2007

See Google hangouts on YouTube about Hubble observations of Vesta and Ceres in support of Dawn:

“Dawn mission: Hubble inspired” 4848

Dawn’s “Better Than Hubble” date for Ceres was 26 Jan 2015

Ceres Vesta4949

Dawn New Horizons

Pluto 2015

Vesta2011

Ceres2015

2015 is the Year of the Dwarf Planets

Their spaceships have come in! 5050

Hubble was deployed and serviced by the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch1993 SM11997 SM21999 SM3A2002 SM3B2009 SM4

Since 2009, Hubble is better than ever and still a workhorse for planetary exploration

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Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)

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21 July 2009

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Jupiter reprises its SM1 role!

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Hubble observations of Comet ISON

See ASP article:http://heritage.stsci.edu/2013/47/supplemental/ab2013-118-hubble-encounters-ison.pdf

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Comet SW3 fragment B on 18 April 2006:Hubble sensitivity and resolution

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Comet SW3 fragment B on 19 April 2006:Hubble sensitivity and resolution

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Imaging C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with the Hubble Space TelescopeJian-Yang Li, Michael S.P. Kelley, Tony L. Farnham, Nalin H. Samarasinha, Carey M. Lisse, Michael F. A'Hearn, Max J. Mutchler, and W. Alan Delamere, ACM Helsinki 2014

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Will their spaceship come in?

Most Solar System objects will be explored using only Earth-based resources, until those observations justify new probes sent to explore them in greater detail…

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This graphic shows the location of water vapor detected over Europa's south pole that provides the first strong evidence of water plumes erupting off Europa's surface. Hubble didn't photograph plumes, but spectroscopically detected auroral emissions from oxygen and hydrogen. The aurora is powered by Jupiter's magnetic field. The image of Europa is derived from a global surface map generated from Voyager and Galileo observations.

Science Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute and University of Cologne, Germany), J. Saur (University of Cologne, Germany), K. Retherford (Southwest Research Institute), D. Strobel and P. Feldman (Johns Hopkins University), M. McGrath (Marshall Space Flight Center), and F. Nimmo (University of California, Santa Cruz)

NASA/ESA/L. Roth (Southwest Research Institute and University of Cologne, Germany)

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This is an artist's concept of a plume of water vapor thought to

be ejected off of the frigid, icy surface of the Jovian moon

Europa, located 500 million miles from the Sun.

Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic measurements

lead scientists to calculate that the plume rises to an altitude of

125 miles and then probably rains frost back onto the moon's

surface. Previous findings already point to a subsurface

ocean under Europa's icy crust.

Artwork Credit: NASA, ESA, and K. Retherford (Southwest Research Institute)

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Observation of aurorae on Ganymede provides evidence of subsurface ocean

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Supplemental slides

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Main Belt Comets (active asteroids)

See Hubble Science Briefing from Feb 2014:http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/services/events/telecons/

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Hubble now studies planets beyond our Solar System:

Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic measurements

allow scientists to examine atmospheres of exoplanets

We see Kuiper Belts and planets around other stars.

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James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Launch 20186868