Physics Home > Teaching Labs > Astronomy > Hubble Deep Field

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Points of Emphasis

Prerequisites

Lab Activities

In December 1996, the Hubble Space Telescope spent 10 days observing a single patch in the sky resulting in the deepest, most detailed optical view of the universe ever done. The image assembled from 342 separate exposures is called the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The goal of this lab is to have the students analyze data from the HDF and the follow-up ground based observations and to use this data to investigate the formation and evolution of galaxies.

The lab work is done on a computer using software developed by Alberto Fernandez-Soto (State University of New York at Stony Brook) who has used the HDF and the ground based observations to create a "clickable" map of the HDF. Using this software, the students are required to collect the following data on 30 different galaxies:

• Type of galaxy
  
  
• Color
  
  
• Size (cm)
  
  
• Size (arcsecond)
  
  
• Size (kpc)
  
  
• Redshift
  
  
• Age
  
  
• V Flux
  
  
• I Flux
  
  
• V/I
  
  

The techniques used to use analyze this data to gain information on the formation and evolution of galaxies is left up to the student to devise.

Course Level

Introductory

Student Handouts

Equipment

Number of set-ups available: 1 Per lab station: 1 computer workstation with the appropriate software installed 1 flexible plastic ruler with cm rulings

Notes

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Site contact: largent@Dartmouth.EDU

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