astro-ph/0303500
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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
Mario Livio 1
Space Telescope Science
Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218
Abstract. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), in its thirteen years
of operation,
has allowed us to observe properties of the universe humans have been
able, until very recently, to probe only with their thoughts. This
review presents a brief summary of a few of the highlights of HST
discoveries, discusses their physical implications, and identifies
unsolved problems. A broad range of topics is covered, from our own
solar system to cosmology. The topics fall into the general categories
of: planets (including both in the solar system and extrasolar), stellar
evolution, black holes (including both of stellar-mass and
supermassive), galaxy formation and evolution, the determination of
cosmological parameters, and the nature of the recently discovered
"dark energy."
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- OUR OWN BACKYARD - THE SOLAR SYSTEM
- The collision of Comet SL-9 with Jupiter
- EXTRASOLAR PLANETS
- Where have all the planets gone?
- The transiting planet HD 209458
- STARS AT BIRTH AND DEATH
- Outflows and jets from young stellar objects
- Protoplanetary disks
- Morphology of stellar deaths
- BLACK HOLES--FROM SUPERMASSIVE TO STELLAR
- Search techniques for supermassive black holes
- The MBH - relationship
- Intermediate-mass black holes?
- Gamma-ray bursts
- DEEP FIELDS AND A BRIEF COSMIC HISTORY
- The morphology and sizes of high-redshift galaxies
- The global cosmic star-formation history
- THE HUBBLE CONSTANT
- A brief background
- Distance indicators and methods
- The results
- THE ACCELERATING UNIVERSE
- The observations
- Alternative interpretations
- Supernova 1997ff - serendipity and careful
planning
- The nature of "dark energy"
- EPILOGUE
- REFERENCES
1 mlivio@stsci.edu;
http://www-int.stsci.edu/~mlivio/
