October 28, 2009 - Nature.com
Two teams have spied a huge blast from the far reaches of our early Universe. Such γ-ray bursts occur when certain massive stars violently explode. The latest burst happened a mere 630 million years after the Big Bang (that's 13.1 billion years ago) and is the youngest such blast to have been spotted — the previous record-beater happened 825 million years after the Big Bang.
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Tanvir's team used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and the Gemini North 8-metre telescope, both on Hawaii, to track the burst from about 20 minutes after it was first seen. Strong winds, which can damage the telescope if it is in use, made it too dangerous to use UKIRT for long. "The weather was pretty bad that night," says Tanvir...
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Monday, November 2, 2009
Astronomical Artifact: Most Distant Object Yet Detected Carries Clues from Early Universe
October 28, 2009 - Scientific American
A violent explosion picked up by a NASA satellite earlier this year is the oldest object ever seen by astronomers, its light having been emitted some 13 billion years ago. At that time the universe was roughly 5 percent of its present age and the big bang was a fairly recent occurrence, having taken place just 600 million years earlier.
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[Image caption: A false-color image from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii shows the afterglow of GRB 090423 [circled], the most distant astronomical event yet observed.]
Monday, October 12, 2009
A whimper of a crash, a wealth of data
October 10, 2009 - Honolulu Star Bulletin
NASA's rocket shot to the moon fizzled as a spectacular cosmic show, but the chief investigator said it produced a "wealth of data" scientists are analyzing in search of water.
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But there wasn't much to see, said Peter Michaud, Gemini Observatory spokesman. "It was not what everyone hoped it would be. ... It was fairly subtle. "A little crater was formed," he added. "It (the spacecraft) did what it was supposed to do. It just didn't throw up as much stuff as people would have liked."
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NASA's rocket shot to the moon fizzled as a spectacular cosmic show, but the chief investigator said it produced a "wealth of data" scientists are analyzing in search of water.
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But there wasn't much to see, said Peter Michaud, Gemini Observatory spokesman. "It was not what everyone hoped it would be. ... It was fairly subtle. "A little crater was formed," he added. "It (the spacecraft) did what it was supposed to do. It just didn't throw up as much stuff as people would have liked."
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Friday, October 2, 2009
Hawaii Alt-Az Conferences looking up
October 2, 2009 - Astronomy.com
As the wind picks up and the skies cloud over (at least here in Wisconsin), it can be hard to remember that nice, balmy weather will someday return. That’s why Russell Genet’s work is so important. As the facilitator of the Alt-Az Initiative and co-chair of its Hawaii conferences, he works not just to promote development of and scientific research on smaller telescopes, but to keep astronomy buffs warm in the cold months too. Mostly, though, it’s the former, with a focus on “matching instruments and scientific research programs.”
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One of the most popular events was Gemini Observatory Director Doug Simons’ workshop on technology transfers from large to small alt-az telescopes. After the conference ended, many of the participants visited Gemini itself in Hilo, Hawaii, for a special tour, where, Genet says, the discussions continued with “lots of details on control systems, lightweight mirrors, instruments, and science programs.”
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As the wind picks up and the skies cloud over (at least here in Wisconsin), it can be hard to remember that nice, balmy weather will someday return. That’s why Russell Genet’s work is so important. As the facilitator of the Alt-Az Initiative and co-chair of its Hawaii conferences, he works not just to promote development of and scientific research on smaller telescopes, but to keep astronomy buffs warm in the cold months too. Mostly, though, it’s the former, with a focus on “matching instruments and scientific research programs.”
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One of the most popular events was Gemini Observatory Director Doug Simons’ workshop on technology transfers from large to small alt-az telescopes. After the conference ended, many of the participants visited Gemini itself in Hilo, Hawaii, for a special tour, where, Genet says, the discussions continued with “lots of details on control systems, lightweight mirrors, instruments, and science programs.”
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Planet Imager will enable telescopes to image extrasolar planets directly
September 29, 2009 - PhysOrg.com
The best way to observe objects in solar systems is simply to look -- but distortions caused by Earth's atmosphere drown out much of the spectacle of space. To address this problem, Berkeley astronomer James Graham and colleagues are designing an adaptive optics system that can spot new planets.
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To solve this problem, Graham and colleague Bruce Macintosh at Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been designing an adaptive optics system for the 8-meter telescopes of the international Gemini Observatory, which has facilities in Hawaii and the Chilean Andes. Called the Gemini Planet Imager, it will enable astronomers' telescopes to image extrasolar planets directly.
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The best way to observe objects in solar systems is simply to look -- but distortions caused by Earth's atmosphere drown out much of the spectacle of space. To address this problem, Berkeley astronomer James Graham and colleagues are designing an adaptive optics system that can spot new planets.
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To solve this problem, Graham and colleague Bruce Macintosh at Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been designing an adaptive optics system for the 8-meter telescopes of the international Gemini Observatory, which has facilities in Hawaii and the Chilean Andes. Called the Gemini Planet Imager, it will enable astronomers' telescopes to image extrasolar planets directly.
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Thursday, September 24, 2009
Eyes on the prize and head in the stars - UQ News Online
August 28, 2009 - University of Queensland, Australia
What began as a nationwide contest to encourage an interest in astronomy has ended with a tour of one of the world's largest telescopes in Hawaii – all without leaving Brisbane.
