December 28, 2010 - Star-Advertiser, Honolulu
Just like teenagers, black holes undergo an adolescent growth spurt, astronomers have found.
Observations from the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea have helped confirm the rapid growth of black holes when the universe was relatively young.
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Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Dark Belt Reappearing on Jupiter
November 29, 2010 - Astronomy Picture of the Day
Jupiter's SEB Outbreak. Gemini North/NIRI, Nov. 18, 2010.
Jupiter's SEB Outbreak. Gemini North/NIRI, Nov. 18, 2010.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Astronomers find Rosetta stone for T-dwarf stars
November 23, 2010 - Astronomy Magazine
A star system with a cool methane-rich T-dwarf star and a dying white dwarf stellar remnant in orbit around each other gives scientists the first good handle on T-dwarfs’ mass and age.
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The methane dwarf was identified in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) as part of a project to identify the coolest objects in the galaxy. The Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii measured the temperature and spectrum.
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A star system with a cool methane-rich T-dwarf star and a dying white dwarf stellar remnant in orbit around each other gives scientists the first good handle on T-dwarfs’ mass and age.
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The methane dwarf was identified in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) as part of a project to identify the coolest objects in the galaxy. The Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii measured the temperature and spectrum.
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Telescope records Jupiter's new face
November 26, 2010 - Star-Advertiser (Honolulu)
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Follow-up observations on Mauna Kea by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory confirmed that dark brown material was visible to the left of the bright spot, indicating a clearing in the white cloud cover.
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Follow-up observations on Mauna Kea by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory confirmed that dark brown material was visible to the left of the bright spot, indicating a clearing in the white cloud cover.
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Astronomers thankful for return of Jupiter’s belt
November 26, 2010 - Discover Magazine (blog)
NASA just released a new image of Jupiter that confirms what amateur astronomers discovered a few days ago: Jupiter’s Southern Equatorial Belt is coming back!
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NASA just released a new image of Jupiter that confirms what amateur astronomers discovered a few days ago: Jupiter’s Southern Equatorial Belt is coming back!
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Jupiter's missing stripe returns
November 24, 2010 - USA Today
A brown stripe on Jupiter, the king of planets, has returned after a springtime fade, astronomers reported Wednesday.
Called the South Equatorial Belt (SEB), the atmospheric band south of Jupiter's equator had turned white, earlier this year. In November, however, Filipino amateur astronomer, Christopher Go of Cebu City, observed a bright spot in the unusually whitened belt, according to a University of California, Berkeley, statement. Observations from large telescopes in Hawaii, suggest the stripe has returned.
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A brown stripe on Jupiter, the king of planets, has returned after a springtime fade, astronomers reported Wednesday.
Called the South Equatorial Belt (SEB), the atmospheric band south of Jupiter's equator had turned white, earlier this year. In November, however, Filipino amateur astronomer, Christopher Go of Cebu City, observed a bright spot in the unusually whitened belt, according to a University of California, Berkeley, statement. Observations from large telescopes in Hawaii, suggest the stripe has returned.
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NASA: Stripe that disappeared on Jupiter coming back
November 25, 2010 - CNN (blog)
One of Jupiter's stripes that "disappeared" last spring is reappearing – and the disappearance was apparently an illusion created by Jupiter's atmosphere, NASA scientists said.
Scientists noticed earlier this year that the longstanding dark-brown stripe, called the South Equatorial Belt, had turned white, essentially disappearing. Researchers with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory telescope began studying the phenomenon and found the answer likely lies in a cloud deck made up of white ammonia ice that basically obscured the ring.
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One of Jupiter's stripes that "disappeared" last spring is reappearing – and the disappearance was apparently an illusion created by Jupiter's atmosphere, NASA scientists said.
Scientists noticed earlier this year that the longstanding dark-brown stripe, called the South Equatorial Belt, had turned white, essentially disappearing. Researchers with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, the W.M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory telescope began studying the phenomenon and found the answer likely lies in a cloud deck made up of white ammonia ice that basically obscured the ring.
