This week on HST

HST Programs: December 10 - December 16, 2007

Some selected highlights

GO 10886: The Sloan Lens ACS Survey: Towards 100 New Strong Lenses

ACS images of galaxy-galaxy Einstein ring lenses from the Sloan survey

Gravitational lensing is a consequence the theory of general relativity. Its importance as an astrophysical tool first became apparent with the realisation (in 1979) that the quasar pair Q0957+561 actually comprised two lensed images of the same background quasar. In the succeeding years, lensing has been used primarily to probe the mass distribution of galaxy clusters, using theoretical models to analyse the arcs and arclets that are produced by strong lensing of background galaxies, and the large-scale mass distribution, through analysis of weak lensing effects on galaxy morphologies. Gravitational lensing can also be used to investigate the mass distribution of individual galaxies. Until recently, the most common background sources were quasars. Galaxy-galaxy lenses, however, offer a distinct advantage, since the background source is extended, and therefore imposes a stronger constraints on the mass distribution of the lensing galaxy than a point-source QSO. The Sloan sky survey provides a powerful tool for identifying candidate galaxy-galaxy lenses; this program is using HST-ACS imaging to verify the nature of those candidates, and provide the angular resolution necessary to model the mass distribution.

GO 11175: UV Imaging to Determine the Location of Residual Star Formation in Galaxies Recently Arrived on the Red Sequence

Galaxy mergers and the red sequence

The overwhelming majority of galaxies are found in clusters. Observations show that almost all well-defined cluster systems at low and moderate redshift have a significant population of elliptical galaxies which have red colours, indicative of old stellar populations and minimal current star formation. The elliptical galaxies outline a distinct sequence in the colour-magnitude (or colour-mass) diagram, the so-called red sequence. Over the last few years, there has been considerable interest in understanding the origins of this sequence: how did the ellipticals form (most theories envisage mergers of gas-rich systems at moderate redshifts)? when did star formation cease in these galaxies (most galaxies in clusters at redshifts 1.5 < z < 3 seem to have active star formation)? are there environmentally-dependent effects? This proposal aims to address some of these questions through WFPC2 BVI and ACS/SBC observations of a number of low-redshift (0.04 < z , 0.10) galaxies that appear to have only recently arrived on the red sequence. The WFPC2 data will provide detailed morphologies, while the SBC ultraviolet imaging will be ued to search for traces of residual star formation.

GO 11211: An Astrometric Calibration of Population II Distance Indicators

Measuring trigonometric parallax

Trigonometric parallax measurement remains the fundamental method of determining distances to astronomical objects. The best ground-based parallax measurements can achieve accuracies of ~1 milliarcsecond, comparable with the typical accuracies achieved by the ESA Hipparcos astrometric satellite. This level of accuracy allows us to obtain reliable distances and luminosities for main sequence stars, subgiants, red giants and even a number of metal poor subdwarfs. However, with an effective distance limit of 100-150 parsecs, the sampling volume includes less than a handful of rarer, shorter-lived celestial objects. In particular, there are no RR Lyraes or Cepheids, two of the principal calibrators in the extragalactic distance scale. There is only one instrument currently available that can achieve astrometry of higher accuracy - the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) on HST. The present team used the FGS to measure a parallax of 3.82+/10.2 milliarseconds for RR Lyrae, the nearest star of its type. this corresponds toa distance of 262 parsecs. The present program aims to improve the calibration by extending observations to four more relatively nearby RR Lyraes (XZ Cyg, UV Oct, RZ Cep and SU Dra) and two Pop II Cepheids (Kappa Pav and VY Pyx).

GO 11306: Direct radius measurement of the Neptune-size transiting exoplanet GJ436b

GO 11309: Chemical Composition of an Exo-Neptune

Gliese 436 is an early-type M dwarf (spectral type M2.5) with a mass approximately 40% that of the Sun lying at a distance of ~10 parsecs. In August 2004, the Lick/Carnegie planet search team (led by Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler) announced the discovery of a ~22 Earth-mass planet in a 2.64 day orbit around this star. Unlike most "hot jupiters", this "hot Neptune" is on an elliptical orbit, e=0.16, which, with a semi-major axis of 0.0278 AU, brings it within 3.5 million kilometres of the central star. Gl 436 is significantly cooler than the Sun, with a surface temperature close to ~3400 degrees Kelvin; even so, the "surface" temperatures on Gl 436b are expected to reach ~740 K (~370 C). In May of this year, a team led by F. Pont demonstrated that Gl 436b transits the parent star. The initial ground-based observations allowed them to derive a diameter approximately 4 times that of Earth, directly comparable with Uranus and Neptune. This provides key insight into the likely origins of Gl 436b, since combining the diameter with the measured mass gives the mean density, and, by inference, the likely composition. For Gl 436b, the indications are that the planet is a displaced "ice giant". In the coming week, HST will observe the host star as part of two observational programs. In the first, GO 10306, le by members of the same team that discovered the planet, NICMOS observations will be used to obtain higher accuracy measurement of the planet's radius at near-infrared wavelenths. The second program, GO 10309, will use FGS to measure the transit light-curve, giving a precise estimate of the planetary radius at optical wavelengths. Combining the two results will set stronger contraints on the likely chemical composition.