Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
We regret that our colleague and friend, John Huchra, died unexpectedly October 8th, 2010. Prof. Huchra was the Robert O. & Holly Thomis Doyle Professor of Cosmology and the Senior Advisor to the Provost for Research Policy at Harvard University. He also worked in the OIR Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He recently completed his term as president of the American Astronomical Society, and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also served on the Decadal Survey Committee, which released its report to help guide future investments by funding agencies in ground- and space-based astronomical facilities in 2010.
Among his many accomplishments, Huchra was perhaps best known for collaborating with Margaret Geller to lead the CfA Redshift Survey — a pioneering effort to map the large-scale structure of the universe. The survey uncovered a “Great Wall” of galaxies extending across 500 million light-years of space. This survey and others showed that we live in a “soap bubble” universe with galaxies clustering as though on the surfaces of giant bubbles separated by huge voids.
Huchra made a number of other very important contributions to astronomy, including measurements of the Hubble constant and the discovery of Huchra’s Lens, one of the most dramatic early examples of gravitational lensing.
John’s career was marked with distinction for his fundamental contributions to cosmology, his tireless and effective service and advocacy for astronomy, his dedication and brilliance as a teacher and mentor, his devotion to and care for students, and his warmth and humor.
I've developed this website in order to tell you a bit about myself and
also to provide some useful information on my past and current research
projects, courses I offer, and other useful information. I've
been involved in a number of large projects
in astronomy, and this is one useful gateway to some of the databases
my colleagues, students and I would like to make publicly available. There
are links below to download most of the large galaxy databases we've produced
or in the sub-pages on ZCAT, 2MASS, etc. At the end of this page
are some useful astronomical and other links.
1. CfA Redshift Catalog & Survey
2. The Extragalactic Distance Scale (Hubble Constant)
3. 2MASS and the 2MASS Redshift Survey
4. Globular Clusters
5. Galaxy Evolution
6. Galaxy Clusters
7. Other Research Projects
8. Harvard Courses
9. Research Conduct & Ethics
10. Climate Change
Click here to go directly to the
CfA Redshift Survey .
Click here if you want to go directly to the
CfA Redshift Catalog, ZCAT2000, with its
associated catalog links and descriptions.
Click here if you want to go directly to the
CfA Spectral Archive at the CfA Telescope Data Center.
ZCAT2000 is now linked with J2000 coordinates as well as the old
B1950, and all the high redshift objects merged in. This will allow
easier searches, etc. We have merged in the released data
from the 2dF Survey and are merging in the SDSS redshift data.
Here for fun is a cylindrical plot (looking down from
the north celestial pole) of the CfA2 Redshift Survey. The outer radius
is 15,000 km/s, the Z thickness above the equatorial plane is 12,000 km/s.
A postscript version of this plot can be downloaded at
CfA2Puck. I call it a "puck" plot because the
basic geometry of the volume plotted is like that of a hockey puck of
diameter 30,000 km/s and thickness 12,000 km/s. This image is copyright
SAO 2001.
I've endeavored to make large fractions of the data from the redshift
survey and other programs, including studies of stellar populations
spectroscopically, available to the public. Much can be gotten from my public
ftp site at fang-ftp.cfa.harvard.edu. Additional descriptions are given below.
Click here if you would like more information on the
CfA Redshift Survey
itself, and here if you would like information on the
CfA Redshift
Catalogue itself, including instructions for downloading the
catalog via anonymous ftp or smaller files directly from the web. A
subset of the CfA Redshift Catalog, the
Updated Zwicky Catalogue, which contains updated positions and redshifts
for Zwicky catalogue galaxies brighter than 15.5 is maintained by
Emilio Falco and can be accessed here:
Updated Zwicky
Catalogue.
The H0 project has reached its goal of the determination of the
expansion rate of the Universe and the Cosmic Distance scale to
10%. Links to the work on individual galaxies can be found at the
HST H0 Key Project
website. An example of one of our Cepheid fields, that for the
Fornax Cluster galaxy NGC1365 is shown here.
This image shows the field of the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 superimposed
on a ground-based image of the galaxy taken with the Dupont telescope
at Las Campanas (see Silberman et al 1999, ApJ 515, 1).
For fun, the plots below show the time evolution of our
knoweldge of the Hubble Constant, the scaling between radial velocity
and distance in kilometers per second per Megaparsec, since it was
first determined by Lemaitre, Robertson and Hubble in the late 1920's.
