From the desk of the ESA/Hubble and ESA/JWST Project Scientists
Happy summer everyone! Classes are over, summer travel begins, interesting conferences everywhere: this is the time to catch up with the recent news, and make plans for the next few months.
First, we would like to welcome the new ESA Director of Science, Günther Hasinger, who took the helm of the ESA space science program at the beginning of the year. Find a brief introduction to Günther here, and read about his ambitious vision for ESA space science, which might be of great interest for you all.
Hubble just celebrated its 28 launch anniversary! Can you believe it? Our mature telescope is still going strong, producing amazing pictures and breakthroughs in many astronomical fields: one of the most recent Hubble press releases on the mystery interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua has shown up everywhere, as Hubble was able to put to rest the questions on whether “Oumuamua is an asteroid or a comet — for all of you who are dying to know, ‘Oumuamua IS a comet. You can find more details about this press release, and much more, on the ESA/Hubble public outreach site. Please do get in touch if you want to advertise your own latest Hubble results — we can help you.
And now is your turn to propose the next Hubble amazing result — the deadline is August 17! This time, only medium and large proposals will be accepted. Find here all the Cycle 26 details, and please note that you will have to write your Cycle 26 proposal differently from the past, as Hubble proposals are now anonymised. This is done in the attempt to mitigate the persistent gender bias observed in the past time allocation reviews. Read here an article written by your Space Telescope User Committee representatives, Ana I. Gomez de Castro, Stephane Charlot an Francesco Ferraro, on what inspired the change. Please follow the new guidelines, and help us make the time allocation process robust and fair for all.
On the James Webb front, we heard some disappointing news about a further delay on launch, which is now planned for March 2021. This decision was not taken lightly by NASA but James Webb is a complex and ambitious mission, and must work! It will not enjoy the option that Hubble had to send astronauts to fix it — it has to work from the start. NASA is taking all the correct precautions to ensure that we will have a wonderful telescope. ESA is a key partner on this mission, together with CSA, and we can ensure you all that we (ESA) are showing the same commitment to the success of this observatory. In fact, NASA and ESA have been working in close collaboration, before and after the announcement, especially in regards to the launcher, which will be an Ariane 5 provided by ESA. Read some considerations written by astronomer Monica Tosi here, on why she does believe that James Webb is well worth the wait.
Finally, if you haven’t yet finalised your summer travel plans, consider stopping by the new ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre in Garching, or by the Natural History Museum in Vienna, as two parallel editions of the Hubble science & art exhibition Our Place in Space are shown there, open to the public throughout the summer. Find details about what is shown at these two different, spectacular locations here. If you are interested in hosting Our Place in Space in your city, please get in touch!
And do remember: we want to hear from you! Tell us what we can do better, what topics you would like to read about, and whether you like this short, informal format, or if you would like to see more in-depth information. If you want to reach us, do send email to hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu — we look forward to hearing from you.
Happy reading!
Contacts
Antonella Nota
ESA HST Project Scientist, ESA JWST Project Scientist for GuestObservers
Email: hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu
Pierre Ferruit
ESA JWST Project Scientist
Email: Pierre.Ferruit@esa.int
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12 July 2018: In December 2017, the Council of the European Space Agency appointed Günther Hasinger to become the new ESA Director for Science, and we are delighted to welcome him on board!
Born in Bavaria, Germany, Günther studied physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, originally with the goal to become an audio engineer. However, inspired by classes from the astronomer Rudolf Kippenhahn ...
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12 July 2018: The Space Telescope User Committee (STUC) has received frequent updates from STScI on the issue of persistent gender bias in the outcome of the reviews by Hubble’s Time Allocation Committee, which has been observed for several proposal cycles.
In November 2017, we heard from an external expert, Dr. Stephanie Johnson (Univ. Colorado), who specialises in issues of unconscious bias ...
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12 July 2018: As you are undoubtedly aware, NASA has recently announced, that the launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has been delayed until 30 March 2021. Admittedly, one’s first, emotional, reaction is a sense of frustration, in particular for those scientists who prepared their applications for observing time with James Webb months ago. After all, we are ...
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