University of Delaware astronomy professor Judi Provencal has won research time on the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA.
University of Delaware astronomer Judi Provencal, shown at Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory in Greenville, Del., has won research time on the Hubble Space Telescope for her study of white dwarfs
The Hubble Space Telescope has been hovering on Earth’s orbit at 353 mi altitude, ever since its 1990 launch. It captures light on its 8-foot-diameter mirror, thereby powering scientific instruments such as spectrometers or heat sensors, advanced cameras, spectrographs, where the light waves will be divided into frequencies for more analysis.
The Hubble generates exceptional images of cosmic phenomena that enabled determining the existence of dark energy, the strange force causing the expansion of universe, and the universe’s age.
Hubble’s time is granted in “orbits,” while the observing time of a telescope on the ground is granted in units of “nights.” The telescope spans the Earth every 97 minutes at 353 mi of altitude. In each orbit, Earth’s shadow passes for a half hour.
There will be 16 orbits on the Hubble telescope with six dying stars called white dwarfs for Provencal to observe. These stars will have helium atmospheres.
Provencal will associate with the Space Telescope Science Institute staff to construct a detailed schema of initiative for each target.
KIC8626021 is one among Provencal’s targets. Kepler satellite observes this target that searches for “transit.” The Venus transit occurred recently. KIC8626021 is Kepler’s field’s unique helium atmosphere white dwarf that alters its brightness or is “pulsating”. For two subsequent years, these alterations and changes in brightness will be observed using Kepler.