Students from Forest Lake College, in Brisbane's south, recently travelled to The University of Queensland for a video link up to the Gemini North Telescope's remote control room, situated at sea level headquarters in Hawaii at the foot of Mauna Kea Volcano.
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What began as a nationwide contest to encourage an interest in astronomy has ended with a tour of one of the world's largest telescopes in Hawaii – all without leaving Brisbane.
Students from Forest Lake College, in Brisbane's south, recently travelled to The University of Queensland for a video link up to the Gemini North Telescope's remote control room, situated at sea level headquarters in Hawaii at the foot of Mauna Kea Volcano.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New telescopic device looks at black holes
September 16, 2009 - United Press International
U.S. astronomers say they've used one of the world's most advanced new telescopic instruments to gather images of the Milky Way's "supermassive" black hole.
A team led by University of Florida astronomy Professor Stephen Eikenberry says it used a university-designed and built camera-spectrometer affixed to the Gemini South telescope in Chile to take its "first light" images of the supermassive black hole located at the center of our galaxy. That black hole is thought to be as massive as 4 million suns put together, the scientists said.
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U.S. astronomers say they've used one of the world's most advanced new telescopic instruments to gather images of the Milky Way's "supermassive" black hole.
A team led by University of Florida astronomy Professor Stephen Eikenberry says it used a university-designed and built camera-spectrometer affixed to the Gemini South telescope in Chile to take its "first light" images of the supermassive black hole located at the center of our galaxy. That black hole is thought to be as massive as 4 million suns put together, the scientists said.
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Sophisticated Telescope Camera Debuts With Peek At Nest Of Black Holes
September 15, 2009 - ScienceDaily
A team led by astronomy professor Stephen Eikenberry late last week captured the first images of the cosmos ever made with a UF-designed and built camera/spectrometer affixed to the Gemini South telescope in Chile. The handful of “first light” images include a yellow and blue orb-like structure that depicts our Milky Way galaxy, home to thousands of black holes – including, at its core, a “supermassive” black hole thought to be as massive as 4 million suns put together.
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Galaxies Embraced in Cosmic Waltz
September 3, 2009 - LiveScience.com
This view reveals spectacular details of the interacting galaxy pair, NGC 1532 and NGC 1531, embraced in a fiery waltz. NGC 1532 and NGC 1531 were imaged using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) at Gemini South in Chile on Dec. 5, 2004.
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Hyperactive stars move at twice speed of sun
MSNBC - August 5, 2009
Stars in a distant galaxy move at stunning speeds — greater than 1 million mph, astronomers say.
These hyperactive stars move at about twice the speed of our sun through the Milky Way, because their host galaxy is very massive, yet strangely compact. The scene, which has theorists baffled, is 11 billion light-years away. It is the first time motions of individual stars have been measured in a galaxy so distant.
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Scientists used the new velocity measurements, conducted with the Gemini South telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope, to test the mass of a galaxy identified as 1255-0. The same way that the sun's gravity determines the orbiting speed of the Earth, the galaxy's gravity, and thus its mass, determines the velocities of the stars inside it.
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Stars in a distant galaxy move at stunning speeds — greater than 1 million mph, astronomers say.
These hyperactive stars move at about twice the speed of our sun through the Milky Way, because their host galaxy is very massive, yet strangely compact. The scene, which has theorists baffled, is 11 billion light-years away. It is the first time motions of individual stars have been measured in a galaxy so distant.
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Scientists used the new velocity measurements, conducted with the Gemini South telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope, to test the mass of a galaxy identified as 1255-0. The same way that the sun's gravity determines the orbiting speed of the Earth, the galaxy's gravity, and thus its mass, determines the velocities of the stars inside it.
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Rocking the cradle
The Economist - August 13, 2009
IN THE crazy world of Dr Seuss, an American children’s author, a bird called a Pelf lays eggs that are three times as big as herself. At this week’s meeting of the International Astronomical Union, astronomers were asked to entertain equally odd thoughts when they were presented with the latest evidence that some early galaxies, although smaller than their more recent counterparts, contain much more mass. It is like being handed a baby that weighs three times as much as its mother.
The objects in question are “red compact” galaxies, in particular a well-studied one called 1255-0 that formed just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. As the universe is thought to be 13.7 billion years old, the light reaching Earth from this galaxy shows what it was like some 10.7 billion years ago, when it was the equivalent of a newborn. Images suggest that the galaxy is 3,000 light years across—just a fifth of the size of the Earth’s home galaxy, the Milky Way—but about four times as massive.
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IN THE crazy world of Dr Seuss, an American children’s author, a bird called a Pelf lays eggs that are three times as big as herself. At this week’s meeting of the International Astronomical Union, astronomers were asked to entertain equally odd thoughts when they were presented with the latest evidence that some early galaxies, although smaller than their more recent counterparts, contain much more mass. It is like being handed a baby that weighs three times as much as its mother.
The objects in question are “red compact” galaxies, in particular a well-studied one called 1255-0 that formed just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. As the universe is thought to be 13.7 billion years old, the light reaching Earth from this galaxy shows what it was like some 10.7 billion years ago, when it was the equivalent of a newborn. Images suggest that the galaxy is 3,000 light years across—just a fifth of the size of the Earth’s home galaxy, the Milky Way—but about four times as massive.
