Galaxy Morphology from NICMOS Parallel Imaging

We present high resolution NICMOS images of random fields obtained in parallel to other HST observations. We present galaxy number counts reaching H=24. The H-band galaxy counts show good agreement with the deepest I- and K-band counts obtained from ground-based data. We present the distribution of galaxies with morphological type to H<23. We find relatively fewer irregular galaxies compared to an I-band sample from the Hubble Deep Field, which we attribute to their blue color, rather than to morphological K-corrections. We conclude that the irregulars are intrinsically faint blue galaxies at z<1.Comment: 13 pages, including 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Optical Coronagraphic Spectroscopy of AU Mic: Evidence of Time Variable Colors?

We present coronagraphic long slit spectra of AU Mic's debris disk taken with the STIS instrument aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Our spectra are the first spatially resolved, scattered light spectra of the system's disk, which we detect at projected distances between approximately 10 and 45 AU. Our spectra cover a wavelength range between 5200 and 10200 angstroms. We find that the color of AU Mic's debris disk is bluest at small (12-35 AU) projected separations. These results both confirm and quantify the findings qualitatively noted by Krist et al. (2005), and are different than IR observations that suggested a uniform blue or gray color as a function of projected separation in this region of the disk. Unlike previous literature that reported the color of AU Mic's disk became increasingly more blue as a function of projected separation beyond approximately 30 AU, we find the disk's optical color between 35-45 AU to be uniformly blue on the southeast side of the disk and decreasingly blue on the northwest side. We note that this apparent change in disk color at larger projected separations coincides with several fast, outward moving "features" that are passing through this region of the southeast side of the disk. We speculate that these phenomenon might be related, and that the fast moving features could be changing the localized distribution of sub-micron sized grains as they pass by, thereby reducing the blue color of the disk in the process. We encourage follow-up optical spectroscopic observations of the AU Mic to both confirm this result, and search for further modifications of the disk color caused by additional fast moving features propagating through the disk.Comment: Accepted by AJ, 13 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

HST-STIS Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy and Coronagraphic Imaging of the TW Hydrae Circumstellar Disk

We present the first spatially resolved spectrum of scattered light from the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disk. This nearly face-on disk is optically thick, surrounding a classical T Tauri star in the nearby 10 Myr old TW Hya association. The spectrum was taken with the HST-STIS CCD, providing resolution R ~ 360 over the wavelength range 5250 - 10300 A. Spatially resolved spectroscopy of circumstellar disks is difficult due to the high contrast ratio between the bright star and faint disk. Our novel observations provide optical spectra of scattered light from the disk between 40 AU and 155 AU from the star. The scattered light has the same color as the star (gray scattering) at all radii, except the innermost region. This likely indicates that the scattering dust grains are larger than about 1 micron all the way out to large radii. From the spectroscopic data, we also obtained radial profiles of the integrated disk brightness at two position angles, over almost the same region as previously observed in HST-WFPC2 and NICMOS coronagraphic images (35 AU to 173 AU from the star). The profiles have the same shape as the earlier ones, but show a small azimuthal asymmetry in the disk not previously noted. Our STIS broad-band coronagraphic images of TW Hya confirm the reality of this asymmetry, and show that the disk surface brightness interior to 140 AU has a sinusoidal dependence on azimuthal angle. The maximum brightness occurs at a position angle of 233.6 +/- 5.7 degrees East of North. This might be caused by the combination of forward-scattering and an increase in inclination in the inner region of the disk, suggesting that the TW Hya disk has a warp like that seen in the Beta Pictoris debris disk.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures (some in color). First version submitted to ApJ 2004-08-29, posted to astro-ph 2004-10-10. Revised version accepted for publication in ApJ 2004-12-07, posted to astro-ph 2004-12-0

