SSU Program Updates

July 26, 2010

Professor Lynn Cominsky

Current SSU Missions• Fermi (formerly GLAST) - launched June

11, 2008 – nominal mission is 5 years – Project Scientist Julie McEnery will update

• Swift – launched November 20, 2004• XMM-Newton – launched December, 1999• NuSTAR – now in Phase C/D, planned for

Feb. 2012 launch• SNAP – reconsituted as JDEM = Joint

Dark Energy Mission. In limbo pending “Blandford committee” report

• EXIST – also in limbo…

Changes in the EA program• Fermi EAs have resigned: Walter

Glogowski, Sharla Dowding• Fermi EA has had a baby – Janet Moore –

cannot be with us this week• Linda Smith, Fermi EA is in Master’s

program at Penn which will not let her attend training week

• David Beier has had some health problems recently and is under Dr’s order not to fly

• NuSTAR EA Bill Panczner has had serious surgery and has had to retire.

• Tyson Harty (Georgia) is with us this week to see if he will join the program.

Senior Review Results 2010• Happens every 2 years – determines funding for next 2-4 years. • Fermi was not reviewed – it is in its 5-year nominal mission. It

will be up for review in 2012 cycle.

Swift and the Sr. Review• Swift was #1 in the 2008 senior review. However, it

still did well in this review: “Swift was launched on November 30, 2004 and is presently operating well. There are no known issues that would prevent operation for many more years.”

• “Swift is a productive and important mission making significant contributions to astronomy. The Swift Guest Investigator program is producing very good science and should continue to be a key component of the mission.”

• Funding was recommended at the expected level through 2012, with reassessment for 2013-2014.

• I expect to receive sufficient Swift E/PO funds for at least two more years, to continue to fund the 5 Swift EAs. And probably for four more years.

XMM and the Sr. Review• XMM was rated #8/10 in 2008. It did much better this

year. “XMM-Newton, launched in 1999, is a facility-class X-ray observatory that is a cornerstone of ESA’s Horizon 2000 program. It retains strong European support, and in the most recent review of extended ESA missions it was among the most highly rated. After a decade of operation, the spacecraft health and performance remain satisfactory”

• Because XMM was rated so low in 2008, it came into the Sr. Review with a very low “in-guide” number. Therefore, they asked for an augmentation for 2011-2014. This was approved for 2011, with more for 2012, and another review for 2013-2014.

• I am waiting to see how this translates into money for E/PO. I will probably know by the Fall.

EA Shuffle….• So if XMM funding is seriously cut, the two

XMM EAs will switch over to being funded by Fermi, which is now 2 EAs short.

• But we won’t know until Fall.• Also, travel money seems to be at a

premium since so many people are overrunning.

• I can’t afford to keep the stipends the same, and also raise the travel funding. Last time we raised both…. Let’s discuss.

New SSU Project(s)• Funding received for development of an on-line

general education Cosmology course for undergraduates – in progress. We will have a short presentation by Geraldine Cochran, who has been doing education research with Prof. Kim Coble about students’ views in Cosmology

• SSU is trying to get funding for other projects – High School CanSat and high-powered rocket curriculum development, Palomar Observatory museum exhibit to augment NuSTAR E/PO program, and (at least one) potential new Explorer satellite. Results for the first two should be announced in the late Fall 2010.

Fermi Update – details from Julie McEnery, Project Scientist

Radio galaxy

High-mass binary

Gamma-ray pulsar

Bright blazar

Globular cluster

Unidentified

Fermi products• Updated since launch:

– Fermi factsheet– AGN guide – will be reprinted after EA training (also

poster)– Fermi paper model – Fermi stickers (two types)– Fermi race card game– Fermi litho

• Other products for educators:– Active Galaxy Pop-up Book and Ed guide– 3 TOPS modules

• Also have to give away:– Fermi Epo’s Chronicles lithos– Fermi post-it notes pads

Swift

• Swift continues to enjoy good health, has recently detected 500th burst.

• Swift is now a mature mission, and although its primary science is still GRBs, there are many other exciting things that Swift is studying…– Supernovae– Active Galaxies– Other flares

Swift Press-worthy Sciencehttp://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/news/• May 26, 2010 - NASA's Swift Survey finds

'Smoking Gun' of Black Hole Activation • April 19, 2010 - NASA's Swift Catches 500th

Gamma-ray Burst• January 27, 2010 - Newborn Black Holes Boost

Explosive Power of Supernovae• November 10, 2009 - Swift, XMM-Newton

satellites tune into a middleweight black hole• September 16, 2009 - Swift Creates Best-Ever

Ultraviolet Image of Andromeda Galaxy• June 8, 2009 - Keck Study Sheds New Light On

‘Dark’ Gamma-ray Bursts

Swift Press-worthy Science• April 28, 2009 - New Gamma-ray Burst

Smashes Cosmic Distance Record• February 28, 2009 - NASA's Swift Spies Comet

Lulin• February 10, 2009 - NASA's Swift, Fermi Probe

Fireworks From a Flaring Gamma-Ray Star• January 6, 2009: NASA's Swift Shows Active