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Monday, August 17, 2009
Mystery storm clouds on Saturn's largest moon appear
Los Anageles Times - August 14, 2009
At last, the missing storm clouds on Saturn's moon Titan may have been found.
In the last decade, researchers have monitored clouds at both of Titan's poles, where large lakes of methane have been spotted by Earth-based observers and by the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting the moon for the last three years. But the moon's clouds seemed inexplicably confined to those areas.
"We've seen a lot of clouds at the poles. But we'd never seen a major storm at the equator," said Michael Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech.
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In April 2008, Schaller was using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to track daily weather activity on Titan. One day, after weeks of frustration, she checked the data from the previous night and found that "Titan suddenly had the biggest clouds ever."
After that, Brown, Schaller and their colleagues began tracking the clouds with the giant Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea. Brown said the first cloud appeared in the tropics and rapidly spread around the moon.
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At last, the missing storm clouds on Saturn's moon Titan may have been found.
In the last decade, researchers have monitored clouds at both of Titan's poles, where large lakes of methane have been spotted by Earth-based observers and by the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting the moon for the last three years. But the moon's clouds seemed inexplicably confined to those areas.
"We've seen a lot of clouds at the poles. But we'd never seen a major storm at the equator," said Michael Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech.
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In April 2008, Schaller was using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to track daily weather activity on Titan. One day, after weeks of frustration, she checked the data from the previous night and found that "Titan suddenly had the biggest clouds ever."
After that, Brown, Schaller and their colleagues began tracking the clouds with the giant Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea. Brown said the first cloud appeared in the tropics and rapidly spread around the moon.
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Friday, August 14, 2009
Scientists discover storms in the tropics of Titan
Astronomy.com - August 13, 2009
For all its similarities to Earth-clouds that pour rain — albeit liquid methane not liquid water — onto the surface producing lakes and rivers, vast dune fields in desert-like regions, plus a smoggy orange atmosphere, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is generally "a very bland place," according to Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
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The day after the telescope's big find, Schaller, Brown, and Roe began tracking the clouds with the large Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea and watched this system evolve for a month. "And what a cool show it was," Brown said.
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For all its similarities to Earth-clouds that pour rain — albeit liquid methane not liquid water — onto the surface producing lakes and rivers, vast dune fields in desert-like regions, plus a smoggy orange atmosphere, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is generally "a very bland place," according to Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
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The day after the telescope's big find, Schaller, Brown, and Roe began tracking the clouds with the large Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea and watched this system evolve for a month. "And what a cool show it was," Brown said.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Methane Clouds Observed Near Titan's Equator May Explain Presence of Riverbeds on the Surface
U.S. News & World Report - August 13, 2009
On Titan, Saturn's largest moon, methane clouds drift through a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, clustering mainly in the polar regions. Methane lakes dot Titan's surface, also at high latitudes. Closer to the moon's equator, by contrast, clouds appear rarely if at all, and the surface seems arid. But in January 2005, the Huygens probe, after detaching from the Cassini spacecraft and descending through Titan's atmosphere, gave planetary scientists their first close-up view of the moon's surface. Huygens imaged small channels and river beds at low latitudes, in regions that scientists had assumed to be devoid of flowing liquids that could carve such features. Now, astronomers working at Earth-based telescopes have for the first time observed, near Titan's equator, large and persistent clouds that might be capable of raining liquid methane onto the surface.
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At visible wavelengths, Titan's hazy atmosphere—whose surface pressure is about one and half times that of Earth's—gives it a fuzzy, opaque appearance. At certain infrared wavelengths, however, the atmosphere is transparent while methane clouds are highly reflective. Schaller and her colleagues used NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), situated on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, to check Titan's infrared brightness as many nights as they could. IRTF measures the brightness of Titan as a whole, so when it revealed an increase in infrared reflectivity, the team turned to another telescope, Gemini North, to see where on Titan that infrared light was coming from. Gemini North, also on Mauna Kea, is one of a pair of 8-meter infrared telescopes funded in part by the National Science Foundation; its twin is Gemini South in the Chilean Andes. The Gemini telescopes achieve high resolution through the use of adaptive optics, meaning that the shape of their mirrors can be rapidly tweaked to overcome the blurring of images that results from light passing through the Earth's turbulent atmosphere.
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On Titan, Saturn's largest moon, methane clouds drift through a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, clustering mainly in the polar regions. Methane lakes dot Titan's surface, also at high latitudes. Closer to the moon's equator, by contrast, clouds appear rarely if at all, and the surface seems arid. But in January 2005, the Huygens probe, after detaching from the Cassini spacecraft and descending through Titan's atmosphere, gave planetary scientists their first close-up view of the moon's surface. Huygens imaged small channels and river beds at low latitudes, in regions that scientists had assumed to be devoid of flowing liquids that could carve such features. Now, astronomers working at Earth-based telescopes have for the first time observed, near Titan's equator, large and persistent clouds that might be capable of raining liquid methane onto the surface.