30 Doradus - a Template for "Real Starbursts"?

30 Doradus is the closest massive star forming region and the best studied template of a starburst. In this conference paper we first summarize the properties of 30 Doradus and its stellar core, R136. We discuss the effects of insufficient spatial resolution and cluster density profiles on dynamical mass estimates of super star clusters, and show that their masses can be easily overestimated by a factor of ten or more. From a very simple model, with R136-like clusters as representative building blocks, we estimate typical luminosities of the order 10^11 L_o for starburst galaxies.Comment: To be published in "Starbursts: From 30 Doradus to Lyman Break Galaxies", eds. R. de Grijs & R.M. Gonzalez Delgad

A Search for the Most Massive Galaxies. II. Structure, Environment and Formation

We study a sample of 43 early-type galaxies, selected from the SDSS because they appeared to have velocity dispersion > 350 km/s. High-resolution photometry in the SDSS i passband using HRC-ACS on board the HST shows that just less than half of the sample is made up of superpositions of two or three galaxies, so the reported velocity dispersion is incorrect. The other half of the sample is made up of single objects with genuinely large velocity dispersions. None of these objects has sigma larger than 426 +- 30 km/s. These objects define rather different relations than the bulk of the early-type galaxy population: for their luminosities, they are the smallest, most massive and densest galaxies in the Universe. Although the slopes of the scaling relations they define are rather different from those of the bulk of the population, they lie approximately parallel to those of the bulk "at fixed sigma". These objects appear to be of two distinct types: the less luminous (M_r>-23) objects are rather flattened and extremely dense for their luminosities -- their properties suggest some amount of rotational support and merger histories with abnormally large amounts of gaseous dissipation. The more luminous objects (M_r<-23) tend to be round and to lie in or at the centers of clusters. Their properties are consistent with the hypothesis that they are BCGs. Models in which BCGs form from predominantly radial mergers having little angular momentum predict that they should be prolate. If viewed along the major axis, such objects would appear to have abnormally large sigma for their sizes, and to be abnormally round for their luminosities. This is true of the objects in our sample once we account for the fact that the most luminous galaxies (M_r<-23.5), and BCGs, become slightly less round with increasing luminosity.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Hot, Massive Stars in I Zw 18

I Zw 18 is one of the most primitive blue, compact dwarf galaxies. The ionized gas in I Zw 18 has a low oxygen abundance (O approx.1/30 Osun) and nitrogen abundance (N-1/100 Nsun) (Pequignot 2008). We have obtained a far-UV spectrum of the northwest massive star cluster of I Zw 18 using Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). The spectrum is compatible with continuous star-formation over the past approx.10 Myr, and a very low metallicity, log Z/Zsun 1.7, although the stellar surface may be enhanced in carbon. Stellar wind lines are very weak, and the edge velocity of wind lines is very low (approx.250 km/s)

Environmental Dependence of the Structure of Brightest Cluster Galaxies

We measure the Petrosian structural properties of 33 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at redshifts z<0.1 in X-ray selected clusters with a wide range of X-ray luminosities. We find that some BCGs show distinct signatures in their Petrosian profiles, likely to be due to cD haloes. We also find that BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have shallower surface brightness profiles than those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. This suggests that the BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have undergone up to twice as many equal-mass mergers in their past as those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. This is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of hierarchical structure formation.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA

The ^{55}Fe X-ray Energy Response of Mercury Cadmium Telluride Near-Infrared Detector Arrays

A technique involving ^{55}Fe X-rays provides a straightforward method to measure the response of a detector. The detector's response can lead directly to a calculation of the conversion gain (e^- ADU^{-1}), as well as aid detector design and performance studies. We calibrate the ^{55}Fe X-ray energy response and pair production energy of HgCdTe using 8 HST WFC3 1.7 \micron flight grade detectors. The results show that each K$\alpha$ X-ray generates 2273 \pm 137 electrons, which corresponds to a pair-production energy of 2.61 \pm 0.16 eV. The uncertainties are dominated by our knowledge of the conversion gain. In future studies, we plan to eliminate this uncertainty by directly measuring conversion gain at very low light levels.Comment: 17 pages, 7 Figures, 2 Table. Accepted for publication on PAS