Note here that the first point is actually from a paper by G. Lemaitre
in 1927 based on distances to galaxies derived and published by Hubble.
The second is from H. Robertson, also based primarily on Hubble's data.
Hubble himself finally weighed in in 1929 at 500 km/s/Mpc. Also, very
early on, the Dutch astronomer,
Jan Oort, thought something was wrong with Hubble's scale and published
a value of 290 km/s/Mpc, but this was largely forgotten.
The first major revision to Hubble's value was made in the 1950's due
to the discovery of Population II stars by W. Baade. That was followed
by other corrections for confusion, etc. that pretty
much dropped the accepted value down to around 100 km/s/Mpc by the early 1960's.
This figure is also available in postscript format at hplot.ps
This plot shows modern (post HST) determinations, including results
from gravitational lensing and applications of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich
effect. Note the very recent convergence to values near 65 +/- 10 km/sec/Mpc
(about 13 miles per second per million light-years). The data for this plot is
at hubble.plot.dat and will be updated
periodically as part of the HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance
Scale. Currently, the old factor of two discrepancy in the determination
f the cosmic distance scale has been reduced to a dispersion of the order
of 10 km/s out of 65-70, or 15-20%. Quite an improvement! The summary
results from the HST H0 Key project are plotted below. With some slight
modifications to the Cepheid scale zeropoint, we believe our best value
for the local H0 determination is around 71 (+/- 7) km/s/Mpc.
The flip side of this is the still sad state of affairs governing the absolute
calibration of the Cepheid scale. A both serious and humorous review
written from a historical perspective by Nick Allen can be found at
Cepheid Review.
Its definitely worth a gander. The uncertainties in the local determination of
the Hubble Constant are still dominated by the uncertainty in the Cepheid
P-L calibration, followed by uncertainties in the local flow field (non-Hubble
expansion galaxy velocities).
Information on these and other projects also may be gotten via links below. I have also
placed a more complete history at:
Its also worth looking at Ned Wright's Cosmology Calculator if you want to
calculate parameters based on the best available current numbers:
Other important 2MASS links include the 2MASS Large Galaxy
Atlas produced by Tom Jarrett and the
2MASS Extended Source Catalog . The first of the explanatory AJ papers
for the extended source catalog can be downloaded
here
(2000, AJ 119, 2498).
Some images of the final all-sky products from 2MASS and the 2MASS redshift survey are
given below:
We are also working on an HST survey of cluster systems in relatively nearby
elliptical galaxies in different environments as well as spectroscopy of
clusters using Keck and soon the MMT and Magellan 6.5-m telescopes. THe primary
goals of this work are to understand the formation of the cluster systems and the
galaxy halo, use the cluster systems as independent distance indicators, and when
possible, study the mass distribution of the galaxy halo through the study of the
cluster system kinematics.
Here's a link to the Bologna group's work:
CfA1 AGN Catalog (Huchra & Burg 1992)
CfA Seyfert Catalog Large (Incomplete) AGN List
The first is by definition referenced to the 1992 ApJ paper and does represent
an attempt at a statistically complete AGN catalog. The second
can be referenced here. Note that the second list is just a guide, i.e.
it is not meant to be complete either spatially or in content, but rather
just a useful list for AGN hunters and other surveyors. Contact JPH if
you need more information on its content and makeup. Through my interest in
AGN, I'm also a (very minor) participant in VERITAS.
For those who are interested, here is a site with preprints on
Blazars .
Here are some links to web sites on galaxy evolution:
Photometry:
And here is a wonderful stellar spectral atlas compiled by Perry Berlind
at FLWO:
#Recently I have also begun working with Giovanni Fazio and the SIRTF IRAC team
#on several programs using the IRAC camera to do surveys of galaxies
#in the mid-IR. SIRTF Links
This course is part of the core graduate core curriculum in astronomy.
It will be given in the fall of 2009, M+W 10:00-11:30 A.M. at the Observatory.
The course link can be found
here AY202a
We will provide problem sets approximately every second week and a take
home final exam. This course is followed by AY202b, Cosmology.
Other astronomical educational references can be found at the
There are a number of other projects and programs that I'm working on
in addition to the CfA Redshift Catalogue and Survey and the 2MASS Redshift
Survey. These include
If you want to go directly to the IAU Web pages
click here: IAU/UAI .