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At visible wavelengths, Titan's hazy atmosphere—whose surface pressure is about one and half times that of Earth's—gives it a fuzzy, opaque appearance. At certain infrared wavelengths, however, the atmosphere is transparent while methane clouds are highly reflective. Schaller and her colleagues used NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), situated on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, to check Titan's infrared brightness as many nights as they could. IRTF measures the brightness of Titan as a whole, so when it revealed an increase in infrared reflectivity, the team turned to another telescope, Gemini North, to see where on Titan that infrared light was coming from. Gemini North, also on Mauna Kea, is one of a pair of 8-meter infrared telescopes funded in part by the National Science Foundation; its twin is Gemini South in the Chilean Andes. The Gemini telescopes achieve high resolution through the use of adaptive optics, meaning that the shape of their mirrors can be rapidly tweaked to overcome the blurring of images that results from light passing through the Earth's turbulent atmosphere.
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Titan 'put on quite a show'
Honolulu Advertiser - August 13, 2009
A paper written by a University of Hawai'i researcher that describes the first storm observed in the tropical latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan will be published today in the journal Nature.
The paper's lead author, Dr. Emily Schaller, wrote it while working as a Hubble Fellow at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Institute for Astronomy.
The paper says that rain from large clouds such as those observed on Titan is actually liquid methane and may be responsible for forming the channels and other features near the equator observed by the Huygens probe in 2005.
The huge storm — observed with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea — covered almost 1.2 million square miles, an area about the size of India.
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A paper written by a University of Hawai'i researcher that describes the first storm observed in the tropical latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan will be published today in the journal Nature.
The paper's lead author, Dr. Emily Schaller, wrote it while working as a Hubble Fellow at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Institute for Astronomy.
The paper says that rain from large clouds such as those observed on Titan is actually liquid methane and may be responsible for forming the channels and other features near the equator observed by the Huygens probe in 2005.
The huge storm — observed with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea — covered almost 1.2 million square miles, an area about the size of India.
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A Tropical Tempest on Titan
Sky & Telescope - August 12, 2009
There's an old saying that describes the weather in Maine as "9 months of wintah, and 3 months of damn poor sleddin'." But even the hardiest Mainer would be challenged by the climate on Saturn's big moon Titan, where "wintah" lasts 7½ years, temperatures struggle to reach -290°F (-178°C), the ground is rock-hard water ice, and a mix of liquid methane and ethane rains from the sky.
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An observing team led by Emily Schaller (University of Hawaii) and Henry Roe (Lowell Observatory) has been keeping very close tabs on Titan's weather. In fact, Schaller's Caltech doctoral thesis hinged on analyzing the moon's long-term climatic characteristics. Using a sensitive spectrometer with NASA's 3-meter Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, the team set up a long-running "storm watch" — 138 nights over 2.2 years — for signs of sporadic methane-cloud buildups, as had occurred in 1995 and 2004. Whenever it looked like a storm might be brewing, the observers switched to an infrared imager on the much larger Gemini North telescope, also on Mauna Kea.
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There's an old saying that describes the weather in Maine as "9 months of wintah, and 3 months of damn poor sleddin'." But even the hardiest Mainer would be challenged by the climate on Saturn's big moon Titan, where "wintah" lasts 7½ years, temperatures struggle to reach -290°F (-178°C), the ground is rock-hard water ice, and a mix of liquid methane and ethane rains from the sky.
...
An observing team led by Emily Schaller (University of Hawaii) and Henry Roe (Lowell Observatory) has been keeping very close tabs on Titan's weather. In fact, Schaller's Caltech doctoral thesis hinged on analyzing the moon's long-term climatic characteristics. Using a sensitive spectrometer with NASA's 3-meter Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, the team set up a long-running "storm watch" — 138 nights over 2.2 years — for signs of sporadic methane-cloud buildups, as had occurred in 1995 and 2004. Whenever it looked like a storm might be brewing, the observers switched to an infrared imager on the much larger Gemini North telescope, also on Mauna Kea.
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Atmospheric 'pulse' may spread rain clouds across Titan
New Scientist - August 12, 2009
A pulse in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan can spawn methane clouds across the moon, new observations suggest. Although the cause of such atmospheric events is still unknown, it could explain some puzzling features seen by the only probe ever to land on Titan's surface.
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Now Brown and colleagues have found a possible explanation. The team spotted a vast cloud below Titan's equator that triggered cloud formation in regions across the southern hemisphere. Such events might be a way to deliver methane rain to arid regions like the Huygens landing site, which sits some 10° south of the equator. "We think that this is an important part of the story," Brown says.
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The team found that Titan appeared brighter on 13 April 2008, and on the following night, Mauna Kea's 8-metre Gemini North telescope revealed a large cloud centred some 30° south of Titan's equator.
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Tropical storm spotted on Saturn's moon Titan
MSNBC - August 12, 2009
A tropical storm was not what astronomers expected to see when they pointed their telescopes toward the equator of Saturn's moon Titan last summer.
But that's exactly what they found on this beguiling moon, home to a weather system both eerily familiar and perplexingly strange. The discovery was announced today.
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Clouds of vaporized methane are not uncommon on Titan, though they have never before been observed in Titan's tropics. But in April 2008, astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii spotted a severe storm covering almost 2 million square miles (3 million square km) over the equator.
