The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 271

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130825.html

August 25, 2013 - Astronomy Picture of the Day
Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides. Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge
of material momentarily connecting the two giants.

Pioneering radiation camera captures striking images of the Swan Nebula and galaxies millions of light years away

http://tinyurl.com/mxexg8c

August 9, 2013 - Daily Mail
The latest specialist equipment from the Gemini Observatory in Chile has used infrared imaging to capture striking images of the Swan Nebula situated around 6,000 light years from Earth.

The second-generation FLAMINGOS-2 camera has also snapped unique high-resolution images from the heart of a spiral galaxy as well as a ring of star formation.

FLAMINGOS-2 is spectroscopic, which means it has been designed to specifically study and record matter and radiation energy in space.
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The spectacularly clear images of galaxies millions of light years from Earth captured thanks to lasers and mirrors

http://tinyurl.com/kktbyxv

July 4, 2013 - Daily Mail online
These razor sharp images of galaxies millions of light years from Earth have been produced by a remote observatory thanks to a brand new instrument.
The adaptive optics system, called 'GeMS', helps remove atmospheric distortion - or blurriness - when taking pictures of space, making images of much clearer.
It took scientists more than a decade to develop and is now in regular use by the Gemini South Observatory located in Chile.
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Gallery: A New Camera Turns an Earth Telescope into a Space Telescope

http://tinyurl.com/k43g3ao

July 8, 2013 - Discover
For three decades, astronomers have been waging war with the air around them, and slowly winning. A succession of increasingly advanced technologies–under the name active optics, and more recently adaptive optics–compensated for the continuous blowing, flowing, shimmering, and general blurring of Earth’s atmosphere. These devices are not perfect, but they do a credible job sharpening the view. Essentially all of the world’s major observatories now use some system along those lines.

Now the engineers at the Gemini Observatory have taken blur-elimination technology a step beyond. They have just equipped the 8.1-meter Gemini South telescope, located atop Cerro Pachon in Chile, with a system called GeMS...

Telescope Gets New Gear to Bring Stars Into Focus

http://www.space.com/14294-gemini-telescope-adaptive-optics-stars.html

July 3, 2013 - Space.com
Stars viewed by an observatory in South America have just lost their twinkle. Images from this ground-based telescope are brighter and clearer than ever before, thanks to a new instrument on the Gemini South observatory that reduces the blurring, or twinkle, caused by Earth's atmosphere.
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Gemini Observatory New Optics Provides Shaper Universe for Astronomers

http://tinyurl.com/m87xw83

July 3, 2013 - SpaceRef
Astronomers recently got their hands on Gemini Observatory's revolutionary new adaptive optics system, called GeMS, "and the data are truly spectacular!" says Robert Blum, Deputy Director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory with funding by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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Revolutionary instrument delivers a sharper universe to astronomers

http://tinyurl.com/q2w4kuu

July 3, 2013 - Astronomy.com
Astronomers recently got their hands on Gemini Observatory’s revolutionary new adaptive optics system, called GeMS. “And the data are truly spectacular!” said Robert Blum, deputy director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation. “What we have seen so far signals an incredible capability that leaps ahead of anything in space or on the ground — and it will for some time.” Blum is currently using GeMS to study the environments in and around star clusters, and his preliminary data, targeting the spectacular cluster identified as RMC 136, are among the set of seven images being released. The remaining six images — spanning views from violent star-forming regions to the graceful interaction of distant colliding galaxies — only hint at the diversity of cutting-edge research that GeMS enables.
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Adaptive Optics Details New Space Images From Gemini Observatory

http://tinyurl.com/m2hpjcf

July 3, 2013 - RedOrbit

Scientists at the Gemini Observatory in Chile have just released the first new images of space created with their state-of-the-art adaptive optics system, called GeMS.

An acronym for Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System, GeMS allows scientists at the observatory to capture deep-space images without the usual distortions created by Earth’s atmosphere.
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‘The New Cool’: How These Sharp Space Pictures Were Snapped From A Ground Telescope Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/103269/the-new-cool-how-these-sharp-space-pictures-were-snapped-from-a-ground-telescope/#ixzz2YCKgNRL0

http://tinyurl.com/pf474cd

July 3, 2013 - UniverseToday.com
Rise above Earth with a telescope, and one huge obstacle to astronomy is removed: the atmosphere. We love breathing that oxygen-nitrogen mix, but it’s sure not fun to peer through it. Ground-based telescopes have to deal with air turbulence and other side effects of the air we need to breathe.

