Announcements

11 October 2021: The ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb Outreach team is looking for a motivated individual to join the team as an intern to support a variety of roles and activities pertaining to the work of bringing the images and science from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to the scientific community and the public for the European Space Agency (ESA). This is a unique opportunity to develop skills and experience in science communication, involving high-reach and high-impact products that are disseminated worldwide to showcase two well-known and loved science missions. Position Overview The ESA/Hubble & ESA/Webb outreach team is composed of science communicators, scientists, science writers, visual artists, image processing specialists and more, who work together to showcase the research of the European Hubble & Webb users and institutions to the wider astronomical community and the general public. The team is looking to add a dynamic, organised, …

11 October 2021: -By Maurice te Plate (ESA)- We are getting very close to launching the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the largest and most complex space telescope ever built! At Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach California, the past months have been very busy with many close-out activities to be finished: The Fore and Aft Sunshield Unitized Pallet Structures (UPS), the structures that hold the tennis court sized sunshield in place during launch, have both been fully stowed for flight. The electrical integration team has also successfully completed the regression testing of the reworked transponders. Furthermore, the JWST’s Solar Array, that will provide electrical power to the telescope and spacecraft, has been installed. In addition, various other observatory close-out activities were completed, none of which delayed the shipment to the launch site. After completing its final tests at Northrop Grumman, the JWST was prepared for shipment to ESA’s Spaceport in Kourou, French …

11 October 2021: -By Paule Sonnentrucker- This summer Hubble kept us all on the edge of our seats again! This time it was not only because it continued to reveal new, breathtaking views of our Universe, but also because Hubble had to weather its own health issues that brought science observations to a halt for the best part of five long weeks. In the afternoon of Sunday 13 June 2021 the payload computer on board Hubble halted and the spacecraft stopped collecting science observations. The telescope and all active instruments successfully entered their respective safe mode configurations, where they remained in good health throughout the duration of the investigation and until the recovery of Hubble to science operations on 17 July 2021. The Hubble payload computer’s role is to control and coordinate the science instruments. It also monitors the instruments for health and safety purposes. This system, built in the 1980s, resides in …

11 October 2021: -By Antonella Nota and Laura Watkins - After 31 years in orbit, the yearly selection of the scientific program for Hubble has almost become routine. Year after year, this fine-tuned process runs its course, involving a large cross section of the astronomical community, including significant European representation. When the COVID pandemic struck, the challenge was set — would it be possible to carry out this rigorous process during the pandemic, as people transitioned to working from home, travel was not possible, and the only interactions were virtual? Yes was the only option. The JWST and HST Cycle 28 Time Allocation reviews were completely virtual too, and now so is Cycle 29. With a lot of planning, they were all carried out smoothly, thanks to the commitment, dedication and collaborative spirit of all community representatives involved and the STScI staff. We personally asked the European Chairs and at-large members what their …

20 May 2021: Bethany Downer We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of the ESA/Hubble outreach team’s work and purpose. The outreach team is composed of scientists, science writers, visual artists, image processing specialists and more, who are all eager to showcase the research of the European Hubble users and institutions to the wider ESA/Hubble community and general public. We have various innovative and effective means of advertising your new results. This includes the communication of exciting Hubble discoveries, and the insights of the European team members behind these results, to the wider public. ESAHubble.org and its associated social media channels can help by disseminating news from the European Hubble community in the form of science and photo releases, announcements, Space Sparks (a new continuation of the popular Hubblecast video series) and Pictures of the Week, and by developing high-quality artists’ impressions and high-definition videos to communicate new results. We work …

20 May 2021: Bethany Downer The Hubble Space Telescope has become a household name over its more than three decades of operation. Each year around 24 April the scientific community and the public alike come together to celebrate Hubble’s remarkable achievements. ESA/Hubble uses this opportunity to develop special initiatives to engage and involve the public in this annual milestone. In addition to the special photo release of AG Carinae marking Hubble’s 31st anniversary image, ESA/Hubble announced three public engagement initiatives. The first of these projects was the launch of the ESA/Hubble GIPHY Account. GIPHY is an online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound that resemble animated GIF files. This collection was developed to be a fun and interactive resource for the general public. Each of the short looping videos can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, text message, …

20 May 2021: Tim Rawle Six months before its launch, excitement is building around the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). After blast-off, there will be another six months of spacecraft and instrument commissioning before the first cycle of JWST science observations finally commences. Therefore, the first science data will be received less than a year from now. With the recent selection of the Cycle 1 General Observer (GO) program, we know precisely what the new observatory will target during its first year of operation. It is now time to turn our attention to ensuring that we are ready to exploit all of this amazing new imaging and spectroscopy. And with a large number of Cycle 1 observations having no exclusive access period (including an eclectic mix of science from DD-ERS, GO and GTO programmes), it is more important than ever that the whole astronomical community is prepared for science with JWST. To …

