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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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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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