3D-DASH Survey releases widest near-infrared image ever taken by Hubble

The 3D-DASH Survey recently released the widest contiguous near-infrared image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to date. The “footprint” that Hubble can image in a single pointing is very small and thus it is challenging to map wide areas of the sky. This program leverages a novel technique called “Drift And SHift”, where the guide-star acquisition — the main bottleneck preventing Hubble from efficiently mapping wide areas — is turned off to observe as the telescope drifts. The resulting image is smeared, but it can be restored to the original resolution in post-processing. Check out the local UMass Amherst press release discussing the local leadership of UMass Amherst graduate student Sam Cutler, second author of the publication. The data released by 3D-DASH can be found on the MAST archive.