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Jupiter's brown stripe is returning, say astronomers
November 26, 2010 - BBC News
One of the "stripes" on Jupiter that faded away earlier this year is making a comeback, astronomers have said.
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The first signs of the return were spotted by Christopher Go of the Philippines and was confirmed by the Infrared Telescope Facility and Gemini and Keck telescopes in Hawaii.
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
First methane dwarf found orbiting dying star
November 24, 2010 - AstronomyNow
A very cool methane-rich brown dwarf and a dying white dwarf star have been found orbiting each other by astronomers using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), the Gemini Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
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A very cool methane-rich brown dwarf and a dying white dwarf star have been found orbiting each other by astronomers using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), the Gemini Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
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Monday, September 13, 2010
Amateur astronomers are first to detect objects impacting Jupiter
September 9, 2010 - Astronomy.com
Amateur astronomers using backyard telescopes were the first to detect two small objects that burned up in Jupiter's atmosphere June 3 and August 20.
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...Professional astronomers, alerted by e-mail, looked for signs of the impact in images from larger telescopes, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, and Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. Scientists saw no thermal disruptions or typical chemical signatures of debris, which allowed them to put a limit on the size of the object.
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Amateur astronomers using backyard telescopes were the first to detect two small objects that burned up in Jupiter's atmosphere June 3 and August 20.
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...Professional astronomers, alerted by e-mail, looked for signs of the impact in images from larger telescopes, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, and Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawaii and Chile. Scientists saw no thermal disruptions or typical chemical signatures of debris, which allowed them to put a limit on the size of the object.
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Jupiter Took a Double Wallop as Amateurs Watched
September 9, 2010 - Space.com
Two fireballs from collisions with Jupiter in June and August provided a great show for the skywatchers who spotted them, packing a punch and suggesting the gas giant could be in for frequent punishment.
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Three days after Wesley and Go detected the fireball, Hueso and his colleagues looked for signs of the impact in high-resolution images from larger telescopes, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, the Keck telescope in Hawaii, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
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Two fireballs from collisions with Jupiter in June and August provided a great show for the skywatchers who spotted them, packing a punch and suggesting the gas giant could be in for frequent punishment.
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Three days after Wesley and Go detected the fireball, Hueso and his colleagues looked for signs of the impact in high-resolution images from larger telescopes, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, the Keck telescope in Hawaii, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
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Monday, August 30, 2010
Galactic Cannibalization Sparks Powerful Radio Galaxies
August 30, 2010 - DiscoveryNews
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Now, imagine a time in the universe where those irregular galaxies were all around, and they fed the most powerful radio-emitting black holes. That is what a group of astronomers, led by Cristina Ramos Almeida, have imaged with one of the largest telescopes on Earth.
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It turns out, that when carefully imaged by the 8.1-meter Gemini telescope in Chile, most of these galaxies show weird shapes such as shells, tidal tails, multiple central nuclei, and other evidence of being the product of merging galaxies...
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Now, imagine a time in the universe where those irregular galaxies were all around, and they fed the most powerful radio-emitting black holes. That is what a group of astronomers, led by Cristina Ramos Almeida, have imaged with one of the largest telescopes on Earth.
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It turns out, that when carefully imaged by the 8.1-meter Gemini telescope in Chile, most of these galaxies show weird shapes such as shells, tidal tails, multiple central nuclei, and other evidence of being the product of merging galaxies...
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Astronomers Discover Jupiter-Sized Brown Dwarf
July 30, 2010 - CBS News
... Astronomers have just found such a duo: a star about the mass of our sun with an unusually close brown dwarf companion.
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A paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters details the find, which was made using images from the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager on the Gemini-South telescope in Chile. The researchers predicted the orbit by using two observations, one in April of 2009 and another in May of 2010 and then calculated the brown dwarf's motion using a computer model.
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... Astronomers have just found such a duo: a star about the mass of our sun with an unusually close brown dwarf companion.
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A paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters details the find, which was made using images from the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager on the Gemini-South telescope in Chile. The researchers predicted the orbit by using two observations, one in April of 2009 and another in May of 2010 and then calculated the brown dwarf's motion using a computer model.
