Hubble Science in the 2030s White Paper: High-Contrast Optical and UV Spectroscopy with HST/STIS
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope currently stands as the sole space-based astronomical facility providing visible-light coronagraphic imaging — and the only facility anywhere that can perform both visible- and ultraviolet-light coronagraphic spectroscopy.
In imaging, STIS offers unparalleled stability that rivals the performance of ground-based direct imaging in the optical, and a wide field of view that will complement the upcoming capabilities of Roman coronagraphy. STIS also has the capability for direct high-contrast visible and ultraviolet spectroscopy via two occulting bars in its 52”×0.2” spectroscopic slit.
By placing a bright astrophysical source behind an occulting bar, it is possible to use the STIS visible and NUV/FUV gratings to obtain spatially-resolved spectra of faint environments and companions, covering wavelengths from 1150-10,300Å at resolutions of R∼500−10,000.
In this white paper, we detail the use cases and performance of this under-utilized mode, with starlight subtraction enabling visible light spectral contrasts of ∼10−4−10−5. We describe the promise of STIS coronagraphic spectroscopy for a wide variety of astrophysical applications — planetary and brown dwarf companions, circumstellar disks, young stellar objects, evolved stars and binaries, and active galactic nuclei/galaxy host environments — throughout the 2030s.
STIS high-contrast UV spectroscopy in particular could provide transformative science while pathfinding both techniques and observational studies for the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
K. Ward-Duong (1), J. Debes (2), J. Aguilar (2), T. Currie (3), J. Lomax (4), C. Xie (5), J. Hashimoto (6), J. Zhang (7), R. Michelson (8), E. Vrijmoet (1,9), C. Chen (2), E. Rickman (2), K. Hoch (2), K. Follette (8) ((1) Smith College, (2) Space Telescope Science Institute, (3) University of Texas – San Antonio, (4) United States Naval Academy, (5) Johns Hopkins University, (6) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, (7) University of Hawai’i at Manoa, (8) Amherst College, (9) Five College Astronomy Department)
Comments: This article is a response to the STScI white paper call requesting community input: “Building a Roadmap for Hubble science into the 2030s”. 5 pages, 4 figures
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA); Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
Cite as: arXiv:2606.00217 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2606.00217v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.00217
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Submission history
From: Kimberly Ward-Duong
[v1] Fri, 29 May 2026 18:00:03 UTC (1,555 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.00217
Astrobiology, Astronomy,