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Thursday, August 6, 2009
Hubble, Gemini Spot 'Hyperactive' Stars in Small, Young Galaxies
Universe Today - August 5, 2009
We all know youngsters are a handful, but this really takes the cake: astronomers have clocked the speeds of stars in infant galaxies at about a million miles an hour, about twice the pace of our Sun's cruise through the Milky Way.
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Researchers spotted the galaxies with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the 8-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile. Hubble revealed that the galaxies are a fraction the size of most galaxies we see today, and Gemini clocked their speed by using spectroscopy.
The Gemini near-infrared spectroscopic observations required an extensive 29 hours on the sky to collect the extremely faint light from the distant galaxy, which goes by the designation 1255-0.
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We all know youngsters are a handful, but this really takes the cake: astronomers have clocked the speeds of stars in infant galaxies at about a million miles an hour, about twice the pace of our Sun's cruise through the Milky Way.
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Researchers spotted the galaxies with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the 8-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile. Hubble revealed that the galaxies are a fraction the size of most galaxies we see today, and Gemini clocked their speed by using spectroscopy.
The Gemini near-infrared spectroscopic observations required an extensive 29 hours on the sky to collect the extremely faint light from the distant galaxy, which goes by the designation 1255-0.
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Jupiter smash: even more pictures - July 27, 2009
Nature.com - July 27, 2009
More pictures have emerged of the collision that gave Jupiter a new scar earlier this month.
The new scar is believed to have resulted from a comet slamming into the planet. After being spotted by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley (first picture) it was imaged by two telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii (second pictures).
Now a third telescope on Mauna Kea and, most excitingly, the Hubble Space Telescope have focused in on the impact site. Here are the shots from them both (Gemini Observatory right, Hubble left)...
More pictures have emerged of the collision that gave Jupiter a new scar earlier this month.
The new scar is believed to have resulted from a comet slamming into the planet. After being spotted by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley (first picture) it was imaged by two telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii (second pictures).
Now a third telescope on Mauna Kea and, most excitingly, the Hubble Space Telescope have focused in on the impact site. Here are the shots from them both (Gemini Observatory right, Hubble left)...
Friday, July 24, 2009
Jupiter collision captured by Gemini Telescope
Astronomy.com - July 23, 2009
Jupiter is sporting a glowing bruise after getting unexpectedly whacked by a small solar system object, according to astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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Jupiter is sporting a glowing bruise after getting unexpectedly whacked by a small solar system object, according to astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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Glowing scar is revealing Jupiter's secrets
San Francisco Chronicle - July 24, 2009
Whatever slammed into the surface of Jupiter and left a huge, glowing scar there remained unknown Thursday, but astronomers were delighted that the impact is revealing secrets about the planet's mysterious upper atmosphere.
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De Pater and Heidi Hammel of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore spent Wednesday night observing the crash site with the telescope named "Michelle" at the Gemini North Observatory, one of the many specialized stargazing facilities at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Super-Size Me: Black Hole Bigger Than Previously Thought
Universe Today - June 8, 2009
Using a new computer model, astronomers have determined that the black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy is at least twice as big as previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun’s mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured, and this new model suggest that the accepted black hole masses in other large nearby galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.
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Today’s conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. He said these data, which will be submitted for publication soon, support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
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Using a new computer model, astronomers have determined that the black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy is at least twice as big as previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun’s mass, it is the most massive black hole yet measured, and this new model suggest that the accepted black hole masses in other large nearby galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.
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Today’s conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. He said these data, which will be submitted for publication soon, support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
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Black hole is most massive known
MSNBC - June 8, 2009
The most massive black hole yet weighed lurks at the heart of the relatively nearby giant galaxy M87.
The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. The new measure suggests that other black holes in nearby large galaxies could also be much heftier than current measurements suggest, and it could help astronomers solve a longstanding puzzle about galaxy development.
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While the new mass of M87 is based on a model, recent observations from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile support the model findings.
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The most massive black hole yet weighed lurks at the heart of the relatively nearby giant galaxy M87.
The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. The new measure suggests that other black holes in nearby large galaxies could also be much heftier than current measurements suggest, and it could help astronomers solve a longstanding puzzle about galaxy development.
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While the new mass of M87 is based on a model, recent observations from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile support the model findings.
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A Real Whopper: Black Hole Is Most Massive Known
Space.com - June 8, 2009
The most massive black hole yet weighed lurks at the heart of the relatively nearby giant galaxy M87.
The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. The new measure suggests that other black holes in nearby large galaxies could also be much heftier than current measurements suggest, and it could help astronomers solve a longstanding puzzle about galaxy development.
"We did not expect it at all," said team member Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas at Austin.
The discovery was announced here today at the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
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While the new mass of M87 is based on a model, recent observations from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile support the model findings.
The study of M87's mass will also be detailed later this summer in the journal Astrophysical Journal.
The most massive black hole yet weighed lurks at the heart of the relatively nearby giant galaxy M87.
The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. The new measure suggests that other black holes in nearby large galaxies could also be much heftier than current measurements suggest, and it could help astronomers solve a longstanding puzzle about galaxy development.
"We did not expect it at all," said team member Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas at Austin.
The discovery was announced here today at the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
...
While the new mass of M87 is based on a model, recent observations from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile support the model findings.