Past Information Bulletins can be found at:
IAU
InformationBulletins
>
Research conduct and ethics are important topics for students, postdocs
and faculty to understand. Issues of broad interest include
intellectual property rights (who's names should go on papers, how
and when should supporting material be cited, who owns ideas, etc.),
data ``management," including record keeping and presenting sufficient data
for other researchers to be able to duplicate your work, the use of other
people's data, and general behavior
towards colleagues and competitors. Each field has slightly different
protocols for certain issues (authorship, for example --- see the differences
between the ACS and the APS suggestions on research paper authorship).
Every student should spend at least some time thinking about these
issues before presenting their first research results, and every faculty
member (and department) has a responsibility to their students to
teach the rules of the field. A somewhat eclectic reference list and discussion
is here . I also urge you to consider the flip
side of scientific ethics, namely the social contract between scientists
and the community at large. An good description of this compact was
given by Harold Varmus in his 2004
Carey Lecture .
There are also a number of good and very basic references on what is research and how to conduct
it, starting with some really old but classic works. These are worth a read
by any student, professor and practicioner of the sciences. Here's a short list:
by Nicholas Steneck.
This is a new handbook aimed especially at young investigators which asks and
leads discussions on a broad range of research ethics issues.
A our fields grow, Research Ethics become more an more important, in part
because of the tendency to forget what has happened or what has been discovered in
the past and in part because of the increased competition for resources.
Neither of those reasons is sufficient to forgo our ethical obligations,
either to our colleagues, our students or ourselves. It is the duty of every
researcher to *think* before acting.
Harvard University maintains several manuals and handbooks for
research policy and procedures at:
Here also is a link to the NAS summary of doctoral programs:
NAS
One final note. A PhD is not for everyone, it takes time and
effort and real concentration to get one and you may be better
served by a different career. If you do decide to pursue a research
and teaching career, there are many helpful sources including
those above. Another that I've found with useful advice is
the Survey on Doctoral
Education and Career Preparation .
Last but not least, if you want to find out more about me (the gory detail
as well as my publication list) have a look at at my vita,
, or pdf version ,
and my bibliography, and a short autobiography
I've written as a chapter in "Our Universe" from Cambridge University Press
Mapmaker, Mapmaker ...
(or as a pdf file). You can link to
my publications through the ADS and through the Astroph preprint server,
although they do not list quite everything yet!
You can also
see my little guy and me in Italy a few years ago here .
Finally, here also is my collection of
wacky/useful websites. I won't promise to update these
very regularly, but if you find something interesting and want more information,
let me know. Almost all of my articles in refereed journals are available
from the NASA Astronomical Data System (ADS) website given above.
Take Care!
John
My name is John Huchra,
and I'm the Robert O. & Holly Thomis Doyle Professor of Cosmology
and the Senior Advisor to the Provost for Research Policy at Harvard University
and the
Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics in the
OIR Division .
I am in the Department of Astronomy , and
the Harvard College Observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is part
of the Smithsonian Institution , and the
Center for Astrophysics is the amalgam of the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory.
Table of Contents
Research
My research interests include the study the
Large-Scale Structure in the Universe, the general study of Observational
Cosmology including the determination of the expansion rate, age and fate of
the Universe, observations of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and galactic
evolution, particularly star formation in galaxies and globular
star cluster systems surrounding other galaxies. I've worked in many areas of
astronomy, and especially love teaching and observing (and just about anything
that gets me onto a mountain top). Perhaps my most well known work is on
mapping the Universe, that is making maps of the distribution of galaxies
around us. For the last decade, Margaret Geller and I and our students
and co-workers have been measuring relative distances via redshifts for
about 18,000 bright galaxies in the northern sky. Next on the list is my
work on the extragalactic distance scale that started with a collaboration
with Marc Aaronson and Jeremy Mould and currently is bound into the HST
H0 Key Project.
Most recently, I began a major new redshift survey based on the 2 Micron
All Sky Survey and aimed at producing a complete and accurate, all-sky map of the local
galaxy density field out to a redshift of ~0.1. This work is being done
in collaboration with the other folks on the 2MASS science team with
extragalactic interests, Steve Schneider at UMASS and Mike Skrutskie at Virginia, and
Tom Jarrett, Tom Chester and Roc Cutri at IPAC, to name just a few of the
principals. The 2MASS survey itself was finished in the winter of 2000/2001,
and produced a catalog of over a million galaxies brighter than K_S = 14.0.
The final versions of the Extended and Point Source catalogs were released
in 2003.
