The Nuker Team was formed to use the Hubble Space Telescope, with its high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy, to investigate the central structure and dynamics of galaxies.
[1][2] The team continues to conduct research and publish papers on the supermassive black holes of galaxies and clusters.
The original members of the Nuker Team include Alan Dressler (OCIW), Sandra Faber (UCO/Lick; First PI), John Kormendy (Texas), Tod R. Lauer (NOAO), Douglas Richstone (Michigan; Present PI), and Scott Tremaine (IAS).
Later additions to the team include Ralf Bender (Munchen), Alexei V. Filippenko (Berkeley), Karl Gebhardt (Texas), Richard Green (LBTO), Kayhan Gultekin (Michigan), Luis C. Ho (OCIW), John Magorrian (Oxford), Jason Pinkney (Ohio Northern), and Christos Siopis (Michigan).
[1] The name "Nuker" began as an informal internal reference by members of the team to each other, because they came together to study the nuclei of galaxies using the space telescope.