Dr. Daniel E. Vanden Berk, assistant professor of physics at Saint Vincent College, has a special interest in the current NASA Space Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) since his own research depends on the productivity of the new cameras that are currently being installed.

His NASA-funded research project utilizes data transmitted from HST to study the composition of the Andromeda Galaxy, a galaxy similar to the Milky Way, in order to answer questions about its origins and development that will enhance understanding of our own galaxy.

Dr. Vanden Berk, who has a masters degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in astronomy and astrophysics, has been conducting research for NASA for over 15 years. In 2004 his proposal for his current program with HST was selected from among the hundreds submitted by researchers at colleges and universities all over the country.

Most of his research with the HST has utilized its Space Telescope Imaging Spectragraph (STIS), an instrument that spacewalkers just repaired. After almost 20 years in orbit 350 miles above the Earth, the Hubble has traveled almost three billion miles. In addition to STIS, Dr. Vanden Berk also utilizes its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) that has also been repaired. “The biggest items that we are really interested in are two new instruments being installed, the Cosmic Origins Spectragraph (COS) and the Wide Field Camera Three (WFC3), which will probably be the most heavily used camera on the telescope,” he explained. “We will know later this summer whether the equipment is working.”

Dr. Vanden Berk’s research focuses on a study of the Andromeda Galaxy – the largest of our neighboring galaxies – and especially the gas in its outer regions. “One of the interesting things about this galaxy is that it appears to be more massive than we can account for by adding up all of the stars and gas that we can see,” he offered. “Even though we can count the stars, and account for gases, we still can’t explain the composition of about half of the galaxy; since we can’t see this extra component, it is generally referred to as dark matter but we do not know what it is. Our research is trying to determine the full extent of the galaxy and how far the dark matter extends.”

The Saint Vincent scientist explains that the Andromeda Galaxy is very similar to the Milky Way Galaxy in which the Solar System resides. “It is difficult to study our own galaxy from inside it so by studying Andromeda we can look at the whole picture. This will give us information on how galaxies form and how important dark matter is,” Dr. Vanden Berk said. “Dark matter comprises about 85 percent of the matter of the universe but we do not understand very much about it.”

Dr. Vanden Berk is anxious to get started with his research and will be involving his astronomy students in the project when they return for classes in the fall.

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