20 May 2021: Antonella Nota The James Webb Space Telescope has completed a very important milestone: the Cycle 1 scientific programme has been assembled and published. Scientific observations are expected to start approximately seven months after launch and include three different categories of observations: Guaranteed Time Observations (GTOs) (3800 hours), Early Release Science (ERS) (500 hours) and the General Observer (GO) programme, which has been released now and will use 5981 hours of observing time. Cycle 1 has been a competitive cycle: 1172 proposals had been received before the deadline of 24 November 2020, requesting 25 278 hours. Of these proposals, 374 had a Principal Investigator (PI) from an ESA member state (19 out of 22). This number is especially significant because JWST proposals, being single stream, were more complicated than what the Hubble community was used to and required considerable more effort to prepare. And right in the middle of the COVID-19 …

18 December 2020: Bethany Downer (ESA/Hubble) 2020 was another busy year for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists throughout Europe published in 2020 a large number of exciting new results. Of the various ESA/Hubble science releases published this year, some memorable scientific news that garnered particular public interest included Hubble’s observation of the aftermath of a titanic collision between two icy asteroid-sized bodies orbiting the bright star Fomalhaut, the lack of evidence found for the first generation Population III stars, the first observation of a total lunar eclipse by a space telescope, and Hubble’s new insights that suggest there is an ingredient missing from current dark matter theories. After 30 years of operation, it’s staggering to consider the magnitude and impact of the telescope’s continued output of breakthrough results. This also spurs us to imagine what scientific discoveries await us next year and beyond! All of the many beautiful photo releases published this …

18 December 2020: Antonella Nota (ESA/HST & ESA/JWST Project Scientist) The JWST Cycle 1 proposal deadline closed on 24 November 24, with an extension to 3 December for exceptional COVID-related reasons. After the deadline, it is always exciting to learn how many proposals have been submitted, as that is the first direct measure of the community interest in the mission. JWST has been affected by several delays but enthusiasm returned high when the launch window was announced: October 2021! We had a lot of momentum at the beginning of the year, with the ESAC Master Class in February and the subsequent Master Class Workshops, attended by approximately 600 people all over Europe. But then the COVID pandemic struck. We had to put on hold our thoroughly planned “Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope VI” and all related Hubble 30 Anniversary activities. The Master Class workshops were promptly moved online, but …

18 December 2020: Oana Sandu Social media represents one of the main sources of information and entertainment for users around the world. The number of social media users worldwide in October 2020 amounted to 4.14 billion. 99% of them access social media on a mobile device and users spend an average of 2 hours and 29 minutes per day on social networks and messaging. Facebook remains the market leader, followed by YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter [Source]. Considering its global impact, a social media strategy for ESA/Hubble has always been a must-have in the communication portfolio. In addition to objectives such as making people aware of ESA’s contributions to the Hubble Space Telescope project, we have recently focused on facilitating direct interaction between scientists and the ESA/Hubble community we have grown over the years. To achieve this, we have started testing live Twitter Q&A sessions when important science results are announced. Once a …

18 December 2020: Bethany Downer (ESA/Hubble) The ESA/Hubble outreach team is excited to launch the new website for updates and products from the Hubble Space Telescope, as SpaceTelescope.org will soon redirect to the new ESA/Hubble website. This website will still be home to the ESA Hubble content that the public and the Hubble community have become familiar with, including press releases, Hubble imagery and Pictures of the Week, announcements, Hubblecasts, newsletters and more. This year, the ESA/Hubble website has garnered over 8.6 million page views! Some highlights include: Over 500 000 visits to the webpages of ESA/Hubble releases in 2020. Over a quarter of a million views on the September 2020 photo release of Hubble’s new views of Jupiter. To our delight and surprise, this was our biggest release in 5 years! Strong engagement in the month of April 2020 around the telescope’s 30th anniversary, including the anniversary press release and the special …

22 June 2020: Every year we await with anticipation the results of the Hubble time allocation review. This year the Cycle 28 Time Allocation Committee (TAC) met on 11–15 May 2020. Because of Covid-19 the meeting was held remotely, with astronomers participating from countries spanning several time zones. The European presence on the review panels — as panelists, chairs and TAC members — was, as always, significant. Again this cycle, the proposal review process was dual-anonymous, with the identities of the proposing team concealed from reviewers. The virtual meeting went extremely well and produced an exciting scientific program that the STScI Director endorsed. Approximately 2800 orbits were allocated to successful proposals, with a proposal pressure of 1/6 for proposals and 1/8 for orbits in the General Observer category. ESA Member State astronomers were quite successful in this cycle also, obtaining 23.6% of the proposals, and 19.4% of the orbits. ESA Co-Is were 32.4% …

