The Nuker Team was formed to use the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

, with its high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, to investigate the central structure and dynamics of galaxies. The team used the HST to examine

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

s and determined the relationship between a galaxy's central black hole's mass and velocity dispersion. The team continues to conduct research and publish papers on the supermassive black holes of galaxies and clusters. The group was initially formed by Tod R. Lauer, then a first year postdoc. At the first meeting of the group held at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in June 1985,

Sandra Faber Sandra Moore Faber (born December 28, 1944) is an American astrophysicist known for her research on the evolution of galaxies. She is the University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works a ...

was elected the group leader.

Members

The original members of the Nuker Team include

Alan Dressler Alan Michael Dressler (born 23 March 1948) is an American astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science of Washington, D.C. Among his works is the popularization ''Voyage To The Great Attractor: Exploring Intergalactic Space''. Dressler was ...

(OCIW),

(UCO/Lick; First PI), John Kormendy (Texas), Tod R. Lauer (NOAO), Douglas Richstone (Michigan; Present PI), and

Scott Tremaine Scott Duncan Tremaine (born 1950) is a Canadian-born astrophysicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences. Tremaine is widely regarded as one of the world's leading as ...

(IAS). Later additions to the team include Ralf Bender (Munchen), Alexei V. Filippenko (Berkeley),

Karl Gebhardt Karl Franz Gebhardt (23 November 1897 – 2 June 1948) was a German medical doctor and a war criminal during World War II. He served as Medical Superintendent of the Hohenlychen Sanatorium, Consulting Surgeon of the ''Waffen-SS'', Chief Surgeon in ...

(Texas), Richard Green (LBTO), Kayhan Gultekin (Michigan), Luis C. Ho (OCIW), John Magorrian (Oxford), Jason Pinkney (Ohio Northern), and Christos Siopis (Michigan).

Etymology

The name "Nuker" began as an informal internal reference by members of the team to each other, because they came together to study the nuclei of galaxies using the space telescope. The first use of the name was in a 1989 email from Faber, who addressed her five colleagues as "Dear Nukers". As the team began to publish its research, the name came into general use in the scientific community. The name "Nuker" is also used in reference to the " Nuker Law", which is a description of the inner few (~3-10) arcseconds of predominantly nearby (< 30 Mpc) early-type galaxy light-profiles. The Nuker Law was described first by members of the Nuker Team, from which it gets its name.''Ibid.''

References

Sources

* Stern, S. Alan, ''Our Universe: The Thrill of Extragalactic Exploration As Told by Leading Experts'', Cambridge University Press, 2001 and

External links

*
Nuker Team Refereed Publications

Transcript of BBC Horizon and Science Channel documentary

{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Hubble Space Telescope Astronomy organizations Astrophysics Black holes

Members

Etymology

See also

References

Sources

External links