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The Value of Spectroscopy

Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), the most versatile spectrograph ever to fly on Hubble, has been nicknamed the "Black Hole Hunter" and its scientific potential is far from exhausted. The capabilities of the STIS have made it a powerful instrument for addressing a wide array of scientific questions, including:

• Massive Black Holes
• Stellar Flares
• Stars
• Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe
• Other Planetary Systems
• Distribution of Matter

Hubble's six scientific instruments are complementary with some overlapping capabilities and each offering something the other doesn't.

By partnering STIS with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) scientists have expanded their search for protoplanetary disks. STIS' coronagraphic mode can be used to image nearby stars and search for protoplanetary disks. These observations provide complementary data to NICMOS, which was to peer through the thick dust around young stars. These observations shed light on how planets form, what types of stars have planetary disks, and how quickly the disks evolve into planets.

STIS will complement the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) to be installed in SM4. COS' design has one primary purpose, to easily measure exceedingly faint levels of ultraviolet light emanating from very faint cosmic sources. STIS provides spatially resolved spectra of extended objects, very high (sharply defined) resolution, capabilities COS does not possess.