CfA Redshift Catalog and CfA Redshift Survey
The Extragalactic Distance Scale and the Hubble Constant
The 2 Micron All-Sky Survey
Extended Sources / Galaxies
Click here if you would like more information
on the 2MASS Redshift
Survey and on the 2MASS extended source verification work at CfA.
Click here if you would like more information on the
second incremental data release:
2MASS Explanatory Supplement which includes the description of the extraction
of http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/releases/allsky/doc/sec2_3.html>
extended sources. 
Globular Clusters
As part of the SAGES project, Pauline Barmby and I have been assembling improved data
on globular clusters in spiral galaxies. She has completed a major analysis of
M31 including much new optical and IR multicolor photometry and new low resolution
spectroscopy. The paper has been accepted for publication in the AJ and the data
tables and additional information on cross identifications can be accessed at
M31 data .
The master database of galaxy and globular cluster spectral indices is also available
here:
Indices.dat published originally as Huchra, Brodie, Caldwell, Schommer & Christian,
1995, ApJS 102, 29. The first line under each object presents the measured
line magnitude and the second line is the internal statistical error in that
measurement. A complete description of that table
can be found in the associated article, the list of measured indices and
their bandpasses are given in
index.table
The list of measured indices will be updated over the next few years with additional
data on nearby globular cluster systems by the SAGES group.
Other Research Interests
Active Galactic Nuclei
For many years now we have been assembling, in the words of George Lucas,
a rag-tag catalog of Active Galactic Nuclei from the many redshift surveys
at CfA and elsewhere and also identifcations of X-ray and IR sources.
The most notable list, and one of the only optically complete
magnitude limited samples is the CfA Seyfert catalog (Huchra & Burg 1992,
ApJ 393, 90), based on the first CfA Redshift Survey where almost complete
spectroscopic information is available for all galaxies brighter than
m_zw = 14.5 and above certain galactic latitude limits in the northern hemisphere.
This catalog and our current full list (but horrendously incomplete!)
catalog can be gotten here:
Galaxy Evolution & Star Formation in Galaxies
This is a long term program based on my original
study of star formation in Markarian galaxies. My two main interests in this
field are the determination of the local integrated star formation rate from
the study of the luminosity function of galaxies as a function of color
and type, and understanding star formation mechanisms in individual
galaxies by studying their detailed color (stellar population), gas,
kinematics and chemical properties. The first serves as a baseline
for studying the evolution of galaxies, while the second is aimed at
the more complication problem of understanding why galaxies look the way
they do.
GALAXY CLUSTERS
I am also involved in several surveys to map the large scale distribution of
galaxy clusters. One example is the
REFLEX
SURVEY , based on the ROSAT All-Sky Survey of clusters. This work has been
in collaboration with a large number of other astronomers.
Papers
I've put a limited number of my papers that are not available via
the ADS at this link.
Preprints These are postscript versions that can be downloaded.
Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)
John's Harvard Courses
Freshman Seminar on Galaxies and Cosmology 1984 -->
Seminar participants will discuss the interplay between observation
and theory and the evolution of astronomers' views of the universe with
our improved ability to view it. Topics covered will include the
internal structure and dynamics of galaxies, cosmological models,
the determination of the cosmic distance scale, observations of
large-scale structure in the universe, galaxy formation, and the age, size
and fate of the universe. We will explore the basic observations
that lend support to the inflationary hot Big Bang cosmology.
AY 16 [2008]
The
Stars & Gas & the Milky
Way is an introductory astrophysics course that covers the basics
of the planetary system, stars, gas, our galaxy and a litle of the
universe beyond. Requirements are Physics 15a and an interest in
astrophysics. Alex Dalgarno and I team taught the course in the
spring of 2008.
AY 97 Sophomore Tutorial
Also, for students taking Astronomy 97, my
section covers work on the Hubble
Constant and the Extragalactic Distance Scale. Students can get some
information on the subject below and also at the H0 Key Project website,
also linked below. A good source of information on the general problem
(albeit a little old) is Michael
Rowan-Robinson's book, The Cosmological Distance Ladder.
The problem for the class is the determination of distances to nearby
galaxies using the Cepheid Period Luminosity relation:
Ay97 Homework . There are both postscript and pdf
versions you can download (they are the same). Data for the
problem can be found in the file
pl.dat linked here. Periods for the
Cepheid variables in each galaxy are in days and Absolute (for the Milky Way only)
or apparent V magnitudes are given as appropriate.