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Brown Dwarf Found Orbiting a Young Sun-Like Star
August 2, 2010 - U.S. News & World Report
Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star.
An international team led by University of Hawaii astronomers Beth Biller and Michael Liu with help from University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and UA graduate students Eric Nielsen, Jared Males and Andy Skemer made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile.
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Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star.
An international team led by University of Hawaii astronomers Beth Biller and Michael Liu with help from University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and UA graduate students Eric Nielsen, Jared Males and Andy Skemer made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile.
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Friday, July 30, 2010
Brown Dwarf Found Orbiting a Young Sun-Like Star
July 29, 2010 - PhysOrg.com
Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star.
An international team led by University of Hawaii astronomers Beth Biller and Michael Liu with help from University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and UA graduate students Eric Nielsen, Jared Males and Andy Skemer made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile.
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Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star.
An international team led by University of Hawaii astronomers Beth Biller and Michael Liu with help from University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and UA graduate students Eric Nielsen, Jared Males and Andy Skemer made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile.
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Found: Jupiter-sized Brown Dwarf, Hiding in a Tight Orbit Around a Young Sun
July 30, 2010 - Discover Magazine (blog)
... Astronomers have just found such a duo: a star about the mass of our sun with an unusually close brown dwarf companion.
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A paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters details the find, which was made using images from the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, on the Gemini-South telescope in Chile. The researchers predicted the orbit by using two observations, one in April of 2009 and another in May of 2010 and then calculated the brown dwarf’s motion using a computer model.
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... Astronomers have just found such a duo: a star about the mass of our sun with an unusually close brown dwarf companion.
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A paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters details the find, which was made using images from the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, on the Gemini-South telescope in Chile. The researchers predicted the orbit by using two observations, one in April of 2009 and another in May of 2010 and then calculated the brown dwarf’s motion using a computer model.
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Rare find: Failed star circling sun-like star
July 30, 2010 - MSNBC
A rare sun-like star that is both young and relatively close to Earth has been found to be harboring an even weirder object a failed star locked in a close orbit around its host, according to a new study.
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An international team of astronomers, led by Beth Biller and Michael Liu of the University of Hawaii, made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI), on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile...
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A rare sun-like star that is both young and relatively close to Earth has been found to be harboring an even weirder object a failed star locked in a close orbit around its host, according to a new study.
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An international team of astronomers, led by Beth Biller and Michael Liu of the University of Hawaii, made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI), on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile...
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Brown dwarf in tight orbit around young Sun-like star
July 30, 2010 - AstronomyNow
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Using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) on the eight-metre Gemini-South Telescope in Chile, an international team of astronomers made a rare find: a very young brown dwarf in orbit around a 12 million year old Sun-like star, around 160 light years away. The star is so young that the astronomers say it still sports a belt of cold circumstellar gas.
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Using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) on the eight-metre Gemini-South Telescope in Chile, an international team of astronomers made a rare find: a very young brown dwarf in orbit around a 12 million year old Sun-like star, around 160 light years away. The star is so young that the astronomers say it still sports a belt of cold circumstellar gas.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Brown Dwarf Found Orbiting a Young Sun-Like Star
July 29, 2010 - SpaceRef
Astronomers have imaged a very young brown dwarf, or failed star, in a tight orbit around a young nearby sun-like star. An international team led by University of Hawaii astronomers Beth Biller and Michael Liu with help from University of Arizona astronomer Laird Close and UA graduate students Eric Nielsen, Jared Males and Andy Skemer made the rare find using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, on the international 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile.
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Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
First photo of a planet circling distant sun outside our own solar system
June 30, 2010 - Daily Mail
A planet outside our solar system is orbiting another star, astronomers have finally confirmed.
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Now they have used hi-tech adaptive optics technology on the ground-based Gemini telescope in Hawaii to carry out more detailed measurements which prove the planet is orbiting a distant sun.
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A planet outside our solar system is orbiting another star, astronomers have finally confirmed.
