Scientific Colloquium
October 26, 2007
MASSIMO ROBBERTO
SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
"The Hubble View of the Orion
Nebula"
The Orion Nebula plays a
cornerstone role in our understanding of star formation, as
it hosts the nearest cluster of pre-main-sequence objects spanning the
entire range of stellar and substellar
masses. In order to derive the main physical parameters of this unique
young population, we
have imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope the entire region from the
ultraviolet to the near-infrared. The
Treasury Program on the Orion Nebula, which represents the largest
investment of HST
time ever dedicated to star formation, has used in parallel all imagers
onboard HST pushing to the limit
the capability of the observatory. I will illustrate the science case,
the observational challenges and
strategy, and give an overview of the first scientific results from the
survey.