AY 98 Junior Tutorial 1984-->
The
Junior Tutorial
is a course
intended to provide more of an introduction to research for concentrators
in the astronomy department. In the fall term, students hear talks
by members of the department and have an opportunity to interact
with them more directly. In the spring term, students then prepare
a reading or research paper on a topic of their choice.
The current schedule for the fall 2000 lectures can be found here:
AY98 Lectures
AY 99 Senior Thesis Research
Juniors/Seniors wishing to work with me on research projects in extragalactic
astronomy or observational cosmology should contact me via e-mail or
make an appointment with me through my assistant, Lisa Catella (495-7390,
lcatella@cfa.harvard.edu). At any given time I have a variety of
short projects suitable for junior or senior thesis work.
AY 145 Topics in Astrophysics
The
AY145
is the junior/senior level astrophysics course for astronomy
and physics concentrators. The goal of this course is to provide astronomy and physics concentrators with a
more advanced view of astrophysics which includes astrophysical processes and
principles. We first cover relatively basic material but with an eye towards observational
limitations and uncertainties. We then cover a broad but selected set of
topics that will range across stellar evolution, star formation, the
interstellar medium, cosmology and extragalactic astronomy.
AY 192 Principles of Astronomical Measurement 1979-99
Principles of Astronomical Measurement was given
by J. Huchra and I. Shapiro for approximately 20 years.
The goal of this course was to convey to students both the techniques for
taking and analysing observational astronomical data, and the warts that exist
in any real data due to the properties of astronomical detectors, telescopes,
the atmosphere, radiation fields and just plain old statistics. For future
observers, it is of lessons in how not to make really
egregious mistakes. For future theorists, its a set of lessons in how much
to believe any set of data. The schedule for fall 1999 was
AY 192, and you can click here for a list
of the references used in the course.
This course is now taught by Prof. Chris Stubbs.
AY202a Galaxies and Dynamics
An observational and theoretical overview of extragalactic
astronomy with emphasis on dynamics. The simple cosmological
framework, galaxy morphology and structure, stars gas and dust in
galaxies, stellar and gas dynamics,
galaxy formation and evolution, galaxy populations and properties,
galaxy clusters, cosmic distance scale, active galactic nuclei,
and the intergalactic medium. This course is aimed at first and second
year graduate students and advanced undergrads. Students should have
solid backgrounds in undergraduate physics, astronomy and mathematics.
AY207 Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology
This course will be
taught in the spring of 2000 by Martin White and Lars Hernquist.
You can click here for a list
of the references I've used in this course.
It was discontinued in 2002 in favor of the two course core sequence
AY202a & AY202b.
AY291 Topics in Modern Cosmology
Information on the cosmology seminar given last spring can be found at:
AY 291, Topics in Modern Cosmology.
Students and postdocs at Harvard and other nearby universities are welcome to
attend, but the class size is limited so consent of the instructor is required.
Astronomers in general and other interested folks might find this an interesting
list of both historical and current articles on selected topics in Cosmology.
A more detailed list of selected key references is attached to the course
reading list.
Educational Links
Harvard Administration
The Astronomy Department
Web page also contains information about course, source requirements
etc. And here is the website for the Harvard Graduate School of Arts
and sciences:
GSAS. I currently serve as the
Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in the astronomy department.
Research
Here are some links to catalog information and to related projects on galaxy
and galaxy and cluster redshift surveys, etc.:
Links to galaxy simulations
Other useful links
International Astronomical Union
John is currently the past chair of the US national Committee for the IAU
(term 2009-20011).
Here are some links to Journals
Astrophysical Journal
If you want to go directly to the Astrophysical Journal Web Page
at the University of Chicago Press
click here: ApJ .
Here are some links to Agencies and Advisory Groups
Here are some useful Search Engines:
Here are links to Observatories:
And here are some useful astronomical and other links:
Astronomical Humor
One of my favorites:
Research Conduct and Ethics
Especially for young investigators,
here are some links to sites discussing the
conduct of research and ethics in research. These include the AIP statistical
studies of research and researchers in the US.
Most of these books are readily available from the commercial booksellers listed below.
Finally, linked above is the ORI (US Office of Research Integrity)
Climate Change
Travel stuff:
Booksellers:
Photographs and Clip Art:
Music:
Astronomy Education K-12 and up:
Trains
My Educational Organizations
John P. Huchra <huchra@cfa.harvard.edu> Last Updated Nov 2007
