Joint HST/Chandra Accepted Cycle 19 Targets and Abstracts

Proposal NumberSubject CategoryPI NameChandra TimeTitle
19700768ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARSAaron Barth15.00ksProbing the accretion flow and emission-line regions of M81, the nearest broad-lined low-luminosity AGN
19200758STARS AND WDCatherine Espaillat34.60ksConnecting mass accretion and ejection in pre-main sequence stars
19200772STARS AND WD Froning145.00ksMega-MUSCLES Treasury Survey: Measurements of the Ultraviolet Spectral Characteristics of Low-mass Exoplanetary Systems
19700762ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARSPeter Maksym60.00ksResolved BPT Mapping of Nearby AGN
Subject Category: ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARS

Proposal Number: 19700768

Title: Probing the accretion flow and emission-line regions of M81, the nearest broad-lined low-luminosity AGN

PI Name: Aaron Barth

The nucleus of M81 is an object of singular importance as a template for low radiative efficiency accretion flows onto supermassive black holes. We propose to obtain new HST STIS UV/optical spectroscopy and a Chandra HETG observation. Our proposed observations will comprise the definitive reference dataset on the spectral energy distribution of this benchmark low-luminosity AGN. The data will be used to test models for emission from the accretion flow and jet, and will provide unique new constraints on the possible contribution of a truncated thin accretion disk to the AGN emission spectrum, clarifying a fundamental property of low radiative efficiency accretion flows.

Subject Category: STARS AND WD

Proposal Number: 19200758

Title: Connecting mass accretion and ejection in pre-main sequence stars

PI Name: Catherine Espaillat

Many pre-main sequence stars are surrounded by circumstellar material and display the typical signatures of astrophysical accretion disks, namely mass accretion onto the central object and mass ejection via jets. There is an observed correlation between the accretion rate onto the star and the mass loss rate. Here we propose a more direct test of the observed correlation between mass accretion and ejection by using UV emission to detect accreting gas and centimeter emission to trace the jet while disentangling the influence of high-energy X-ray radiation from the star. This would be the first simultaneous HST-Chandra-VLA observation of a young, accreting star.

Subject Category: STARS AND WD

Proposal Number: 19200772

Title: Mega-MUSCLES Treasury Survey: Measurements of the Ultraviolet Spectral Characteristics of Low-mass Exoplanetary Systems

PI Name: Cynthia Froning

To interpret observations of exoplanets’ atmospheres, we must understand the high-energy SEDs of their host stars. We propose to expand our Cycle 19/22 MUSCLES project to: (a) new M dwarf exoplanet hosts with varying properties; (b) reference M dwarfs below 0.3 solar masses that may be used as proxies for M dwarf planet hosts discovered after HST’s lifetime; and (c) more rapidly rotating stars of GJ1132’s mass to probe XUV evolution over gigayear timescales. We propose to gather the first panchromatic SEDs of rocky planet hosts GJ1132 and Trappist-1. This proposal extends proven methods to a key new sample of stars, upon which critically depends the long-term goal of studying habitable planet atmospheres with JWST and beyond.

Subject Category: ACTIVE GALAXIES AND QUASARS

Proposal Number: 19700762

Title: Resolved BPT Mapping of Nearby AGN

PI Name: Peter Maksym

Via BPT mapping using Hubble narrow filters, we have identified a ”LINER cocoon” surrounding the ionization cone of the Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 3393. We have been granted 19 orbits of HST time to survey [S II]6717,6731 AA and H-beta to survey a diverse sample of nearby Seyfert galaxies which already have [O III]5007 AA and H-alpha and study the origins of the ionization morphology. New joint Chandra observations of the two previously-unobserved targets from this sample will enable spatially resolved spectroscopy to model spectrally distinct regions in terms of shocks due to outflows or photoionization by the bicone.