22 June 2020: Bethany Downer (ESA/Hubble) The Hubble Space Telescope has become a household name over its 30 years of operation. The telescope’s science discoveries have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its countless beautiful pictures are appreciated and recognised around the world. On 24 April 2020, the scientific community and the public alike came together to celebrate three decades of Hubble.After much anticipation and growing excitement, on Friday 24 April the 30th anniversary image of the Hubble Space Telescope was publicly revealed. The ESA/Hubble press release featured various supporting media, including two new special commemorative Hubblecasts that were created by the ESA/Hubble team for Hubble’s 30th anniversary. These documentary shorts were intended to reflect on Hubble’s impactful science discoveries and to feature the beauty of its memorable imagery throughout its 30 years of operation. They certainly evoke sentiments of nostalgia!The new anniversary image was …

22 June 2020: Torsten Boeker (ESA)As the James Webb Space telescope (JWST) continues to make progress towards its launch next year and the Cycle 1 proposal deadline approaches, the longstanding ESA efforts to prepare European astronomers for this groundbreaking mission are coming to their preliminary conclusion. As described in a recent article, ESA has partnered with science institutions across Europe to organise a series of workshops throughout the Spring of 2020 aimed at educating potential JWST observers about the mission's progress, the capabilities of the observatory, and the practicalities of preparing JWST proposals. A total of 17 workshops were selected to build and educate a strong community of JWST users across all ESA Member States. The kick-off event for the workshop series, the “Train the Trainers” MasterClass, took place in early February at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Villafranca, Spain. Over the course of 2.5 days, all 21 European workshop organisers …

22 June 2020: Bethany Downer (ESA/Hubble) Our ESA/Hubble team is eager to showcase the research of the European Hubble users and institutions to the wider ESA/Hubble community and general public. We have various innovative and effective means of showcasing your new results and images. This includes the communication of exciting Hubble results, and the insights from the European team members behind these results, to the wider public. ESA/Hubble and SpaceTelescope.org can help by disseminating news from the European Hubble community in the form of science and photo releases, announcements, Hubblecasts, Pictures of the Week, and by developing high-quality artists’ impressions and high-definition videos to communicate new results. The work of European astronomers is highlighted prominently in a variety of exciting ESA/Hubble releases that have appeared over the past few months. Most recently, this includes the exciting finding by ESA’s R. Bhatawdekar and C. J. Conselice that suggests the formation of the first stars …

22 June 2020: The organizers of the Science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes VI have decided to postpone the conference to 2021 because of the continued disruption to travel caused by COVID-19. ​​​​​​ The conference will still be held in person at the Hotel Hasselbacken in Stockholm, at a date to be announced in October 2020. You can learn more on the conference website.

23 December 2019: Bethany Downer (ESA/Hubble) 2019 was another busy year for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists throughout Europe used Hubble data in 2019 to announce exciting new results. Of the nine ESA/Hubble science releases published this year, some memorable scientific news that garnered particular public interest included the detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b in September, an unexpected observation in July of the thin disc of material encircling a supermassive black hole, and Hubble’s observation in March of a rare self-destructing asteroid called 6478 Gault. Hubble also made three observations in 2019 of only the second interstellar object ever seen (comet Borisov 2I). After 30 years of operation, it’s staggering to consider the magnitude and impact of the telescope’s continued output of high-quality data. This also spurs us to imagine what scientific discoveries await us next year and beyond! Of the 13 photo releases published this year, …

23 December 2019: Sarah Kendrew (ESA) With new telescopes come exciting new opportunities. Technological innovations and state-of-the-art instrumentation hold the promise of scientific breakthroughs, answers to long-standing questions and perhaps unexpected new problems that will stimulate new areas of research. The James Webb Space Telescope carries many such promises — its combination of a 6.5-metre primary mirror and the broad infrared wavelength coverage will break new ground in all areas of astrophysics. But big opportunities come with big challenges. How do we ensure that JWST scientific return is maximised for its community of users? How do we help the science community get ready for its exciting potential, so they can hit the ground running after launch? For several years, we at ESA have worked hard to prepare the European astronomical community for the JWST. Europe has a significant involvement in the JWST mission, through its main instrument contributions (NIRSPEC and a key contribution …

23 December 2019: María Arévalo, Raúl Gutiérrez, Javier Durán, Jesús Salgado, Deborah Baines, Bruno Merín, Guido de Marchi, Paule Sonnentrucker and Antonella Nota The Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV) is the first full, homogeneous, catalog of variable sources found in the Hubble Source Catalog (HSC) and built out of publicly available images obtained with the WFPC2, ACS and WFC3 instruments on board the HST. As reported in September's newsletter, the HCV was developed over four years by a team of astronomers at the National Observatory of Athens, led by Alceste Bonanos and sponsored by ESA in collaboration with STScI. The HCV is the deepest catalog of variables available. It includes variable stars in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies, as well as transients and variable active galactic nuclei. In total, the HCV includes 84 428 candidate variable sources (out of 3.7 million HSC sources that were searched for variability) with V ≤ 27 mag; …