May 28, 2008 - National Science Foundation
Astronomers have before observed the aftermath of spectacular stellar explosions known as supernovae. But last week researchers for the first time witnessed a star dying in real time.
While observing supernova 2007uy with the Swift X-ray Telescope, Alicia Soderberg and Edo Berger from Princeton University discovered a mysterious X-ray flash elsewhere in the galaxy NGC 2770 located about 90 million light years away. Within a few hours observatories around the world scrambled to study its light.
In a rapid sequence of events, the Gemini North telescope was able to capture and dissect the object's light in a set of optical spectra that contains the earliest spectrum ever obtained of a massive star ending its life in a supernova explosion outside of our galaxy's neighborhood.
"We were in the right place at the right time with the right telescope on January 9, and witnessed history," said Soderberg. "Thanks to the unique capabilities of the Swift satellite and the rapid response of the Gemini telescope, we were able to observe a star in the act of dying."
The result of this rapid response, following the Jan. 9, 2008 discovery, allowed Gemini to provide time-critical spectroscopic observations of the young supernova and the development of the explosion in a unique sequence of optical spectra using Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
For more information, go to the Gemini Observatory Press Release.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Couple make rare find: a supernova ready to flame out
Los Angeles Times - May 22, 2008
A pair of young astronomers have captured for the first time the earliest death throes of a supernova, verifying a decades-old theory about how the giant stars commit stellar suicide.
While scanning a galaxy 90 million light-years away, the soon-to-be-married couple noticed a sudden eruption of X-rays from a spot in the constellation Lynx.
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The discovery was the beginning of a frantic quest to confirm the observation.
First, Soderberg, who received her doctorate in astrophysics from Caltech in 2007 and is also a Carnegie-Princeton fellow, drafted a proposal asking for confirmation from the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. She also began writing the scientific paper that will be published today in the journal Nature.
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A pair of young astronomers have captured for the first time the earliest death throes of a supernova, verifying a decades-old theory about how the giant stars commit stellar suicide.
While scanning a galaxy 90 million light-years away, the soon-to-be-married couple noticed a sudden eruption of X-rays from a spot in the constellation Lynx.
...
The discovery was the beginning of a frantic quest to confirm the observation.
First, Soderberg, who received her doctorate in astrophysics from Caltech in 2007 and is also a Carnegie-Princeton fellow, drafted a proposal asking for confirmation from the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. She also began writing the scientific paper that will be published today in the journal Nature.
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Observation Of X-rays From Birth Of Supernova Leads To All-out Effort To Record Stellar Death
ScienceDaily - May 21, 2008
The lucky capture in January of an X-ray outburst from the very beginning of a supernova allowed astronomers around the world to quickly follow up with ground-based telescopes and collect a wealth of new information on early processes in stellar explosions, according to a paper newly submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.
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Once the supernova was announced widely, astronomers at many observatories turned their telescopes on SN 2008D. Modjaz helped organize observations by the Mt. Hopkins telescope in Arizona and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, while UC Berkeley professor of astronomy Alex Filippenko organized observations at the University of California's Lick Observatory, on Mt. Hamilton near San Jose, where his Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) had independently captured the visible light from the supernova.
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The lucky capture in January of an X-ray outburst from the very beginning of a supernova allowed astronomers around the world to quickly follow up with ground-based telescopes and collect a wealth of new information on early processes in stellar explosions, according to a paper newly submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.
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Once the supernova was announced widely, astronomers at many observatories turned their telescopes on SN 2008D. Modjaz helped organize observations by the Mt. Hopkins telescope in Arizona and the Gemini South telescope in Chile, while UC Berkeley professor of astronomy Alex Filippenko organized observations at the University of California's Lick Observatory, on Mt. Hamilton near San Jose, where his Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) had independently captured the visible light from the supernova.
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Astronomers Witness Supernova's First Moments
Scientific American - May 21, 2008
Astronomers have observed for the first time the thunderclap of x-rays that announces a star has exploded into a supernova. Researchers monitoring spiral galaxy NGC 2770, approximately 88 million light-years away, observed a brief but intense flash of x-rays in early January, followed by a prolonged afterglow of visible and ultraviolet light—the hallmark of a supernova.
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To confirm that it was really a supernova, she and her co-workers followed up two days later with the eight-meter (26-foot) Gemini North Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The supernova glowed visibly for about 20 days, and the pattern of light indicated that the supernova was a type called IIbc, born from a star rich in helium.
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Astronomers have observed for the first time the thunderclap of x-rays that announces a star has exploded into a supernova. Researchers monitoring spiral galaxy NGC 2770, approximately 88 million light-years away, observed a brief but intense flash of x-rays in early January, followed by a prolonged afterglow of visible and ultraviolet light—the hallmark of a supernova.
