Max Mutchler

STScI Research and Instrument Scientist

Bonnie Meinke

STScI Outreach Scientist

Hubble Science Briefing

2 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

2

Moving targets

require special

tracking,

observation

planning, and

data processing

Jupiter

24 Jan 2015

3

Moving targets

require special

tracking,

observation

planning, and

data processing

Jupiter

24 Jan 2015

4

Pre-launch hype, delays, and ground system

development (including moving-target tracking)

5

6

HST launch on 24 April 1990

7

Hubble’s cameras

8

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

The Trouble with Hubble 9

This is the new era of astronomy?

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11

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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

13

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 14

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

15

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

16

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) is disrupted by

Jupiter, and on course for a collision in 1994!

The stage is set… 17

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

The comeback story begins 18

The first Hubble

Servicing Mission (SM1)

in Dec 1993 was

effectively a rescue

mission

WFPC2 was installed 19

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)

20

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts Jupiter in July 1994,

providing a showcase for the repaired Hubble’s capabilities 21

22

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.

23

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

New instruments STIS and NICMOS provide ultraviolet

(UV) and infrared (IR) capability. 24

25

26

27

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

Getting the hardware up and running again 28

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

Advanced Camera for Surveys is installed, providing greater

sensitivity and resolution 29

Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS):

installed in 2002…failed in 2007… and partially

repaired in 2009 30

Advanced Camera for Surveys Wide Field Planetary Camera 2

ACS / HRC (High Resolution Channel)

ACS / WFC

31

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 Pluto See ASP article: http://astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/70/pluto.html

40

2005: Hubble images reveal two new moons of Pluto

41

Jim Christy

Annette and Patsy Tombaugh

Jim Christy

New Horizons launch

19 January 2006 42

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/

43

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

44

Citation from IAU Minor Planet Circular 56612 on the naming of

Asteroid “6815 Mutchler”

45

46

dwarf planet asteroid (small solar system body)

47

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” 48

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

Ceres Vesta 49

Dawn New

Horizons

Pluto

2015

Vesta

2011

Ceres

2015

2015 is the Year of the Dwarf Planets

Their spaceships have come in! 50

Hubble was deployed

and serviced by

the Space Shuttle

1990 Launch

1993 SM1

1997 SM2

1999 SM3A

2002 SM3B

2009 SM4

Since 2009, Hubble is better than ever and still a

workhorse for planetary exploration 51

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)

52

21 July 2009

53

Jupiter

reprises

its SM1

role!

54

Hubble observations of Comet ISON

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

55

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Comet SW3 fragment B on 18 April 2006:

Hubble sensitivity and resolution 57

Comet SW3 fragment B on 19 April 2006:

Hubble sensitivity and resolution 58

Imaging C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with the Hubble Space Telescope Jian-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 59

60

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…

61

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)

62

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)

63

Observation of aurorae on Ganymede

provides evidence of subsurface ocean

64

Supplemental slides

65

Main Belt Comets (active asteroids)

See Hubble Science Briefing from Feb 2014:

http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/services/events/telecons/

66

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.

67

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Launch 2018 68