We agreed to use some of the most exciting images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope as our focus. I wrote text to go with them and Robert did everything else, including designing graphics, writing the HTML and putting together the pages.

Our goal has been to share some of our enthusiasm about astronomy with everyone else. I am of the strongly held opinion that the results of astronomical research are for everyone, not just for astronomers to report to each other in journals. With that spirit in mind, I have tried to translate some of our jargon into words that are more accessable to most people. I hope you will give me feedback on the result.

--Andy Howell

My research:

Fortunately I'm no stranger to HST observations. I'm currently working on some for one of my advisors, Fritz Benedict. I was also lucky enough to have worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute in the Summer of 1994.

My other current ongoing project is a search for Type Ia Supernovae at moderate redshifts with Craig Wheeler (another advisor), and Mark Adams, the superintendent of McDonald Observatory.

Other astronomical work I have done includes a sumer research program at the University of Alabama with Phil Hardee on computer models of radio jet galaxies. And another summer I worked at the Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino near Torino (Turin), Italy, with my collaborator Ricky Smart.

I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Florida.

Andy Howell can be reached at the University of Texas for comments and questions.

As you might guess from the scope of space.magnificent.com, I have a wide range of interests; and it wouldn't be unfair to say that makes me a bit of a dilettante, skipping lightly across the ocean of knowledge, only occasionally stopping to dive in and explore the depths. So it was a particular treat to collaborate with a professional, to learn, and to acquire some depth to my appreciation of Hubble's photographs, and to be able to ask questions and get comprehensible answers.

"and Robert did everything else"...hmmm. Just for the record, the Hubble Space Telescope snapped the images, and an army of researchers turned this raw data into knowledge. Andy provided facts and interpretation that gave the images meaning. So I'll take credit for the delivery part, kind of like a record producer: I assembled the work of others and packaged it up for you to enjoy.

We've been working on Through the Eyes of Hubble for many months, and in the middle of it all, December 20, 1996, Dr. Carl Sagan died. A few days later I received some email from Andy:

I can't think of anyone that can take his place as
a popularizer of science.
Guess that makes our job even more important.

Dr. Sagan's death put our work into a whole new light for me. Indeed, the popularization of science, bringing a greater understanding of the universe to everyone, is a crucial and important task that those of us who come after Dr. Sagan must shoulder to the best of our abilities. With that thought I was reminded of a scene from Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country, a conversation between Spock and the Vulcan Lt. Valeris:

Spock: I intend you to replace me.

Valeris: I could only succeed you.

No one can replace Carl Sagan, but perhaps together Andy and I and everyone who shares our sense of wonder can collectively succeed him and carry on the work in his name.

Through the Eyes of Hubble is dedicated to Carl Sagan and his work.