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To confirm that it was really a supernova, she and her co-workers followed up two days later with the eight-meter (26-foot) Gemini North Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The supernova glowed visibly for about 20 days, and the pattern of light indicated that the supernova was a type called IIbc, born from a star rich in helium.
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Strange Spinning Star Stumps Astronomers
ScienceDaily - May 16, 2008
Astronomers have discovered a speedy spinning pulsar in an elongated orbit around an apparent Sun-like star, a combination never seen before, and one that has them puzzled about how the strange system developed.
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Astronomers first detected the pulsar, called J1903+0327, as part of a long-term survey using the National Science Foundation's Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. They made the discovery in 2006 doing data analysis at McGill University, where Champion worked at the time. They followed up the discovery with detailed studies using the Arecibo telescope, the NSF's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, the Westerbork radio telescope in the Netherlands, and the Gemini North optical telescope in Hawaii.
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Astronomers have discovered a speedy spinning pulsar in an elongated orbit around an apparent Sun-like star, a combination never seen before, and one that has them puzzled about how the strange system developed.
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Astronomers first detected the pulsar, called J1903+0327, as part of a long-term survey using the National Science Foundation's Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. They made the discovery in 2006 doing data analysis at McGill University, where Champion worked at the time. They followed up the discovery with detailed studies using the Arecibo telescope, the NSF's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, the Westerbork radio telescope in the Netherlands, and the Gemini North optical telescope in Hawaii.
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Eccentric pulsar system challenges theories of binary formation
PhysOrg.com - May 15, 2008
The discovery is reported today (May 15) in Science Express, the online site for the journal Science, by David Champion of the Australia Telescope.
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Astronomers first detected the JI903+0327 in October 2005 as part of Arecibo's Pulsar ALFA (Arecibo L-band Feed Array) or PALFA Survey, an ongoing sky survey using ALFA -- a system of detectors with seven feeds that enables researchers to image large swaths of sky. Follow-up observations of the pulsar and its companion star used Arecibo, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands and the Gemini North Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii.
The discovery is reported today (May 15) in Science Express, the online site for the journal Science, by David Champion of the Australia Telescope.
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Astronomers first detected the JI903+0327 in October 2005 as part of Arecibo's Pulsar ALFA (Arecibo L-band Feed Array) or PALFA Survey, an ongoing sky survey using ALFA -- a system of detectors with seven feeds that enables researchers to image large swaths of sky. Follow-up observations of the pulsar and its companion star used Arecibo, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands and the Gemini North Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Tiny Young Galaxies "Full of Stars" Discovered
April 30, 2008 - National Geographic
A newly discovered type of young galaxy has astronomers echoing David Bowman's famous last words in the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey: "My God, it's full of stars."
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Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the team was able to measure the sizes of the distant, compact galaxies.
Further observations with the Gemini South Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrograph in Chile showed that even though the galaxies were young, they had already finished the phase of intense star formation.
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A newly discovered type of young galaxy has astronomers echoing David Bowman's famous last words in the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey: "My God, it's full of stars."
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Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the team was able to measure the sizes of the distant, compact galaxies.
Further observations with the Gemini South Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrograph in Chile showed that even though the galaxies were young, they had already finished the phase of intense star formation.
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Young galaxies are a star-packed puzzle
April 29, 2008 - USA Today
Several newfound galaxies seen as they existed when the universe was young are packed with improbable numbers of stars
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Van Dokkum and his colleagues had previously studied the galaxies in 2006 with the Gemini South Telescope to determine their distances, and showed that the stars are a half a billion to a billion years old. The most massive stars had already exploded as supernovae.
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Several newfound galaxies seen as they existed when the universe was young are packed with improbable numbers of stars
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Van Dokkum and his colleagues had previously studied the galaxies in 2006 with the Gemini South Telescope to determine their distances, and showed that the stars are a half a billion to a billion years old. The most massive stars had already exploded as supernovae.
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Ultra-dense Galaxies Found In Early Universe
April 29, 2008 - ScienceDaily
A team of astronomers looking at the universe's distant past found nine young, unusually compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun. These young galaxies are the equivalent of a human baby that is 20 inches long, yet weighs 180 pounds.
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In 2006, the research team also studied the galaxies with the Gemini South Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrograph, on Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes. Those observations provided the galaxies' distances and showed that the stars are a half a billion to a billion years old, and that the most massive stars had already exploded as supernovae.
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A team of astronomers looking at the universe's distant past found nine young, unusually compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun. These young galaxies are the equivalent of a human baby that is 20 inches long, yet weighs 180 pounds.
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In 2006, the research team also studied the galaxies with the Gemini South Telescope Near-Infrared Spectrograph, on Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes. Those observations provided the galaxies' distances and showed that the stars are a half a billion to a billion years old, and that the most massive stars had already exploded as supernovae.
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