Picturing the cosmos : Hubble Space Telescope images and the astronomical sublime

289 Pages·2012·22.23 MB·English

by  Kessler

ELIZABETH A. KESSLER
PICTURING THE COSMOS

Elizabeth A. Kessler
PICTURING THE COSMOS
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGES
AND THE ASTRONOMICAL SUBLIME
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS MINNEAPOLIS · LONDON
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges funding provided
for the publication of this book from the Margaret S. Harding Memorial Endowment,
honoring the first director of the University of Minnesota Press.
Frontispiece: View of a supernova remnant in the Large Megallanic Cloud, designated
N49, as crafted by members of the Hubble Heritage Project. July 3, 2003; WFPC2.
Courtesy of NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScl/AURA)
Copyright 2012 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kessler, Elizabeth A.
Picturing the cosmos : Hubble Space Telescope images
and the astronomical sublime / Elizabeth A. Kessler.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978--0-8166-8249-2
1. Galaxies—Pictorial works. 2. Stars—Pictorial works.
3. Sublime, The, in art. 4. Hubble Space Telescope (Spacecraft). I. Title.
QB857.K47 2012
520—dc23 2012020744
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations vii
Introduction Astronomy’s Romantic Landscapes 1
One The Astronomical Sublime and the American West 19
Two Ambivalent Astronomers and the Embrace of Hubble Images 69
Three Translating Data into Pretty Pictures 127
Four From Unknown Frontiers to Familiar Places 175
Epilogue A Very Distant and Peaceful Star 229
Acknowledgments 232
Notes 235
Bibliography 256
Index 267
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ABBREVIATIONS
AAS American Astronomical Society
ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys
ASU Arizona State University
AURA Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
CCDs charge-coupled devices
COSTAR Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement
EGGs evaporating gaseous globules
EROs early release observations
ESA European Space Agency
ESO European Southern Observatory
FITS Flexible Image Transport System
IDL Interactive Data Language
IRAF Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
JHU Johns Hopkins University
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
LST Large Space Telescope
MAST Multimission Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NICMOS Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatories
STIS Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
STScI Space Telescope Science Institute
STSDAS Space Telescope Science Data Analysis System
UCSC/LO University of California, Santa Cruz/Lick Observatory
WFC Wide Field Camera
WFC3 Wide Field Camera 3
WFPC Wide Field Planetary Camera
WFPC2 Wide Field Planetary Camera 2

INTRODUCTION
ASTRONOMY’S ROMANTIC LANDSCAPES
Hubble Images and Aesthetics
A dark cloud against a background of orange and blue reaches upward, stretching
nearly to the top of the frame that contains it. Brightly backlit at its top and outlined
throughout with a soft glow, the majesty and grace of the sinuous shape claim the
viewer’s attention (Figure 1). But the closer one looks, the more difficult it becomes
to classify what is pictured. Because of its wispy outline and top-heavy proportions, it
appears that the form must be composed of something airy, something gaseous and
insubstantial; however, its elongated profile resembles none of the clouds seen above
the earth, and its blackness surpasses that of even the most threatening storm. Its color
and assertive vertical orientation instead suggest a gravity-defying geological formation
carved into a twisting pillar by unknown forces and silhouetted against a bright sky.
The object almost oscillates before the viewer: cloud and landscape, familiar and alien.
The image is one of the many compelling views of the cosmos credited to
the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch in April 1990. The National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Space Telescope Science Institute
(STScI), the research center that manages the instrument, released the image of the
Eagle Nebula, along with one of the Whirlpool Galaxy (Figure 2), to celebrate the
orbiting telescope’s fifteenth anniversary in April 2005.1 The view of the Whirlpool is
less ambiguous than that of the Eagle; its distinctive spiral shape is iconic, the recog-
nizable sign of a star system akin to the Milky Way. It is, however, no less powerful
an image than the representation of the Eagle Nebula. The dynamic whirl pulls the
1