UA News

"Hubble's Diverse Universe" by Jarita Holbrook and Romeel Davé features nine African-Americn and Hispanic astronomers.

Two astronomers at The University of Arizona will screen their 45-minute documentary this week on the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA on the careers of one specific group of astronomers.

The film, "Hubble's Diverse Universe," will show this Friday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at the Museum of African-American Technology and Science Village in Oakland, Calif. It will air there a second time on Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m.

The film focuses on nine African-American and Hispanic astrophysicists and their research. It was shot this year at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, Calif., in January and the National Society of Black/Hispanic Physicists meeting in Nashville, Tenn., in February.

"This film is the first look at how one instrument, the Hubble Space Telescope, has influenced astronomers with details of exactly how," said Holbrook.

"Unlike most documentaries that focus on astronomers, our film includes both typical astronomy science information and pretty pictures, but it also adds a serious look at the culture of astronomy. Thus, the focus is more on the astronomers and their experiences, which makes a riveting film. Viewers get a window into what it is like to be an astronomer doing astronomy and getting a doctorate in astronomy," she said.

"Originally we were interested in doing something related to minority astronomers and having to do with Hubble. We felt HST was a project that was very much in the public eye and that we could use it to interest people in astronomy, and in particular to interest people of color to maybe think about the idea that they could become astronomers as well," said Romeel Davé, an associate professor of astronomy at The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory and Holbrook's collaborator on "Hubble's Diverse Universe."

The film weaves together interviews with the astronomers and images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. Davé said finding astronomers to interview for the film wasn't difficult, largely because of the breadth of HST's influence on the research community. 

"It's pretty hard to find an astronomer who hasn't had some intersection with HST. It's that pervasive. Not everyone works directly with Hubble data, but they're certainly influenced by it," Davé said.

Holbrook said the astronomers also talk candidly about issues associated with being a minority in the sciences in general and astronomy in particular. The six men and three women profiled in the film give their opinions on how best to diversify the ranks of astronomy and of their experiences with successful diversity programs.

"Hubble's Diverse Universe," was produced by Los Angeles-based Boags Productions, and was supported by a NASA Education and Public Outreach Grant and the International Year of Astronomy 2009 USA.

A question-and-answer session following the screening in Oakland will include noted African-American astrophysicist George Carruthers, co-inventor of the far ultraviolet camera and spectrograph included in the moon-based observatory aboard NASA's Apollo-16 mission. Carruthers also advised the Hubble Space Telescope Project.

The film also will be shown at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and at the annual meeting of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists in Washington, D.C., in February 2010. No firm date has been set for the film to show in Tucson.

Holbrook is currently an assistant research scientist with the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the UA.

She graduated from the California Institute of Technology with a degree in physics, and has a master's in astronomy from San Diego State University and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

She did her post-doctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Germany and at UCLA. Much of her current research focuses on the cultural impact of astronomy on various societies.

Romeel Davé is an associate professor of astronomy at the UA whose work focuses on galaxy formation and intergalactic matter. Davé is an honors graduate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and has a master's in physics from CalTech and a doctorate from UC Santa Cruz.

As a post-doc he held the Spitzer Fellowship at Princeton and was a Hubble Fellow at the UA.