Hubblecast Episode 40: Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) – Hubble’s New Miracle Camera In early 2009, a team of astronauts visited Hubble to repair the wear and tear of twenty years of operating in a hostile environment – and to install two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, and Wide Field Camera 3 – better known as WFC3. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a combined ultraviolet, visible and infrared camera that dramatically extends Hubble’s ability to image astronomical objects. With these new capabilities, Hubble is still pushing the boundaries of science after two decades in orbit. In episode 30 of the Hubblecast, we saw some of the very first pictures to come back from Wide Field Camera 3, Hubble’s newest and most advanced instrument. Today we’re going to look at some of the science behind these pictures. We’ll find out how this remarkable new camera is helping Hubble to see the invisible, look far back in time and spot objects further away from us than ever before. WFC3 was installed on Hubble in place of WFPC2, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which for many years had been the main workhorse instrument on Hubble. Not only do the two instruments have very similar names, and look virtually identical, the capabilities of WFC3 are also in some respects just a tweaked version of those of its predecessor — although with sharper pictures and more …

Science & Reason on Facebook: tinyurl.com The Hidden Universe (Episode 20): Cassiopeia A – Echoes of a Supernova A supernova flash echoing through surrounding dust clouds has given astronomers a virtual time machine for studying the light from the explosion that nobody saw. This is the Hidden Universe of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, exploring the mysteries of infrared astronomy with your host Dr. Robert Hurt. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — It’s the 17th century supernova that nobody saw, but telescopes in space and on Earth have teamed up to look back in time and study it today! When a massive star reaches its end of days it explodes dramatically and, for a few months, can outshine anything else in the galaxy. Earlier supernovas had been seen by many, often shining brighter than the planets. Of course with no witnesses, and no records, it’s difficult to tell exactly what kind of supernova it was. A team led by astronomer Oliver Krause has, over the last few years, made a remarkable series of infrared observations of the region. These Spitzer Space Telescope images show shifting patterns of glowing dust beyond the remnant itself. These changes are so fast that they indicate motion at the speed of light! To get what’s happening we have to remember that light moves fast, but in such a vast galaxy it still takes a while for it to get anywhere. Cassiopeia A (Cas A) itself is about 11000 …

Science & Reason on Facebook: tinyurl.com “The Andromeda Galaxy” with Jane Houston Jones at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — The Andromeda Galaxy (also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224) is a spiral galaxy approximately 2500000 light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own, the Milky Way. As it is visible as a faint smudge on a moonless night, it is one of the farthest objects visible to the naked eye, and can be seen even from urban areas with binoculars. It is named after the princess Andromeda (Greek: ????????? Androméd?) in Greek mythology. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Although the largest, Andromeda may not be the most massive, as recent findings suggest that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping. The 2006 observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope revealed that M31 contains one trillion stars, several times more than the number of stars in our own galaxy, which is estimated to be c. 200-400 billion. While the 2006 estimates put the mass of the Milky Way to be ~80% of the mass of Andromeda, which is estimated to be 7.1 × 1011 solar masses, a 2009 study concluded that Andromeda and the Milky …

Hubblecast 04: Hubble Finds Multiple Stellar Baby Booms In A Globular Cluster (HD) — Subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com — New Hubble observations of the massive globular cluster NGC 2808 provide evidence that it has three generations of stars instead of one as current theories predict. Credit: • ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & LL Christensen), Daniel Verschatse – Observatorio Antilhue – Chile • Narration: Dr. Robert Fosbury • Design: Martin Kornmesser • Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen, Raquel Yumi Shida • Cinematographer: Peter Rixner (www.perix.de) • Script: Lars Lindberg Christensen • Director: Lars Lindberg Christensen Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in astronomy. Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre Garching/Munich, Germany • www.spacetelescope.org • http .

Science & Reason on Facebook: tinyurl.com ESOcast 13: A sharper view of the Universe with the VLT Interferometer. In principle, the larger a telescopes mirror, the finer the details it can see. Continuing to increase the size of telescope mirrors is not an easy task, so astronomers have come up with a new technology to see even finer details: interferometry. This observational technique combines the light received by two or more telescopes and allows them to act as a single unit with a mirror diameter equivalent to the distance between the telescopes. Engineers designed the VLT so that it can also be used as an interferometer. Along with the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes, four mobile 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) were included in the overall VLT concept to form the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). The ATs can move between 30 different stations, and at present, the telescopes can form groups of two or three for interferometry. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing details on the surface of a star millions of millions of kilometres away. Imagine having eyesight so keen that you could check out the surroundings of a black hole. Using ESOs Very Large Telescope Interferometer at Paranal, astronomers are now making these fantasies a reality. Each of the four VLT Unit Telescopes has a primary mirror with a diameter of 8.2 metres. Such …

