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NRAO/Socorro Colloquium Series

Jennifer Wiseman

NASA

Servicing Mission 4 and the Extraordinary Science of the Hubble Space Telescope

Just three years ago, NASA astronauts performed a challenging and flawless final Space Shuttle servicing mission to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.   With science instruments repaired on board and two new ones installed, the observatory is more powerful now than ever before in its 22-year mission.  I will show the dramatic highlights of the servicing mission and present highlights of recent scientific results from the refurbished telescope.  Its high sensitivity and multi-wavelength capabilities are revealing the highest redshift galaxies ever seen, as well as details of the cosmic web of intergalactic medium, large scale structure formation, solar system bodies, and stellar evolution.   Enlightening studies of dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanet atmospheres add to the profound contributions to astrophysics that are being made with Hubble, setting a critical stage for complementary science with other current and future observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope.



September 21, 2012
11:00 am

Array Operations Center Auditorium

All NRAO employees are invited to attend via video, available in Charlottesville Room 230, Green Bank Room 137 and Tucson N525.

Local Host: Debra Shepherd

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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Founded in 1956, the NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

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