December 23, 2011 - ScienceBlogs
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Right now, there are a number of ground-based astronomy projects currently underway that are doing some truly amazing things. The image above, of the distant cluster Abell 3827, was taken by the ground-based Gemini Observatory, where it was discovered that this galactic giant has the mass of 30 trillion Suns, making it the largest galaxy in our local Universe (i.e., within 1.5 billion light-years).
The twin Gemini Observatories -- one in Hawaii, above, and the other in Chile -- are two of the largest, most advanced astronomical facilities in the world. Getting observing time on Gemini, as you can well imagine, is extraordinarily competitive, as there's competition not just among extragalactic astronomers, but among those who study stars and nebulae within our own galaxy. With the Gemini telescope and its adaptive optics technology, incredible detail of young stars within a spectacular nebula -- like the Orion Nebula -- can be imaged like never before.
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