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Now they have used hi-tech adaptive optics technology on the ground-based Gemini telescope in Hawaii to carry out more detailed measurements which prove the planet is orbiting a distant sun.
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Proof of least massive planet known to orbit Sun-like star at great distance
July 1, 2010 - Examiner.com
A newly discovered planet that's about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed to be orbiting its parent Sun-like star from a distance 300 times farther than Earth is from our Sun.
The planet is the least massive planet known to date to orbit its star at such a great distance. It was first discovered in September 2008 by using Gemini Observatory's high-resolution adaptive optics technology.
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A newly discovered planet that's about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed to be orbiting its parent Sun-like star from a distance 300 times farther than Earth is from our Sun.
The planet is the least massive planet known to date to orbit its star at such a great distance. It was first discovered in September 2008 by using Gemini Observatory's high-resolution adaptive optics technology.
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Scientists Confirm the First Direct Photo of an Exoplanet
June 30, 2010 - Popular Science
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The adaptive optics system at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii snapped this photo in the infrared part of the light spectrum. It shows a hot, large Jupiter-like planet near a smallish sun-like star. It was actually found two years ago, but astronomers couldn't be sure they were really looking at a planetary system and not some lucky alignment of objects. Now they're sure.
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Scientists find planet with sun-like star
June 29, 2010 - UPI.com
Canadian researchers say they have confirmed a planet discovered outside our solar system is orbiting a star much like the sun.
First observed by the twin Gemini telescopes operating in Hawaii and Chile in April 2008, it required further research to confirm the two objects were associated and not just aligned by chance, a University of Montreal release Tuesday said.
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Canadian researchers say they have confirmed a planet discovered outside our solar system is orbiting a star much like the sun.
First observed by the twin Gemini telescopes operating in Hawaii and Chile in April 2008, it required further research to confirm the two objects were associated and not just aligned by chance, a University of Montreal release Tuesday said.
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First Direct Photo of Alien Planet Finally Confirmed
June 29, 2010 - Space.com
A planet outside of our solar system, said to be the first ever directly photographed by telescopes on Earth, has been officially confirmed to be orbiting a sun-like star, according to follow-up observations.
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The new observations that confirm the planet circles its parent star were made using high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory. The observatory is an international collaboration with two identical 8-meter telescopes, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii and Cerro Pachon in northern Chile.
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A planet outside of our solar system, said to be the first ever directly photographed by telescopes on Earth, has been officially confirmed to be orbiting a sun-like star, according to follow-up observations.
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The new observations that confirm the planet circles its parent star were made using high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory. The observatory is an international collaboration with two identical 8-meter telescopes, located at Mauna Kea, Hawaii and Cerro Pachon in northern Chile.
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Another direct picture of a planet orbiting an alien star confirmed!
June 30, 2010 - Discovery Blog
Astronomers have confirmed that an object in an image from 2008 — thought at the time to possibly be a direct image of a planet orbiting another star — is in fact a planet.
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Astronomers have confirmed that an object in an image from 2008 — thought at the time to possibly be a direct image of a planet orbiting another star — is in fact a planet.
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Far-Out World Leaves Astronomers Baffled
July 2, 2010 - Discovery
A planet-like object about eight times the size of Jupiter is locked in orbit around very young star, though the exact relationship between the two remains a mystery.
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A planet-like object about eight times the size of Jupiter is locked in orbit around very young star, though the exact relationship between the two remains a mystery.
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Thursday, July 1, 2010
"First" Picture of Planet Orbiting Sunlike Star Confirmed
June 30, 2010 - National Geographic
Two years after making the claim, a team of astronomers says it holds bragging rights to releasing the first ever direct picture of an alien planet orbiting a sunlike star.
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Unveiled in September 2008, a picture from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii shows a direct view of a star system dubbed 1RXS 1609. At the time, astronomers didn't have enough data to say for sure that the bright dot near the star was in fact an orbiting world and not just an object in a chance alignment, as seen from Earth.
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Two years after making the claim, a team of astronomers says it holds bragging rights to releasing the first ever direct picture of an alien planet orbiting a sunlike star.
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Unveiled in September 2008, a picture from the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii shows a direct view of a star system dubbed 1RXS 1609. At the time, astronomers didn't have enough data to say for sure that the bright dot near the star was in fact an orbiting world and not just an object in a chance alignment, as seen from Earth.
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Canadian scientists confirm new solar system
June 30, 2010 - CBC.com
Canadian scientists have found more evidence that a massive planet — eight times the size of Jupiter — is in fact part of another solar system.
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In an article in an upcoming edition of the Astrophysical Journal, Lafrenière and University of Toronto astronomers Ray Jayawardhana and Marten van Kerkwijk say they have confirmed that, in fact, the planet is rotating around its nearest star.
The team used high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory site in Chile.
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Canadian scientists have found more evidence that a massive planet — eight times the size of Jupiter — is in fact part of another solar system.
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In an article in an upcoming edition of the Astrophysical Journal, Lafrenière and University of Toronto astronomers Ray Jayawardhana and Marten van Kerkwijk say they have confirmed that, in fact, the planet is rotating around its nearest star.
The team used high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory site in Chile.
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First Directly Imaged Planet Confirmed Orbiting Sun-Like Star
June 30, 2010 - Astrobiology
A planet only about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed orbiting a sun-like star at over 300 times farther from the star than the Earth is from our Sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from its host star. The discovery utilized high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory to take direct images and spectra of the planet.
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A planet only about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed orbiting a sun-like star at over 300 times farther from the star than the Earth is from our Sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from its host star. The discovery utilized high-resolution adaptive optics technology at the Gemini Observatory to take direct images and spectra of the planet.
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First directly imaged planet confirmed
June 30, 2010 - AstronomyNow
First reported in 2008, an exoplanet system discovered orbiting a Sun-like star via direct imaging has been confirmed to host an eight Jupiter-mass planet orbiting its star over 300 times farther than Earth is from our Sun.
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The discovery came thanks to the high resolution adaptive optics set-up at the Gemini Observatory, which enabled Lafreniere's team to take direct images and collect spectra of the system that displayed absorption features due to water vapor, carbon monoxide and molecular hydrogen in the planet’s atmosphere...
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First reported in 2008, an exoplanet system discovered orbiting a Sun-like star via direct imaging has been confirmed to host an eight Jupiter-mass planet orbiting its star over 300 times farther than Earth is from our Sun.
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The discovery came thanks to the high resolution adaptive optics set-up at the Gemini Observatory, which enabled Lafreniere's team to take direct images and collect spectra of the system that displayed absorption features due to water vapor, carbon monoxide and molecular hydrogen in the planet’s atmosphere...
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First pics of faraway planet confirmed
June 30, 2010 - ABC News
Scientists led by Dr David Lafreniere from the University of Montreal in Canada say the planet, about eight times the size of Jupiter is circling the Star 1RXS J160929.1-210524 which is about 500 light years away in a group of young stars called the Upper Scorpius Association which formed about five million years ago.
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Scientists used the Gemini telescope to conduct further observations, confirming the planet and star were indeed moving through space together.
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Scientists led by Dr David Lafreniere from the University of Montreal in Canada say the planet, about eight times the size of Jupiter is circling the Star 1RXS J160929.1-210524 which is about 500 light years away in a group of young stars called the Upper Scorpius Association which formed about five million years ago.
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Scientists used the Gemini telescope to conduct further observations, confirming the planet and star were indeed moving through space together.
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A New Exoplanet — with Pictures to Prove It
June 30, 2010 - Time.com
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Its searing temperature is in fact the only reason astronomers could see the planet in the first place. It's also why they decided to point the giant Gemini telescope, located atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, at the Upper Scorpius Association. What sounds vaguely like a British football team is actually a nursery of young stars, and the scientists concentrated on 85 of the Upper Scorpius newborns...
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Astronomers verify directly imaged planet
June 22, 2010 - Astronomy.com
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One of those groups recently re-imaged their discovered system with the same instrument — the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. David Lafrenière of the University of Montréal and Ray Jayawardhana and Marten H. van Kerkwijk of the University of Toronto have confirmed that the object they initially imaged is indeed a companion planet to the young star 1RXS J160929.1–210524...
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One of those groups recently re-imaged their discovered system with the same instrument — the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. David Lafrenière of the University of Montréal and Ray Jayawardhana and Marten H. van Kerkwijk of the University of Toronto have confirmed that the object they initially imaged is indeed a companion planet to the young star 1RXS J160929.1–210524...
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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Astronomers verify directly imaged planet
June 22, 2010 - Astronomy.com
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One of those groups recently re-imaged their discovered system with the same instrument — the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. David Lafrenière of the University of Montréal and Ray Jayawardhana and Marten H. van Kerkwijk of the University of Toronto have confirmed that the object they initially imaged is indeed a companion planet to the young star 1RXS J160929.1–210524. Jayawardhana adds: “We also obtained images/spectra at other wavelengths, which confirm the temperature and mass we derived in 2008.”
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One of those groups recently re-imaged their discovered system with the same instrument — the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. David Lafrenière of the University of Montréal and Ray Jayawardhana and Marten H. van Kerkwijk of the University of Toronto have confirmed that the object they initially imaged is indeed a companion planet to the young star 1RXS J160929.1–210524. Jayawardhana adds: “We also obtained images/spectra at other wavelengths, which confirm the temperature and mass we derived in 2008.”
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Taking a narrow view of a lopsided galaxy
June 1st, 2010 - Astronomy
The starburst galaxy NGC 1313 is a stellar incubator delivering stars on a scale rarely seen in a single galaxy of its size. Now a striking new Gemini Observatory image reveals the multitudes of glowing gas clouds in this galaxy's arms. These colorful clouds are the telltale sign of star formation in this prolific star factory.
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Enigmatic star could emerge from its gassy cocoon
June 15, 2010 - Nature News
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Researchers from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis recorded the dip from the eruptive, luminous variable star using data from the Gemini South Telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope. Their results are detailed in a paper accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1004/1004.3529v3.pdf.
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Friday, May 21, 2010
Cannibalistic galaxy bends light and reveals its monstrous appetite
May 13, 2010 - Astronomy
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The supermassive galaxy is located at the core of the galaxy cluster Abell 3827, which lies about 1.4 billion light-years away. This galaxy and hundreds of its smaller cluster companions are visible in a dramatic new image released by the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii.
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The supermassive galaxy is located at the core of the galaxy cluster Abell 3827, which lies about 1.4 billion light-years away. This galaxy and hundreds of its smaller cluster companions are visible in a dramatic new image released by the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii.
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Thursday, April 8, 2010
Small companion to brown dwarf challenges simple definition
April 6, 2010 - Astronomy
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Kamen Todorov of Penn State University and co-investigators used the keen eyesight of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory to directly image the companion of the brown dwarf, which was uncovered in a survey of 32 young brown dwarfs in the Taurus star-forming region. Brown dwarfs are objects that typically are tens of times the mass of Jupiter and are too small to sustain nuclear fusion to shine as stars do.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010
Are heavyweight stars born like our Sun?
January 28, 2010 - Astronomy
Explaining how the most massive stars are born, deep within their stellar nurseries, is one of the most persistent mysteries in modern astronomy. Now, observations at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii provide convincing new evidence that these stellar heavyweights may be born in much the same manner as lightweights like our Sun.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
Alien dust found around distant star
January 7th, 2010 - Astronomy
Using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers at UCLA have found dusty evidence for the formation of young, rocky planets around a star some 500 light-years distant. But these potential extrasolar worlds are alien in an even more intriguing way: In the aftermath of collisions between planetary embryos around this star, the researchers discovered that the dusty debris bears no resemblance to the planetary building blocks of our own solar system.
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Using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers at UCLA have found dusty evidence for the formation of young, rocky planets around a star some 500 light-years distant. But these potential extrasolar worlds are alien in an even more intriguing way: In the aftermath of collisions between planetary embryos around this star, the researchers discovered that the dusty debris bears no resemblance to the planetary building blocks of our own solar system.
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Parting Eta Carinae's clouds reveals more clouds
January 4th, 2010 - ScienceNews
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John Martin of the University of Illinois at Springfield reported new observations of Eta Carinae January 4 at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Astronomers took the new images using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, at the Gemini South telescope in Chile. NICI, which was designed to find planets around other stars, uses a system called adaptive optics to cancel out blurring from the Earth’s atmosphere...
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Mysterious Alien Dust Hints at Violent Planet Formation
January 13, 2010 - Universe Today
Five-hundred light years away, worlds are colliding, and they're made of nothing we've ever seen.
Last week at the 215th American Astronomical Society meeting, UCLA astronomers announced that they had found warm dust – evidence for the violent collision of rocky planets – around a star called HD 131488. The strange thing is, the composition of the dust has little in common with the composition of rocky bodies in any other known system.
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Five-hundred light years away, worlds are colliding, and they're made of nothing we've ever seen.
Last week at the 215th American Astronomical Society meeting, UCLA astronomers announced that they had found warm dust – evidence for the violent collision of rocky planets – around a star called HD 131488. The strange thing is, the composition of the dust has little in common with the composition of rocky bodies in any other known system.
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Alien dust kicked up by baby planet collisions
January 12, 2010 - MSNBC
In the search for other planetary systems like Earth that are capable of hosting extraterrestrial life, scientists have come across some very alien systems indeed. But the latest ones have researchers truly perplexed.
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Infrared imaging and spectroscopic measurements of the system, performed by the Gemini South Telescope in Chile, showed the unusual chemical composition.
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Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Revealing the Explosive Heart of Eta Carinae
January 6, 2010 - U.S. News & World Report
Using adaptive optics to remove atmospheric blurring, Gemini Observatory released an image today showing previously hidden forensic secrets at the ballistic core of the Homunculus Nebula, part of the explosive Eta Carinae star system.
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Using adaptive optics to remove atmospheric blurring, Gemini Observatory released an image today showing previously hidden forensic secrets at the ballistic core of the Homunculus Nebula, part of the explosive Eta Carinae star system.
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Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Probing the Explosive History of Eta Car
January 4, 2010 - Universe Today
I can't seem to stop writing about Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars this week. And new research discussed at the AAS conference this week continues the trend. As part of a series of short talks on exploding stars, John Martin of the University of Illinois, Springfield spoke on his work with the LBV Eta Carinae.
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To probe the internal structure of the outburst Martin and his team used the Near Infrared Chronographic Imager (NICI) on the Gemini South telescope in Chile. The use of infrared allowed the team to peer through the dusty outer layers of the nebula which absorb visible light. The device also used a device to block the light from the central star allowing the team to look through the glare and more directly explore the surrounding structure.
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I can't seem to stop writing about Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars this week. And new research discussed at the AAS conference this week continues the trend. As part of a series of short talks on exploding stars, John Martin of the University of Illinois, Springfield spoke on his work with the LBV Eta Carinae.
...
To probe the internal structure of the outburst Martin and his team used the Near Infrared Chronographic Imager (NICI) on the Gemini South telescope in Chile. The use of infrared allowed the team to peer through the dusty outer layers of the nebula which absorb visible light. The device also used a device to block the light from the central star allowing the team to look through the glare and more directly explore the surrounding structure.
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Parting Eta Carinae's clouds reveals more clouds
January 4, 2010 - ScienceNews
A new view of Eta Carinae, a nearby star system that is expected to explode as a supernova sometime in the next 10,000 years or so, reveals for the first time clouds of gas that were expelled by one of its stars.
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John Martin of the University of Illinois at Springfield reported new observations of Eta Carinae January 4 at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Astronomers took the new images using the Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, or NICI, at the Gemini South telescope in Chile. NICI, which was designed to find planets around other stars, uses a system called adaptive optics to cancel out blurring from the Earth’s atmosphere. This feature allowed Martin and his team to create the first visual images of the inner cloud, called the Little Homunculus Nebula. It shows up as a faint brightening around the central star.
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