The study of M87's mass will also be detailed later this summer in the journal Astrophysical Journal.
Texas-sized computer finds most massive black hole in galaxy M87
Astronomy.com - June 8, 2009
Astronomers Karl Gebhardt from The University of Texas at Austin and Jens Thomas from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one of the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun's mass, it is the most massive black hole measured with a robust technique, and it suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.
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Today's conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope in Hilo, Hawaii, and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. He said these data support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
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Astronomers Karl Gebhardt from The University of Texas at Austin and Jens Thomas from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one of the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought. Weighing in at 6.4 billion times the Sun's mass, it is the most massive black hole measured with a robust technique, and it suggests that the accepted black hole masses in nearby large galaxies may be off by similar amounts. This has consequences for theories of how galaxies form and grow, and might even solve a long-standing astronomical paradox.
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Today's conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope in Hilo, Hawaii, and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. He said these data support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
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Galactic Black Holes May Be More Massive Than Thought
U.S. News & World Report - June 9, 2009
Astronomers report that some of the biggest supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies are at least twice and possibly four times as heavy as previously estimated. The findings come from new simulations by two independent teams of researchers, as well as new observations of stars whipping around a handful of supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies no more than a few hundred million light-years from Earth.
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Accounting for dark matter “is an effect that in retrospect is obvious,” said Gebhardt, and “in some galaxies like M87, it can be very important.” Unpublished simulations of three other galaxies show signs of a similar increase, he notes. And high-resolution observations of M87 by Gebhardt and colleagues using the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea agree with the revised theoretical estimate, he said.
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Astronomers report that some of the biggest supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies are at least twice and possibly four times as heavy as previously estimated. The findings come from new simulations by two independent teams of researchers, as well as new observations of stars whipping around a handful of supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies no more than a few hundred million light-years from Earth.
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Accounting for dark matter “is an effect that in retrospect is obvious,” said Gebhardt, and “in some galaxies like M87, it can be very important.” Unpublished simulations of three other galaxies show signs of a similar increase, he notes. And high-resolution observations of M87 by Gebhardt and colleagues using the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea agree with the revised theoretical estimate, he said.
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Texas-Size Computer Finds Most Massive Black Hole In Galaxy M87
Science Daily - June 9, 2009
Astronomers Karl Gebhardt (The University of Texas at Austin) and Jens Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought.
...
The conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. He said these data, which will be submitted for publication soon, support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
...
Astronomers Karl Gebhardt (The University of Texas at Austin) and Jens Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics) have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought.
...
The conclusions are model-based, but Gebhardt also has made new telescope observations of M87 and other galaxies using new powerful instruments on the Gemini North Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. He said these data, which will be submitted for publication soon, support the current model-based conclusions about black hole mass.
...
Galactic black holes may be more massive than thought
ScienceNews - June 8, 2009
Astronomers report that some of the biggest supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies are at least twice and possibly four times as heavy as previously estimated. The findings come from new simulations by two independent teams of researchers, as well as new observations of stars whipping around a handful of supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies no more than a few hundred million light-years from Earth.
...
Accounting for dark matter “is an effect that in retrospect is obvious,” said Gebhardt, and “in some galaxies like M87, it can be very important.” Unpublished simulations of three other galaxies show signs of a similar increase, he notes. And high-resolution observations of M87 by Gebhardt and colleagues using the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea agree with the revised theoretical estimate, he said.
...
Astronomers report that some of the biggest supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies are at least twice and possibly four times as heavy as previously estimated. The findings come from new simulations by two independent teams of researchers, as well as new observations of stars whipping around a handful of supermassive black holes at the centers of massive galaxies no more than a few hundred million light-years from Earth.
...
Accounting for dark matter “is an effect that in retrospect is obvious,” said Gebhardt, and “in some galaxies like M87, it can be very important.” Unpublished simulations of three other galaxies show signs of a similar increase, he notes. And high-resolution observations of M87 by Gebhardt and colleagues using the Gemini North telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea agree with the revised theoretical estimate, he said.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Cosmic blast sets distance mark
BBC - April 28, 2009
The cataclysmic explosion of a giant star early in the history of the Universe is the most distant single object ever detected by telescopes.
The colossal blast was picked up first by Nasa's Swift space observatory which is tuned to see the high-energy gamma-rays emitted from extreme events.
Other telescopes then followed up the signal, confirming the source to be more than 13 billion light-years away.
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Follow-up observations were led by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope, both on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
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The cataclysmic explosion of a giant star early in the history of the Universe is the most distant single object ever detected by telescopes.
The colossal blast was picked up first by Nasa's Swift space observatory which is tuned to see the high-energy gamma-rays emitted from extreme events.
Other telescopes then followed up the signal, confirming the source to be more than 13 billion light-years away.
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Follow-up observations were led by the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope, both on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
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New Gamma-Ray Burst Smashes Cosmic Distance Record
ScienceDaily - April 28, 2009
NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.
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At the same time, Fox led an effort to obtain infrared images of the afterglow using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea. The source appeared in longer-wavelength images but was absent in an image taken at the shortest wavelength of 1 micron. This "drop out" corresponded to a distance of about 13 billion light-years.
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NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.