Galaxies Are Different Near And Far• September 19, 2008 - Swift Catches Farthest

Gamma-Ray Burst • September 10, 2008- "Naked-Eye" Gamma-Ray

Burst Was Aimed Squarely At Earth

Swift/UVOT M31 tour

• http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/swift/results/releases/

By NASA’s Stefan Immler

Swift’s 500 Bursts

Most distant burst (again)

• April 23, 2009 – redshift 8.2 or 630 million years after the BB

• So far away that the optical afterglow was redshifted into infrared

• Previous record holder GRB080913 had z=6.7, was 190 million light years closer

“Naked Eye” Burst = GRB080319B• Afterglow so bright it could have been seen by

someone’s unaided eye (if they had been looking)

• Jet must have been aimed right at Earth, with particles traveling at 99.99995% c

The burst that “blinded” Swift

• GRB100621A – so bright in x-rays that the XRT was saturated

• Not noticed until UK astronomer Phil Evans returned from vacation and data were missing from this burst

• He reconstructed the burst to determine that this was the brightest x-ray source ever seen by Swift – 143,000 x-ray photons per second!

• Distance to burst was about 5 billion light years

XRT image shown in red to yellow colors.

The UVOT saw nothing unusual.

Swift Products• Newton’s Laws poster set • Swift Eyes Through Time videos and educator’s

guide (Penn State) - download• GRB Educator’s Guide and poster• Out of stock: Priorities?

– Swift glider– Swift model booklets

• Still available– Swift sticker– Swift mini-plots

• Needing update: GEMS guide

Latest XMM News:

• http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_news/latest_news.shtml

• 6/21/10: XMM-Newton line detection provides new tool to probe extreme gravity

• 5/31/10: Novel observing mode on XMM-Newton opens new perspectives on galaxy clusters

• 5/27/10: Molecular clouds reveal a giant outburst of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Galaxy

• 5/11/10: Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium in the Sculptor Wall

• 5/10/10: Invisible light discovers the most distant cluster of galaxies – redshift 1.62, this is 9.6 billion light years

Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Effect

• Photons from cosmic microwave background travel through clusters of galaxies on their way to our detectors

• The electrons in the ionized (X-ray emitting) gas in the clusters interact with the CMB photons, modifying their spectrum in a special way – this is the “Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect”

• The modified CMB spectrum can be measured by mm-wavelength telescopes

XMM detections of galaxy clusters

• Microwave contours in white• X-ray emitting gas: purple• Overlaid on optical image• The cluster has a mass of

over 1015 solar masses, – a temperature of about 9.3

keV – redshift z=0.32

• Needs multi-wavelength approach to detect and measure distant clusters

Latest XMM News:• 4/30/10: Jets from BHs expel gas not only from

their host galaxies but even from the space between galaxies in groups

Blue is radio jet

Red is X-ray emitting gas

Green is galaxy

Latest XMM News:

• 4/30/10: New XMM Source catalog brings total X-ray source counts to over ¼ million

XMM-Newton Products• We have restocked the Earth balls for the 3D

magnetic field activity• Rulers have been reprinted – 6 inch version• Supernova guide is approved by NASA Product

Review – but we are not printing them (CDs only)• Also still available online:

– CLEA Lab “Dying Stars and the Birth of the Elements” and manual

– Space Place “Black Hole Rescue” in English and Spanish

• eXtreme Universe planetarium show is still in progress – Kevin John will show this on Wednesday

• Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

• NuSTAR “slideshow” and pens – a few available

NuSTAR after launch

• First focusing hard x-ray (6-80 keV)

mission

NuSTAR hardware

• Focusing optics – low background, compact detector

NuSTAR Hardware

GSFC: optics slumping>50% of flight substrates producedsimilar to planned IXO processmeasured figure: 20”-30”

Copenhagen (DTU-Space): optics coatingdepth graded Pt/SiC and W/Si coatings

Columbia: optics assemblyexpected performance: 43” (HPD), 7.5” (FWHM)

Caltech: focal planeCdZnTe detectors

ATK/Goleta: extendable mastfully deployed flight mast

Energy Range: 5-80 keV

Angular Resolution: 43 arcsec (HPD)

Field of View: 13 x 13 arcmin

Spectral Resolution:

1.2 keV at 68 keV

600 eV at 6 keV

Sensitivity

(3σ, 1 Ms):

2 x 10-15 erg/cm2/s (6-10 keV)

1 x 10-14 erg/cm2/s (10-30 keV)

Temporal Resolution:

0.1 msec

ToO Response: <48 hr

Launch Date: February 2012

Orbit:6 degree inclination

550 km x 600 km

Mission Lifetime:

Orbit Lifetime:

2 years baseline

>7 years orbit lifetime

NuSTAR

NuSTAR Performance

NuSTAR Baseline Science Plan (2 yr)

Objective #1: How are black holes distributed through the cosmos, and how do they affect the formation of galaxies?

Objective #2: How are stellar remnants distributed within the Galaxy and near the Galactic center?

Objective #3: How do stars explode and forge the elements that compose the Earth?

Objective #4: What powers the most extreme active galactic nuclei?

~6 months of unallocated science observing time in first 2 years for ToO’s, additional programs, and/or to respond to primary program

Other resources of interest: