Max Mutchler

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My projects as a Research and Instrument Scientist revolve primarily around Hubble's cameras.

STScI
Space Telescope Science Institute
3700 San Martin Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Operated by AURA for NASA

NASA


Pre-prints in astro-ph

ADS abstracts and citations

Hubble news search

Selected media articles


Publications

Journal articles

Changing Characteristics of Jupiter's Little Red Spot
Cheng, Simon-Miller, Weaver, Baines, Orton, Yanamandra-Fisher, Mousis, Pantin, Vanzi, Fletcher, Spencer, Stern, Clarke, Mutchler, Noll, 2008, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 135, Issue 6, 2446 (PDF)

Hubble Space Telescope ACS mosaic of the prototypical starburst galaxy M82
Mutchler et. al., 2007, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol 119 Number 851, astro-ph/0612547; data and press releases

Hubble Space Telescope Images of Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae
Shaw, Stanghellini, Villaver, Mutchler, 2006, The Astrophysical Journal (accepted), astro-ph/0608300

The Positions, Colors, and Photometric Variability of Pluto's Small Satellites from HST Observations 2005-2006
Stern, Mutchler, Weaver, Steffl, 2006, The Astronomical Journal (submitted), astro-ph/0605014

New Constraints on Additional Satellites of the Pluto System
Steffl, Mutchler, Weaver, Stern, Durda, Terrell, Merline, Young, Young, Buie, Spencer, 2006, The Astronomical Journal, 132:614, August 2006

Discovery of Two New Satellites of Pluto
Weaver, Stern, Mutchler, Steffl, Buie, Merline, Spencer, Young, Young, 2006, Nature, vol 439, also on astro-ph, see the team webpage, press release

Characteristics and Origin of the Quadruple System at Pluto
Stern, Weaver, Steffl, Mutchler, Merline, Buie, Young, Young, Spencer, 2006, Nature, vol 439, astro-ph

New Constraints on Additional Satellites of the Pluto System
Steffl, Mutchler, Weaver, Stern, Durda, Terrell, Merline, Young, Young, Buie, Spencer, 2006, The Astronomical Journal (accepted)

Star Formation in NGC 5194 (M51a): The Panchromatic View from GALEX to Spitzer
Calzetti, Kennicutt, Bianchi, Thilker, Dale, Engelbracht, Leitherer, Meyer, Sosey, Mutchler, Regan, Thornley, Armus, Bendo, Boissier, Boselli, Draine, Gordon, Helou, Hollenbach, Kewley, Madore, Martin, Murphy, Rieke, Rieke, Roussel, Sheth, Smith, Walter, White, Yi, Scoville, Polletta, Lindler, The Astrophysical Journal 633:871-893, 2005 November 10; related press releases: M51, NGC 7331, Sombrero, M81

Hubble Space Telescope observations of three very young star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud
Stanghellini, Villaver, Shaw, Mutchler, The Astrophysical Journal, 598:1000, 1 December 2003

Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph slitless observations of Small Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae: a study on morphology, emission line intensity, and evolution
Stanghellini, Shaw, Balick, Mutchler, Blades, Villaver, The Astrophysical Journal, 596:997, 20 October 2003

The Hubble Deep Field South Flanking Fields
Lucas et al, The Astronomical Journal, 125:398, February 2003

Slitless Spectroscopy of LMC Planetary Nebulae. A Study of the Emission Lines and Morphology
Stanghellini, Shaw, Mutchler, Palen, Balick, Blades, The Astrophysical Journal, 575:178-193, 2002 August 10

Morphology and evolution of the LMC planetary nebulae,
Shaw, Stanghellini, Mutchler, Balick, Blades, The Astrophysical Journal, 548:727-748, 2001 February 20, see the data and press release, covered by CNN, BBC, Spaceflight Now, Science Daily, Space.com

WFPC2 observations of the Hubble Deep Field South
Casertano, de Mello, Ferguson, Fruchter, Heyer, Hook, Lucas, Makidon, Mutchler, Stiavelli, Wiggs, Williams, The Astronomical Journal, 120:2747, Dec 2000, also AAS 193

The Hubble Deep Field South: Formulation of the Observing Campaign
Williams et al, The Astronomical Journal, 120:2735, Dec 2000

The fading optical counterpart to GRB 970228, 6 months and 1 year later
Fruchter, Pian, Thorsett, Gonzales, Sahu, Mutchler, Frontera, Galama, Groot, Hook, Kouveliotou, Livio, Macchetto, van Paradijs, Palazzi, Petro, Tavani, The Astrophysical Journal, 516:683-692, 10 May 1999


Astronomical Telegrams

Nix and Hydra (naming)
IAU Circular 8723; also see IAUC 8747

S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2 (colors)
Stern, Weaver, Mutchler, Steffl, Merline, Buie, Spencer, Young, Young, 2006, IAU Circular 8686

S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2 (confirmation)
Mutchler, Steffl, Weaver, Stern, Merline, Buie, Spencer, Young, Young, 2006, IAU Circular 8676

S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2 (discovery)
Weaver, Stern, Mutchler, Steffl, Merline, Buie, Spenmcer, Young, Young, 2005, IAU Circular 8625

Hubble Space Telescope (launch)
Space Telescope Science Institute, 1990, IAU Circular 5000


Technical reports

Internal monitoring of ACS charge transfer efficiency
Mutchler & Sirianni, ACS Instrument Science Report 2005-03, April 2005

Bias and dark calibration of ACS data
Mutchler, Sirianni, van Orsow, and Riess, ACS Instrument Science Report 2004-07, May 2004

Elevated temperature measurements of ACS charge transfer efficiency (CTE)
Mutchler & Riess, ACS Instrument Science Report 2004-04, March 2004

Elevated temperature measurements of hot pixels
Cox, Mutchler, Van Orsow, ACS Instrument Science Report 2003-04, June 2003

A first look at hot pixels on ACS
Riess, Mutchler, Van Orsow, ACS Instrument Science Report 2002-06, June 2002

ACS dither and mosaic pointing patterns
Mutchler & Cox, ACS Instrument Science Report 2001-07, July 2001

HRC mosaic simulation
Mutchler, 2001, pre-launch version of the ACS drizzling webpage

ACS calibration pipeline testing: cosmic ray rejection
Mutchler, Hack, Jedrzejewski, Van Orsow, ACS Instrument Science Report 99-09, Nov 1999

ACS image formats
Mutchler, ACS Training Lecture Series, 1 July 1999

ACS calibration pipeline testing: basic image reduction
Mutchler, Jedrzejewski, Hack, Cox, ACS Instrument Science Report 99-04, May 1999

WFPC2 internal flat field monitoring II
O'Dea, Mutchler, Wiggs, WFPC2 Instrument Science Report 99-01, April 1999

The long vs. short anomaly in WFPC2 images
Casertano & Mutchler, WFPC2 Instrument Science Report 98-02, Sep 1998

Analysis of the excess charge in WFPC2 overscans
Mutchler, O'Dea, Biretta, WFPC2 Technical Instrument Report 98-02, Aug 1998

Charge trapping and CTE residual images in the WFPC2 CCDs
Biretta & Mutchler, WFPC2 Instrument Science Report 97-05, May 1998

SM-2 UV monitoring and cool-down procedure
Stiavelli, Biretta, Baggett, Gonzaga, Mutchler, WFPC2 Technical Instrument Report 98-02, Feb 1998

WFPC2 internal monitoring for SM97
Mutchler & Stiavelli, WFPC2 Technical Instrument Report 97-07, Aug 1997

WFPC2 electronics verification
Stiavelli & Mutchler, WFPC2 Instrument Science Report 97-07, July 1997

The Florida Institute of Technology automatic photometric telescopes
Rafert, Oswalt, Freel, Leko, Mutchler, Proffit, Shufelt, Smith, Suarez, Wells, IAPPP Communications, 42, Dec 1990


Technical manuals

Advanced Camera for Surveys Instrument Handbook
ACS group, versions 1999 - 2006

Advanced Camera for Surveys Data Handbook
ACS group, versions 1999 - 2006

The HST Dither Handbook
Koekemoer, Gonzaga, Fruchter, Biretta, Casertano, Hsu, Lallo, Mutchler, Hook, versions 1.0 and 2.0 (2000-2002)


DISCOVERY OF TWO NEW
SATELLITES OF PLUTO


Popular articles

Hubble observations of Ceres and Pluto: a closer look at the "ugly ducklings" of the Solar System
Max Mutchler, 2007, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Universe in the Classroom, No. 70

Conference proceedings

Initial Results From The Deep HST-ACS Survey Of The Spiral Galaxy M81
Zezas, Gazeas, Gallagher, Mutchler, Levay, Huchra, 2007, 210th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Hawaii, June 2007

The Positions, Colors, and Photometric Variability of Pluto's Small Satellites from HST Observations: 2005-2006
Stern, Mutchler, Weaver, Steffl, 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 2007, LPI Contribution No. 1338, p.1722

The B-V Colors and Photometric Variability of Nix and Hydra, Pluto's Two Small Satellites
Mutchler, Stern, Weaver, Steffl, 38th American Astronomical Society DPS meeting, 31.08, 11 Oct 2006

Hubble Space Telescope Investigation of the Disintegration of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
Weaver, Lisse, Mutchler, Lamy, Toth, Reach, 38th American Astronomical Society DPS meeting, 06.02, 9 Oct 2006

Hubble Space Telescope Multi-Color ACS Mosaic of the Prototypical Starburst Galaxy M82
Levay, Bond, Christian, Frattare, Gallagher, Hamilton, Januszewski, Mountain, Mutchler, Noll, Puxley, Royle, 2006, 208th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Calgary, June 2006

The Origin of the Quadruple System at Pluto
Stern, Weaver, Steffl, Mutchler, Merline, Buie, Young, Young, Spencer, 37th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 13-17, 2006, League City, Texas, abstract no.1241

The discovery of two new satellites of Pluto
Mutchler, Steffl, Weaver, Stern, Merline, Buie, Spencer, Young, and Young, 207th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Washington DC, January 2006, NPR interview audio and transcript

Pipeline calibrations of ACS data
Mutchler, 2005, Hubble Space Telescope Calibration Workshop, see Powerpoint, PDF, and Proceedings

Hubble Space Telescope multi-color ACS mosaic of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy
Mutchler, Beckwith, Bond, Christian, Frattare, Hamilton, Hamilton, Levay, Noll, Royle (STScI Hubble Heritage Team), 206th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Minneapolis, May 2005, see the data and press release, full-text paper, PowerPoint talk and handout, and newspapers

A High-Resolution Color Image of the Prototypical Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
Levay, Bond, Christian, Frattare, Hamilton, Mutchler, Noll, Royle (STScI Hubble Heritage Team), Knezek (WIYN), 205th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, San Diego, Jan 2005, see poster

Star Formation in NGC5194 (M51): A Panchromatic Investigation from Spitzer to GALEX
Calzetti (STScI), Kennicutt (UofA), Meyer, Sosey, Mutchler, Regan (STScI), Bianchi, Thilker, Hoopes (JHU), Engelbracht, Bendo, Gordon, Rieke, Rieke (UofA), Thornley (Bucknell), Helou, Friedman, Polletta, Scoville (Caltech), Boissier (OCIW), Boselli (LAM), Kewley (Hawaii), Walter (MPIA), Yi (Oxford), the SINGS Team, 205th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, San Diego, Jan 2005, see poster

Performance of the Advanced Camera for Surveys CCDs after two years in orbit
Sirianni, Mutchler, Clampin, Ford, Illingworth, Hartig, van Orsow, Wheeler, in Optical and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 5499, 2004

The Hubble Helix
McCollough, Meixner, and the Hubble Helix Team, 201st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, Jan 2003, see the "Astronomy Day" data and press release, and Astronomy Picture of the Day

Imaging Spectroscopy of Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae
Shaw, Stanghellini, Mutchler, Balick, Blades, Villaver, 201st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, Jan 2003

CCD charge transfer efficiency of the Advanced Camera for Surveys
Riess, Sirianni, Mutchler, Jones, 201st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, Jan 2003, see poster

ACS pipeline calibrations using PyDrizzle
Van Orsow, Hack, Sparks, Mutchler, 201st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Seattle, Jan 2003

Drizzling dithered ACS images - a demonstration
Mutchler, Koekemoer, Hack, 2002 HST Calibration Workshop, Oct 2002

Characterization and Performance of ACS CCDs
Sirianni, Clampin, Hartig, Ford, Illingworth, Sullivan, Martel, Mutchler, Koldewyn, Burmester, Schrein, Albright, 2002, in Future and UV Visible Space Astrophysics Missions and Instrumentation, Proc. SPIE, Vol. 4854

Performance of the ACS WFC and HRC CCDs
Sirianni, Clampin, Hartig, Ford, Illingworth, Golimowski, Martel, McCann, DeMarchi, Mutchler, Pavlovsky, Argabright, Burmester, Koldewyn, Schrein, Sullivan, 200th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, June 2002

The Advanced Camera for Surveys Calibration Pipeline Processing
Van Orsow, Clampin, Sparks, Hack, Mutchler, 200th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, June 2002

Magellanic Clouds planetary nebulae: An updated view on stellar evolution and populations
Stanghellini, Shaw, Mutchler, invited review for "Ionized Gaseous Nebulae" RevMexAA Serie de Conferencias, Mexico City, Nov 2000, in press (astro-ph/0103076)

Morphology and evolution of the SMC planetary nebulae
Shaw, Stanghellini, Mutchler, Blades, Balick, 197th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Jan 2001, see poster

Morphology and evolution of the LMC planetary nebulae,
Shaw, Stanghellini, Mutchler, Balick, Blades, 195th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Jan 2000, see poster (PDF)

Development and testing of the automatic calibration pipeline for the Advanced Camera for Surveys
Pavlovsky, Mutchler, Hack, 194th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, May 1999

The Hubble Deep Field South: Flanking Fields
Lucas et al, 193rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Austin, Jan 1999

The Southern Hubble Deep Field: HDF-S
Williams et al, 193rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Austin, Jan 1999

Photometric anomalies in WFPC2
Wiggs, Casertano, Whitmore, Mutchler, Biretta, AAS 30, Dec 1998

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the nuclear starburst galaxy NGC 1808
Flood & Mutchler, AAS 191, Jan 1998, see the project webpage and press release, covered by USA Weekend Magazine, MSNBC, Astronomy Magazine, and Astronomy Picture of the Day for March 23 and July 1 1998.

HST/STIS Observations of the Optical Counterpart to GRB 970228
Fruchter, Pian, Thorsett, Gonzales, Sahu, Mutchler, Frontera, Galama, Groot, Hook, Kouveliotou, Livio, Macchetto, van Paradijs, Palazzi, Petro, Tavani, Proceedings of the Fourth Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, Sep 1997

Drizzling dithered HST images - a demonstration
Mutchler & Fruchter, 1997 HST Calibration Workshop, Sep 1997, also AAS 191, Jan 1998

A package for the reduction of dithered undersampled images
Fruchter, Hook, Busko, Mutchler, 1997 HST Calibration Workshop, Sep 1997

Amateur Astronomers and the Hubble Space Telescope
Mutchler & Schenk, 188th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Madison, June 1996, and AAS 190, Winston-Salem, June 1997, also see webpage

Observing with HST I: A New Phase I Proposal Process
Mutchler, Anderson, Asson, Downes, Lucas, Madau, Payne, 184th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, June 1994

Using the Hubble Space Telescope: Before and After the Servicing Mission
Mutchler, Anderson, Reppert, 181st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Phoenix, January 1993

New tools for Hubble Space Telescope users
Mutchler, 179th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Atlanta, January 1992. See the "Hubble Proposal Lifecycle" poster, Sky & Telescope graphic, and earlier graphic.

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." - Thomas Jefferson