Editing Hubble Space Telescope (section)

== Major projects ==
[[File:Pillars of creation 2014 HST WFC3-UVIS full-res denoised.jpg|thumb|One of Hubble's most famous images, ''[[Pillars of Creation]]'', shows stars forming in the [[Eagle Nebula]].]]

Since the start of the program, a number of research projects have been carried out, some of them almost solely with Hubble, others coordinated facilities such as [[Chandra X-ray Observatory]] and [[ESO]]'s [[Very Large Telescope]]. Although the Hubble observatory is nearing the end of its life, there are still major projects scheduled for it. One example is the current (2022) ULLYSES project (Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards) which will last for three years to observe a set of high- and low-mass young stars and will shed light on star formation and composition. Another is the OPAL project (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy), which is focussed on understanding the evolution and dynamics of the atmosphere of the outer planets (such as Jupiter and Uranus) by making baseline observations over an extended period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) |url=https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/ |access-date=30 March 2023 |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330010627/https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
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=== Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey ===
In an August 2013 press release, [[CANDELS]] was referred to as "the largest project in the history of Hubble". The survey "aims to explore galactic evolution in the early Universe, and the first seeds of cosmic structure at less than one billion years after the Big Bang."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1315/#3 |title=Hubble explores the origins of modern galaxies |work=SpaceTelescope.org |id=heic1315 |date=August 15, 2013 |access-date=October 4, 2013 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124011402/https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1315/#3 |url-status=live }}</ref> The CANDELS project site describes the survey's goals as the following:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://candels.ucolick.org/survey/Survey_Desc.html |title=Survey Description |work=CANDELS |via=UCOLick.org |access-date=October 4, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020092530/http://candels.ucolick.org/survey/Survey_Desc.html |archive-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref>

<blockquote>The Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey is designed to document the first third of galactic evolution from z = 8 to 1.5 via deep imaging of more than 250,000 galaxies with WFC3/IR and ACS. It will also find the first Type Ia SNe beyond z > 1.5 and establish their accuracy as standard candles for cosmology. Five premier multi-wavelength sky regions are selected; each has multi-wavelength data from Spitzer and other facilities, and has extensive spectroscopy of the brighter galaxies. The use of five widely separated fields mitigates cosmic variance and yields statistically robust and complete samples of galaxies down to 10<sup>9</sup> solar masses out to z ~ 8.</blockquote>

=== Frontier Fields program ===
[[File:Color image of galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1–2403.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Color image of galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1–2403, studied by the Hubble Frontier Fields program|The Frontier Fields program studied [[MACS0416.1-2403]].]]

The program, officially named "Hubble Deep Fields Initiative 2012", is aimed to advance the knowledge of early [[galaxy formation]] by studying high-redshift galaxies in [[Deep field|blank fields]] with the help of [[gravitational lensing]] to see the "faintest galaxies in the distant universe".<ref name="SWGreport">{{cite web |url=http://www.stsci.edu/hst/campaigns/frontier-fields/documents/HDFI_SWGReport2012.pdf |title=Hubble Deep Fields Initiative 2012 Science Working Group Report |work=STScI.edu |date=2012 |access-date=June 29, 2015 |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715150044/https://www.stsci.edu/hst |url-status=live }}</ref> The Frontier Fields web page describes the goals of the program being:

* to reveal hitherto inaccessible populations of z = 5–10 galaxies that are ten to fifty times fainter intrinsically than any presently known
* to solidify our understanding of the stellar masses and star formation histories of sub-L* galaxies at the earliest times
* to provide the first statistically meaningful morphological characterization of star forming galaxies at z > 5
* to find z > 8 galaxies stretched out enough by cluster lensing to discern internal structure and/or magnified enough by cluster lensing for spectroscopic follow-up.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stsci.edu/hst/campaigns/frontier-fields |title=Hubble Space Telescope: Frontier Fields |work=STScI.edu |access-date=October 4, 2013 |archive-date=July 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715150048/https://www.stsci.edu/hst |url-status=live }}</ref>
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=== Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) ===
The [[Cosmic Evolution Survey]] (COSMOS)<ref name="Cosmic Evolution Survey COSMOS">{{Cite web|url=http://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/|title=Home Page|website=COSMOS|access-date=August 31, 2019|archive-date=January 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105073739/http://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/|url-status=live}}</ref> is an astronomical survey designed to probe the formation and evolution of galaxies as a function of both cosmic time (redshift) and the local galaxy environment. The survey covers a two square degree equatorial field with spectroscopy and X-ray to radio imaging by most of the major space-based telescopes and a number of large ground based telescopes,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/page/astronomers|title=For Astronomers|website=COSMOS|access-date=November 2, 2020|archive-date=October 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025190033/http://cosmos.astro.caltech.edu/page/astronomers|url-status=live}}</ref> making it a key focus region of extragalactic astrophysics. COSMOS was launched in 2006 as the largest project pursued by the Hubble Space Telescope at the time, and still is the largest continuous area of sky covered for the purposes of mapping deep space in [[Deep field|blank fields]], 2.5 times the area of the moon on the sky and 17 times larger than the largest of the CANDELS regions. The COSMOS scientific collaboration that was forged from the initial COSMOS survey is the largest and longest-running extragalactic collaboration, known for its collegiality and openness. The study of galaxies in their environment can be done only with large areas of the sky, larger than a half square degree.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2007/news-2007-01|title=Hubble Maps the Cosmic Web of "Clumpy" Dark Matter in 3-D|website=HubbleSite.org|publisher=[[Space Telescope Science Institute]]|access-date=November 2, 2020|archive-date=July 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715150152/https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2007/news-2007-01.html|url-status=live}}</ref> More than two million galaxies are detected, spanning 90% of the age of the [[Universe]]. The COSMOS collaboration is led by [[Caitlin Casey]], [[Jeyhan Kartaltepe]], and Vernesa Smolcic and involves more than 200 scientists in a dozen countries.<ref name="Cosmic Evolution Survey COSMOS" />

=== Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble ===
The [[Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble]] (CLASH) was a Treasury Program from 2010 to 2013 conducted by the Hubble Space Telescope to observe 25 massive galaxy clusters by using gravitational lensing. CLASH aimed to examine the distribution of dark matter and dark energy in massive galaxy clusters with the new instruments installed in 2009. Imagery showing the effects of gravitational lensing is one means of detecting dark matter and dark energy, and CLASH focused on trying to gain a better understanding of both mysterious topics.<ref>https://www.stsci.edu/~postman/CLASH/ . Retrieved 27 March 2025.</ref>

=== Photomosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy ===
[[File:Largest Mosaic of Andromeda by Hubble jan 16 2025-extra details.jpg|thumb|Largest Mosaic of Andromeda by Hubble with details: (a) Clusters of bright blue stars embedded within the galaxy, background galaxies seen much farther away, and photo-bombing by a couple bright foreground stars that are actually inside our Milky Way; (b) NGC 206 the most conspicuous star cloud in Andromeda; (c) A young cluster of blue newborn stars; (d) The satellite galaxy M32, that may be the residual core of a galaxy that once collided with Andromeda; (e) Dark dust lanes across myriad stars.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hubble's panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy (annotated) |url=https://esahubble.org/images/heic2501b/ |website=www.esahubble.org |access-date=27 March 2025 |language=en}}{{source-attribution}}</ref>]]

The [[Zooming In on the Andromeda Galaxy|Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury and Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury]] (PHAT and PHAST) were observations done by Hubble from July 2010 to October 2013 to map the northern half of the [[Andromeda Galaxy]] and from December 2021 to January 2024 to map the southern half. Andromeda is the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy and Hubble created the highest resolution and most detailed [[Photographic mosaic|photomosaic]] ever of Andromeda. 200 million stars can be seen in this combined image of both Treasury Programs out of a total of 1 trillion stars in Andromeda. Each star looks like a grain of sand. The northern half, PHAT, was mapped in near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths in 828 orbits and was released in January 2015. The southern half, PHAST, was mapped in near-ultraviolet and visible wavelengths in 195 orbits and was released in January 2025. Observing Andromeda in this detail is the best alternative to observing the Milky Way Galaxy because Earth is within the Milky Way and cannot observe most of the Milky Way due to the [[Zone of Avoidance|galaxy itself blocking observations]] of 20% of the sky and most of the galaxy. To achieve this mosaic 1,023 Hubble orbits were needed. The mosaic image is made up of at least 2.5 billion pixels.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stsci.edu/contents/media/images/2015/02/3476-Image |title=Hubble M31 PHAT Mosaic |publisher=Space Telescope Science Institute |access-date=27 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=PHAST. The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Southern Treasury. I. Ultraviolet and Optical Photometry of over 90 Million Stars in M31 |vauthors=Chen Z, Williams B, Lang D, Dolphin A, Durbin M, Dalcanton JJ, Smercina A, Girardi L, Murray CE, Bell EF, Boyer ML, D'Souza R, Gilbert K, Gordon K, Guhathakurta P, Hammer F, Johnson LC, Lauer TR, Lazzarini M, Murphy JW, Patel E, Quirk A, Díaz Rodríguez M, Roman-Duval JC, Sanderson RE, Seth A, Wainer TM, Weisz DR |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=979 |number=1 |date=2025 |page=35 |doi=10.3847/1538-4357/ad7e2b |doi-access=free|bibcode=2025ApJ...979...35C }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-005 |title=NASA's Hubble Traces Hidden History of Andromeda Galaxy |publisher=Space Telescope Science Institute |date=16 January 2025 |access-date=27 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJS..200...18D/abstract |title=The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury |vauthors= Dalcanton, JJ, Williams, BF, Lang, D, Lauer, TR, Kalirai, JS, Seth, AC, Dolphin, A, Rosenfield, P, Weisz, DR, Bell, EF, Bianchi, LC, Boyer, ML, Caldwell, N, Dong, H, Dorman, CE, Gilbert, KM, Girardi, L, Gogarten, SM, Gordon, KD, Guhathakurta, P, Hodge, PW, Holtzman, JA, Johnson, LC, Larsen, SS, Lewis, A, Melbourne, JL, Olsen, KAG, Rix, HW, Rosema, K, Saha, A, Sarajedini, A, Skillman, ED, Stanek, KZ  |journal=The Astrophysical Journal Supplement |date=2012 |volume=200 |issue=2 |page=18 |doi=10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/18 |arxiv=1204.0010|bibcode=2012ApJS..200...18D }}</ref>