Enter adaptive optics — laser-based systems that can track the distortions in the air and tell computers in powerful telescopes how to flex their mirrors. That sparkling picture above came due to a new system at the Gemini South telescope in Chile.

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Telescope uses new optic tools to capture super-sharp cosmic images

http://tinyurl.com/lxezx4n

July  3, 3013 - UPI.com
...
The telescope at the Gemini Observatory in La Silla, Chile, uses a revolutionary new adaptive optics system combining multiple lasers and deformable mirrors to remove atmospheric distortions -- blurriness -- from ground-based images.

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Interstellar Gas Clouds Seed New Planets With Building Blocks of DNA

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/06/precursors-to-dna-predate-birth-of-our-solar-system.html

June 24, 2013 - The Daily Galaxy

Possible 'Comet of the Century' Blazes Up in New Photos

http://www.livescience.com/37015-comet-ison-photos-gemini-observatory.html

May 30, 2013 - LiveScience.com
A comet that could become one of the brightest ever seen when it flys by the sun this November is already remarkably bright and active, a new set of photos shows.

Comet ISON sports a well-defined tail of dust and gas even though it remains far from the sun, the new images from Hawaii's Gemini North Observatory reveal. But it's still too early to tell if ISON will live up to the "comet of the century" hype, researchers stress.
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Gemini spots Comet ISON hurtling towards the Sun

http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/71943-gemini-spots-comet-ison-hurtling-towards-the-sun

May 30, 2013 - TG Daily
A new series of images from Gemini Observatory shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun. In late November the comet could present a stunning sight in the twilight sky and remain easily visible, or even brilliant, into early December of this year.
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Astronomers Track Comet ISON From Gemini Observatory

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112861582/comet-ison-may-come-uncomfortably-close-to-the-sun-053113/

May 30, 2013 - RedOrbit
Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) is racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun, according to a new series of images from the Gemini Earth Observatory. Comet ISON might present a stunning sight in the twilight sky of late November that will remain easily visible, even brilliant, into early December.
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Telescope in Hawaii captures images of comet ISON speeding towards Sun

http://in.news.yahoo.com/telescope-hawaii-captures-images-comet-ison-speeding-towards-093146230.html

May 30, 2013 - Yahoo News
Gemini Observatory has taken a new series of images that shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun.
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New Images of Comet ISON Hurtling Towards the Sun

http://www.universetoday.com/102522/new-images-of-comet-ison-hurtling-towards-the-sun/

May 30, 2013 - UniverseToday
As Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) heads closer to Earth, we’re getting a better view of what has been billed by some as the “Comet of the Century.” Astronomers say these new photos from the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i provide hints of how well this comet might survive one of the closest comet encounters with the Sun ever recorded, on November 28, 2013.

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Gemini captures Comet ISON hurtling toward uncertain destiny with the Sun

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-gemini-captures-comet-ison-hurtling.html

May 30, 2013 - Phys.org

A new series of images from Gemini Observatory shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun. In late November the comet could present a stunning sight in the twilight sky and remain easily visible, or even brilliant, into early December of this year.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-gemini-captures-comet-ison-hurtling.html#jCp

A new series of images from Gemini Observatory shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun. In late November the comet could present a stunning sight in the twilight sky and remain easily visible, or even brilliant, into early December of this year.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-gemini-captures-comet-ison-hurtling.html#jCp

A new series of images from Gemini Observatory shows Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) racing toward an uncomfortably close rendezvous with the Sun. In late November the comet could present a stunning sight in the twilight sky and remain easily visible, or even brilliant, into early December of this year.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-gemini-captures-comet-ison-hurtling.html#jCp

ISON Time Sequence

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/space-photo-of-the-day-2/?pid=7051

May 30, 2013 - Wired.com (Wired Space Photo of the Day)

Telescope in Hawaii captures images of comet heading toward Earth

http://tinyurl.com/keery6e

May 31, 2013 - UPI.com

An observatory in Hawaii has captured a series of images of a comet on its way into the inner solar system hinting at coming changes, astronomers say.

The time-sequence images from the Gemini Observatory, spanning early February through May, show remarkable activity on the part of Comet ISON despite its distance from the sun and Earth, they said.

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Big Picture: Comet ISON ploughs on toward Sun

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22728476

May 31, 2013 - BBC News
Comet ISON continues to foreshadow its close pass of the Sun later in the year - Hawaii's Gemini Observatory snapped these images of ISON crossing the sky in early February, March, April and May. It will pass within 1.2m km of the Sun in November, and could be the "comet of the century" if it does not burn up entirely on the way.