National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Astrophysics Division Corner

STScI May Symposium Second Announcement

Dear Colleague,

The topic of the STScI May Symposium this year is "A Decade of Dark Energy." The conference is May 5-8 at STScI in Baltimore. There is an excellent line up of speakers. More details are on the meeting web site:

http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/spring2008.

The universe is more complex than we imagined it to be a decade ago. Observations of distant supernovae, the cosmic microwave background, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, gamma-ray bursts, and gravitational lenses, now all indicate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. It is as if the universe is filled with a sea of "dark energy," the pressure of which counteracts the pull of gravity on large scales.

The observations suggest a fundamental flaw in our understanding of the basic forces of nature. A wide variety of solutions have been proposed, ranging from modifications of General Relativity to new quantum fields. Observations related to dark energy now occupy a significant fraction of the observing time at major observatories. Each week, more than 20 new papers related to dark energy are published. Meanwhile, the international astronomical community is contemplating major investments in facilities aimed at better characterizing dark energy. The past decade marked the discovery of dark energy and the revelation of our profound ignorance of the cosmos. Dark-energy research over the next decade may well lead the way to a deeper understanding of the laws of physics.

The Space Telescope Science Institute's 2008 May Symposium: A Decade of Dark Energy, will focus on cutting-edge issues in the study of dark energy. The conference will include:

• presentations of the latest observational results,
• reviews and discussion of theoretical advances -- including the connection to other areas of fundamental physics,
• discussion of ways to differentiate between models and figures of merit for optimizing future observations,
• outlines of future dark-energy projects, and
• discussion of measurement techniques and challenges, focusing on advances since the Dark Energy Task Force report.

Confirmed Speakers Include:

• Andreas Albrecht
• Steven Allen
• Rachel Bean
• Chuck Bennett
• Gary Bernstein
• Sarah Bridle
• Daniel Eisenstein
• Wendy Freedman
• Henk Hoekstra
• Wayne Hu
• Dragan Huterer
• Bhuvnesh Jain
• Robert Kirshner
• Rocky Kolb
• Lawrence Krauss
• Tod Lauer
• Lyman Page
• John Peacock
• William Percival
• Saul Perlmutter
• Adam Riess
• Paul Steinhardt
• Mark Sullivan
• Michael Turner
• Licia Verde
• Yun Wang
• Edward Witten

Organizing Committee:

• Harry Ferguson
• Norbert Pirzkal
• Jonathan Bagger
• Chuck Bennett
• Van Dixon
• S. Michael Fall
• Andrew Fruchter
• Benne Holwerda
• Mario Livio
• Duccio Macchetto
• Warren Moos
• Marc Postman
• Neill Reid
• Adam Riess
• Massimo Robberto
• Massimo Stiavelli

A Statement Regarding NASA Funding for US Participation in the Herschel Space Observatory.

The Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, like the worldwide astronomical community, anxiously anticipates the launch of the Herschel Space Observatory later this year. Developed by ESA, with significant contributions from NASA, Herschel will open a new window on the universe at far-infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, revolutionizing our understanding of the processes by which galaxies, stars, and planetary systems form and evolve.

We believe that the US science community is poised to play a prominent role in realizing the tremendous scientific potential of the Herschel mission. However, we are aware that the projected reductions in the Herschel Project funding line for fiscal years 2009 and beyond reflected in the President's FY09 budget request for NASA have generated concern within the US astronomical community, causing some to question the Astrophysics Division's commitment to its partnership in the Herschel mission, and whether the Agency will be able to adequately support the participation of US scientists in Herschel's planned science program.

This notice is to assure the scientific community that the Astrophysics Division has every intention of fully supporting the funding commitments that have been made to members of the US astronomical community engaged in Herschel science. Those commitments include funding support for the Guaranteed Time observations of the US members of the HIFI and SPIRE instrument teams throughout mission operations. They also include the funding for Laboratory Astrophysics and Theoretical Research (LA/TR) programs and Open Time Key Programs (OT/KP) specified in the NASA Herschel Science Center's Cycle 0 Call for Proposals (March 2007) reproduced in tabular form below.

Funding profiles for Cycle 0 TR/LA and OT/KP research programs

The offsets resulting from the reductions to the Herschel budget line will be accommodated through re-scoping Herschel activities at JPL and the NASA Herschel Science Center. While these reductions will likely impact the functionality of those entities, we will endeavor to minimize those impacts through NASA's annual project planning process, with the goal of preserving the ability of those organizations to adequately support the activities of the US science community within the division's current challenging funding constraints.

Once again, the Astrophysics Division looks forward to the exciting discoveries that await the Herschel Space Observatory, and remains committed to enabling the US astronomical community to play a leading role in the Herschel science program.

Douglas Hudgins, NASA Herschel Program Scientist

February 15 News

Now that the President's budget for 2009 has been released, it's possible to see some of the steps that we have taken to restore the health of R&A in Astrophysics. The budget released by the President this year shows an increase in the Astrophysics R&A budget for this year, and steady increases for the next five years. The table below shows the Astrophysics R&A budget, in millions of dollars, for fiscal years 2008 - 2013 as presented a year ago and this year. The bottom line shows the percentage increase for each year.

Also, this week the selections for the Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Studies were released. More information about this can be found in the ASMCS Press Release from February 13.

Wilt Sanders
Astrophysics Division R&A Lead

How does the universe work? How did we get here? Are we alone? NASA searches for answers to these questions looking far away, towards the beginning of time, to see galaxies forming, and close to home, in search of planetary systems like Earth around nearby stars. The universe is a dynamic, evolving place, governed by cycles of matter and energy. In an intricate series of physical processes, chemical elements are formed and destroyed, passed between stars and diffuse clouds. Through the Astrophysics Theme, NASA seeks to understand these cycles and how they created the unique conditions that support life.

The Astrophysics portfolio has been re-structured into Science-based programs that contain projects. The three new programs are: Cosmic Origins, Physics of the Cosmos and Exoplanet Exploration. Science-based grouping of missions is especially useful for forward planning as the intellectual framework helps to justify new initiatives and maintain a scientifically balanced portfolio which will better serve upcoming strategic planning as well as the next decadal survey.

The Astrophysics suite of operating missions includes three Great Observatories, which have helped astronomers unravel the mysteries of the cosmos by allowing contemporaneous observations of objects at different electromagnetic wavelengths. The best known is the Hubble Space Telescope, which has rewritten astronomy textbooks since its launch in 1990. Hubble was joined by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in 1999 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2003. In the next few years to come, GLAST will begin to explore the high-energy world, Hubble Servicing Mission 4 will be performed, Kepler will begin the process to detect and characterize hundreds of planets in or near the habitable zone, and WISE will launch and begin its all-sky survey.

New technologies and more powerful instruments will allow the Astrophysics Theme to look deeper into the cosmos, to the edge of black holes and nearly to the beginning of time. In the search for origins, NASA will peer at tens of thousands of stars, inventory their planets, and search for solar systems resembling Earth.