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At the same time, Fox led an effort to obtain infrared images of the afterglow using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea. The source appeared in longer-wavelength images but was absent in an image taken at the shortest wavelength of 1 micron. This "drop out" corresponded to a distance of about 13 billion light-years.
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GRB Smashes Record for Most Distant Known Object
Universe Today - April 28, 2009
A really, really long time ago in a galaxy far away, a massive star exploded. On April 23, 2009, the Swift satellite detected that explosion. This spectacular gamma ray burst was seen 13 billion light years away, with a redshift of 8.2, the highest ever measured. As we hinted yesterday, this object is now the most distant known object, and the burst occurred when the Universe was only 630 million years old, a mere one-twentieth of its current age. This event, called GRB 090423, can tell us much about the early Universe. “We completely smashed the record with this one,” said Edo Berger, a professor at Harvard University and a member of the team that first measured the burst’s origin. “This demonstrates for the first time that massive stars existed in the early Universe.”
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“This was a pretty amazing event,” Berger told Universe Today. “Swift detected this gamma ray burst on April 23 and we immediately followed it up with the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, after it was demonstrated it did not have a visible light counterpart. That was the initial hint that this might be a distant object. We observed it in infrared and we found in the different infrared bands that there was a sharp break at a wavelength of about 1.1 microns.”
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A really, really long time ago in a galaxy far away, a massive star exploded. On April 23, 2009, the Swift satellite detected that explosion. This spectacular gamma ray burst was seen 13 billion light years away, with a redshift of 8.2, the highest ever measured. As we hinted yesterday, this object is now the most distant known object, and the burst occurred when the Universe was only 630 million years old, a mere one-twentieth of its current age. This event, called GRB 090423, can tell us much about the early Universe. “We completely smashed the record with this one,” said Edo Berger, a professor at Harvard University and a member of the team that first measured the burst’s origin. “This demonstrates for the first time that massive stars existed in the early Universe.”
...
“This was a pretty amazing event,” Berger told Universe Today. “Swift detected this gamma ray burst on April 23 and we immediately followed it up with the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, after it was demonstrated it did not have a visible light counterpart. That was the initial hint that this might be a distant object. We observed it in infrared and we found in the different infrared bands that there was a sharp break at a wavelength of about 1.1 microns.”
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Telescope snaps most distant object
Reuters, UK - April 28, 2009
Astronomers tracking a mysterious blast of energy called a gamma ray burst said on Tuesday they had snapped a photograph of the most distant object in the universe -- a smudge 13 billion light-years away.
Hawaii's Gemini Observatory caught the image earlier this month after a satellite first detected the burst.
"Our infrared observations from Gemini immediately suggested that this was an unusually distant burst, these images were the smoking gun," said Edo Berger of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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Scientists spot oldest ever object in universe
CNN - April 29, 2009
(CNN) -- Edo Berger got an alert early last Thursday morning when a satellite detected a 10-second blast of energy known as a gamma ray burst coming from outer space.
Telescopes around the world swiveled to focus on the explosion, soon picking up infrared radiation, which travels more slowly than gamma rays. Berger waited for the visible light which he expected to come next.
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The gamma radiation from GRB 090423, which took 13 billion years to reach earth, was detected by a NASA satellite called Swift. The infrared radiation was detected by the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.
(CNN) -- Edo Berger got an alert early last Thursday morning when a satellite detected a 10-second blast of energy known as a gamma ray burst coming from outer space.
Telescopes around the world swiveled to focus on the explosion, soon picking up infrared radiation, which travels more slowly than gamma rays. Berger waited for the visible light which he expected to come next.
...
The gamma radiation from GRB 090423, which took 13 billion years to reach earth, was detected by a NASA satellite called Swift. The infrared radiation was detected by the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Cosmic distance record smashed
Astronomy.com - April 28, 2009
The Swift satellite has found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was 640 million years old, or less than 5 percent of its present age. The event, called GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen and gives astronomers an insight into the early universe. The international team, led by United Kingdom and United States astronomers, announced the discovery today.
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Shortly after, Fox led an effort to obtain infrared images of the afterglow using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea. The source appeared in longer-wavelength images, but was absent in an image taken at the shortest wavelength (1 micron). The drop-out corresponded to a burst distance of about 13 billion light-years.
...
The Swift satellite has found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was 640 million years old, or less than 5 percent of its present age. The event, called GRB 090423, is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen and gives astronomers an insight into the early universe. The international team, led by United Kingdom and United States astronomers, announced the discovery today.
...
Shortly after, Fox led an effort to obtain infrared images of the afterglow using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea. The source appeared in longer-wavelength images, but was absent in an image taken at the shortest wavelength (1 micron). The drop-out corresponded to a burst distance of about 13 billion light-years.
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Most distant known object in the universe
ScienceNews - April 28, 2009
Astronomers have identified a new record holder for most distant object in the universe — a gamma-ray burst emanating from a region 13.035 billion light-years from Earth.
On April 23, NASA’s Swift satellite discovered the burst — a 10-second flash of highly energetic radiation believed to mark the explosive collapse of a massive star into a black hole. Within three hours of Swift’s detection, astronomers recorded the burst’s infrared afterglow using the U.K. Infra-Red Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope, both on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. Those observations, reported online (gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3_archive.html), suggested that the explosion ignited when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was only about 630 million years old.