Please join us on Facebook for the latest science news and videos: tinyurl.com NASA Astronomy Pictures Of The Day [Week 1/2010]. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — ? A Roll Cloud Over Uruguay These rare long clouds may form near advancing cold fronts. In particular, a downdraft from an advancing storm front can cause moist warm air to rise, cool below its dew point, and so form a cloud. When this happens uniformly along an extended front, a roll cloud may form. Roll clouds may actually have air circulating along the long horizontal axis of the cloud. A roll cloud is not thought to be able to morph into a tornado. • Learn more: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov ? The Spotty Surface of Betelgeuse Betelgeuse really is a big star. If placed at the center of our Solar System it would extend to the orbit of Jupiter. But like all stars except the Sun, the red supergiant is so distant it usually appears as a single point of light, even in large telescopes. The intriguing picture shows two, large, bright, star spots. The spots potentially represent enormous convective cells rising from below the supergiant’s surface. They are bright because they’re hotter than the rest of the surface, but both spots and surface are cooler than the Sun. Betelgeuse is about 600 light-years away. • Learn more: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov ? The Tail of the Small Magellanic Cloud A satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, the Small Magellanic …

Hubblecast 09: Extreme Star Cluster Bursts Into Life. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular image of NGC 3603, a giant nebula hosting one of the most prominent massive young clusters in the Milky Way. This is a splendid location for continued studies of stellar birth in star forming regions. — Subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com — Credit: • ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & LL Christensen) • Narration: Dr. Robert Fosbury • Design: Martin Kornmesser •Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen, Raquel Yumi Shida • Cinematographer: Peter Rixner (www.perix.de) • Script: Lars Lindberg Christensen, Will Gater • Executive Producers: Raquel Yumi Shida, Lars Lindberg Christensen • Director: Lars Lindberg Christensen Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in astronomy. Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre Garching/Munich, Germany • www.eso.org • http • hubblesite.org . Att. Lars Lindberg Christensen, ESO office 011 Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2 DE-85748 Garching bei München Germany http .

Hubblecast 26: Exceptionally Deep View Of Strange Galaxy. A spectacular new image of an unusual spiral galaxy in the Coma Galaxy Cluster has been created from data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It reveals lots of new details of the galaxy, NGC 4921, as well as an extraordinary rich background of more remote galaxies stretching back to the early Universe. — Subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com — Credits: • ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & LL Christensen) • Visual design & Editing: Martin Kornmesser • Animations: Martin Kornmesser • Narration: Richard Hook (ESO) • Web Hosting: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ) •Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen & Raquel Yumi Shida • Written by: Lars Lindberg Christensen • Host: Dr. J Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in astronomy. Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre Garching/Munich, Germany • www.eso.org • http • hubblesite.org .

NASA’s Spitzer Science Center: “Ask An Astronomer (Part 2) Where Stars Are Born – W-5 Star-Forming Region”. In this popular video series, real astronomers answer common questions about astronomy. Brought to you by the “Cool Cosmos” team (the joint Education and Public Outreach group for the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center) located at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Narrated by Dr. Robert Hurt of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — How do stars form? A study of star forming region W5 by the sun-orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope provides clear clues by recording that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are older than stars near the edges. A likely reason for this is that the older stars in the center are actually triggering the formation of the younger edge stars. The triggered star formation occurs when hot outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into knots dense enough to gravitationally contract into stars. Spectacular pillars, left slowly evaporating from the hot outflowing gas, provide further visual clues. In the above scientifically-colored infrared image, red indicates heated dust, while white and green indicate particularly dense gas clouds. W5 is also known as IC 1848, and together with IC 1805 form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the Heart and Soul Nebulas. W5 lies about …

Hubblecast 06: A Battle Of Giants: Telescopes In Space And On The Ground (HD). — Subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com • www.YouTube.com — Have you ever wondered why some telescopes are launched into space while others are built on remote mountain tops? What is actually the best for astronomy? Here we provide a ringside view of the fight for the elusive photons from deep space – is it a battle of the telescope giants? Credit: • ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser, LL Christensen & R. Shida), Luis Calçada, ESO, Spitzer Space Telescope, Keck Observatory, Subaru Observatory • Narration: Dr. Robert Fosbury • Design: Martin Kornmesser • Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen, Raquel Yumi Shida • Cinematographer: Peter Rixner (www.perix.de) • Script: Lars Lindberg Christensen, Ana Margarida Lopes • Executive Producers: Raquel Yumi Shida, Lars Lindberg Christensen • Director: Lars Lindberg Christensen Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in astronomy. Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre Garching/Munich, Germany • www.eso.org • http • hubblesite.org .