Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the
Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore, Maryland, have
created a new master catalog of astronomical objects called
the Hubble Source Catalog. The catalog provides one-stop
shopping for measurements of objects observed with NASA’s
Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble has amassed a rich legacy of images and other
scientific data over its 25 years of exploring the universe.
All of the images are stored in the computer-based Barbara A.
Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), which
astronomers use for their research. The archive is
bursting with more than a million images, which contain
roughly 100 million small sources ranging from distant
galaxies to compact star clusters to individual stars. For
astronomers, however, a major challenge is the difficulty
involved with sifting through the archival gold mine to
collect the data they want to analyze. The Hubble Source
Catalog now allows astronomers to perform a computer
search for characteristics of these sources, receiving
information within seconds or minutes.

The Hubble Source Catalog is a database from which astronomers
can obtain the Hubble measurements of specific astronomical
objects they want to investigate. A query to this database
can take just seconds or minutes, while previously it might
have required a few months of hard work by searching
separate files throughout the archive. This capability
promises to open the door to exciting new areas of research
with Hubble that otherwise might have been too cumbersome
to tackle.
Read more here:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2015/07

Please join +Tony Darnell Dr.+Carol Christian and +Scott Lewis as they discuss the new release of this powerful database with astronomers from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

25th Anniversary Page:
http://hubble25th.org

Final moments for submissions to +European Space Agency, ESA’s#OdeToHubble  competitions can be found here: http://www.spacetelescope.org/Hubble25/odetohubble/ 

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Bring your questions and comments and we’ll read them on air throughout the hangout!

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