...
Astronomers have identified a new record holder for most distant object in the universe — a gamma-ray burst emanating from a region 13.035 billion light-years from Earth.
On April 23, NASA’s Swift satellite discovered the burst — a 10-second flash of highly energetic radiation believed to mark the explosive collapse of a massive star into a black hole. Within three hours of Swift’s detection, astronomers recorded the burst’s infrared afterglow using the U.K. Infra-Red Telescope and the Gemini North Telescope, both on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. Those observations, reported online (gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn3_archive.html), suggested that the explosion ignited when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was only about 630 million years old.
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Astronomers spot the most distant cosmic explosion yet
Scientific American - April 28, 2009
An international team of astronomers last week detected the most distant gamma-ray burst ever recorded, light that was emitted when the universe was less than 5 percent of its present age.
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Infrared afterglow of GRB 090423 (circled) in a false-color image from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA, D. Fox and A. Cucchiara (Penn State University) and E. Berger (Harvard University)
An international team of astronomers last week detected the most distant gamma-ray burst ever recorded, light that was emitted when the universe was less than 5 percent of its present age.
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Infrared afterglow of GRB 090423 (circled) in a false-color image from the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA, D. Fox and A. Cucchiara (Penn State University) and E. Berger (Harvard University)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Coolest Brown Dwarf Spotted
April 20, 2009 - Discovery News
The coolest star-like object ever found outside the solar system has been spotted around 40 light-years away from Earth.
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The team used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and Gemini-North Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
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The coolest star-like object ever found outside the solar system has been spotted around 40 light-years away from Earth.
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The team used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and Gemini-North Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
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Astronomers Discover Local Star's Cool Companion
April 20, 2009 - Science Daily
An international team, led by astronomers at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, have discovered one of the coolest sub-stellar bodies ever found outside our own solar system, orbiting the red dwarf star Wolf 940, some 40 light years from Earth. Dr Ben Burningham of the University of Hertfordshire will present this discovery on Monday 20th April at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science conference.
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Its temperature was then confirmed using data from the Gemini-North telescope on Mauna Kea. The team's findings will soon be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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An international team, led by astronomers at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, have discovered one of the coolest sub-stellar bodies ever found outside our own solar system, orbiting the red dwarf star Wolf 940, some 40 light years from Earth. Dr Ben Burningham of the University of Hertfordshire will present this discovery on Monday 20th April at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science conference.
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Its temperature was then confirmed using data from the Gemini-North telescope on Mauna Kea. The team's findings will soon be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
“From Galileo to Gemini” theme of upcoming Mauna Kea lecture
Apr. 13, 2009 - Big Island Video News
Dr. Doug Simons, director of the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, will present the “From Galileo to Gemini” talk on Thursday, April 16, at the W. M. Keck Observatory’s Hualalai Learning Theater in Waimea, and Saturday, April 18, at Imiloa Astronomy Center’s planetarium in Hilo.
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(with video)
IYA's 24-hour Scope-a-thon
Apr. 2, 2009 - Sky & Telescope
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This unprecedented scope-a-thon kicks with a live feed from the Gemini North observatory in Hawaii on Friday morning, April 3rd, at 9:00 Universal Time (5:00 a.m. EDT). Then every 20 minutes the scene switches to a different facility. You'll be impressed with all the big-name observatories on and off our planet that have signed up to participate, among them Keck Observatory (10:00 UT), Hubble Space Telescope (17:20 UT), and ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile (April 4th, 2:20 UT).
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This unprecedented scope-a-thon kicks with a live feed from the Gemini North observatory in Hawaii on Friday morning, April 3rd, at 9:00 Universal Time (5:00 a.m. EDT). Then every 20 minutes the scene switches to a different facility. You'll be impressed with all the big-name observatories on and off our planet that have signed up to participate, among them Keck Observatory (10:00 UT), Hubble Space Telescope (17:20 UT), and ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile (April 4th, 2:20 UT).
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Gallery: The Top 10 Telescopes of All Time
Apr. 10, 2009 - Popular Science
Image 1 of 10 is Gemini Observatory...
Image 1 of 10 is Gemini Observatory...
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Two Dying Red Supergiant Stars Produced Supernovae
March 20, 2009 - ScienceDaily
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Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory, Justyn R. Maund, astrophysicist at the Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and astrophysicist Stephen J. Smartt, Queens University Belfast, have observed two stars that exploded as supernovae. By analysing archival images of the same section of the sky from long before the explosions, the researchers could see which stars might have gone supernova. But picking out individual stars in the distant universe is difficult, and pinpointing exactly which star it was that exploded is a huge challenge.
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Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory, Justyn R. Maund, astrophysicist at the Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen and astrophysicist Stephen J. Smartt, Queens University Belfast, have observed two stars that exploded as supernovae. By analysing archival images of the same section of the sky from long before the explosions, the researchers could see which stars might have gone supernova. But picking out individual stars in the distant universe is difficult, and pinpointing exactly which star it was that exploded is a huge challenge.
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Monday, February 23, 2009
Mauna Kea Milky Way Panorama
February 19, 2009 - Astronomy Picture of the Day
(Scroll to the right to see Gemini Telescope)
(Scroll to the right to see Gemini Telescope)