Science Daily - July 19, 2007
Frigid geysers spewing material up through cracks in the crust of Pluto’s companion Charon and recoating parts of its surface in ice crystals could be making this distant world into the equivalent of an outer solar system ice machine.
Evidence for these ice deposits comes from high-resolution spectra obtained using the Gemini Observatory’s Adaptive Optics system, ALTAIR coupled with the near-infrared instrument NIRI. ...
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Pluto's neighbouring object, Charon, could be spewing out liquid water from ultra-cold volcanoes, covering Charon's chilly surface with freshly-formed
The Planetary Society - July 18, 2007
Pluto's companion Charon might be covered with active volcanoes of ammonia-rich water spewing forth from the moon's deep interior. Astronomers at one of the world's great telescopes have separated Charon's dim light from Pluto's and discovered that large areas of the moon's surface are plastered with deposits of crystalline water and ammonia hydrate ice. ...
Pluto's companion Charon might be covered with active volcanoes of ammonia-rich water spewing forth from the moon's deep interior. Astronomers at one of the world's great telescopes have separated Charon's dim light from Pluto's and discovered that large areas of the moon's surface are plastered with deposits of crystalline water and ammonia hydrate ice. ...
Ice volcanoes in outer space?
Nature.com - July 18, 2007
Pluto's neighbouring object, Charon, could be spewing out liquid water from ultra-cold volcanoes, covering Charon's chilly surface with freshly-formed ice crystals.
This dramatic conclusion was made by Jason Cook at Arizona State University, Tempe, who looked at Charon's near-infrared spectrum using telescopes at the Gemini Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. ...
Bullets in Orion
News item on Gemini telescope's image in Astronomy magazine, page 24, August 2007 issue.
Supersonic "bullets" in Orion
Astronomy.com - March 22, 2007
A new Gemini image shows massive gas bullets speeding away from the Orion Nebula.
A new Gemini image shows massive gas bullets speeding away from the Orion Nebula.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Catching Orion's Bullets
Sky & Telescope - July 2007 (p.14-15)
...Astronomers made the image using Gemini North's ALTAIR adaptive-optics system and a new sodium-wavelength laser that created an artificial reference star for it in Earth's upper atmosphere.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Astronomers put new discovery to good use
Hawaii Tribune Herald - June 7, 2007
The coolest-known star-like object beyond the solar system is giving astronomers a new look at the differences between massive planets and the smallest brown dwarfs.
This newly discovered object, called ULAS J0034-00 and located in the constellation of Cetus, has a record-setting surface temperature of 600-700 degrees Kelvin, cooler than any known solitary brown dwarf. ...
...
Follow-up spectroscopic observations, critical for determining the brown dwarf's temperature and likely mass were obtained with the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. ...
The coolest-known star-like object beyond the solar system is giving astronomers a new look at the differences between massive planets and the smallest brown dwarfs.
This newly discovered object, called ULAS J0034-00 and located in the constellation of Cetus, has a record-setting surface temperature of 600-700 degrees Kelvin, cooler than any known solitary brown dwarf. ...
...
Follow-up spectroscopic observations, critical for determining the brown dwarf's temperature and likely mass were obtained with the Gemini South Telescope in Chile. ...