December 28, 2011 - Universe Today
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A gorgeous new look at the “Southern Cliff” in the Lagoon Nebula from the Gemini South Observatory.
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Monday, January 9, 2012
Our Picks of Best Space and Astronomy Images from 2011
December 28, 2011 - Universe Today
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A gorgeous new look at the “Southern Cliff” in the Lagoon Nebula from the Gemini South Observatory.
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Are We Trading Away the Education of Future Astronomers?
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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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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Gemini Observatory's Revolutionary Instrument Propels Astronomical Imaging to New Extremes
January 5, 2012 - SpaceRef
On December 16, 2011, a decade of hard work culminated at the Gemini South telescope in Chile, when a next-generation adaptive optics (AO) system produced its first ultra-sharp wide field image. The first target image showed a portion of a dense cluster of stars called NGC 288. This first light image reveals details at nearly the theoretical limit of Gemini's large 8-meter mirror over an unprecedented large patch of the night sky.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Supermassive black holes are largest ever discovered
The Guardian - December 5, 2011
Astronomers have located the two biggest black holes ever found, each one billions of times more massive than our sun. Observations of these supermassive cosmic objects will give scientists clues on how black holes and galaxies formed and evolved, especially in the earliest stages of the universe's existence.
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These two newly discovered supermassive black holes were found by analysing data from the Hubble Space Telescope and two of the biggest ground-based telescopes in the world, the Gemini North and Keck 2 facilities in Hawaii. The work, led by Douglas O Richstone of the department of astronomy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is published this week in Nature.
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Astronomers have located the two biggest black holes ever found, each one billions of times more massive than our sun. Observations of these supermassive cosmic objects will give scientists clues on how black holes and galaxies formed and evolved, especially in the earliest stages of the universe's existence.
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These two newly discovered supermassive black holes were found by analysing data from the Hubble Space Telescope and two of the biggest ground-based telescopes in the world, the Gemini North and Keck 2 facilities in Hawaii. The work, led by Douglas O Richstone of the department of astronomy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is published this week in Nature.
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Two Record-Breaking Black Hole Behemoths Spotted
Discovery News - December 6, 2011
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A team of astronomers, headed by Nicholas McConnell of the University of California, Berkeley, used data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck and Gemini observatories in Hawaii, and the McDonald Observatory in Texas to observe the stars orbiting around the central nuclei of both galaxies and calculated the mass of the black holes hidden in their cores.
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A team of astronomers, headed by Nicholas McConnell of the University of California, Berkeley, used data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck and Gemini observatories in Hawaii, and the McDonald Observatory in Texas to observe the stars orbiting around the central nuclei of both galaxies and calculated the mass of the black holes hidden in their cores.
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Two Behemoth Black Holes, the Largest Ever Discovered, Could Swallow Billions of Suns
Popular Science - December 5, 2011
Astronomers have measured the two most enormous supermassive black holes found so far, vast realms of titanic gravity large enough to swallow 10 of our solar systems. The black holes are much bigger than predicted, suggesting extra-large galaxies and their black holes grow and evolve differently than smaller ones.
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To weigh the black holes, Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma at the University of California-Berkeley used the Keck and Gemini observatories to measure the speed of stars moving around the black holes. The faster the stars were moving, the more gravity was needed to keep them in check, so the researchers used these velocities to calculate the black holes’ masses.
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Astronomers have measured the two most enormous supermassive black holes found so far, vast realms of titanic gravity large enough to swallow 10 of our solar systems. The black holes are much bigger than predicted, suggesting extra-large galaxies and their black holes grow and evolve differently than smaller ones.
...
To weigh the black holes, Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma at the University of California-Berkeley used the Keck and Gemini observatories to measure the speed of stars moving around the black holes. The faster the stars were moving, the more gravity was needed to keep them in check, so the researchers used these velocities to calculate the black holes’ masses.
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Monster black holes are most massive ever discovered
MSNBC - December 5, 2011
Scientists have discovered the largest black holes yet, and they're far bigger than researchers expected based on the galaxies in which they were found.
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The scientists used the Gemini and Keck observatories in Hawaii and the McDonald Observatory in Texas to monitor the velocities of stars orbiting around the centers of a pair of galaxies. These velocities reveal the strength of the gravitational pull on those stars, which in turn is linked with the masses of the black holes lurking there.
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Scientists have discovered the largest black holes yet, and they're far bigger than researchers expected based on the galaxies in which they were found.
...
The scientists used the Gemini and Keck observatories in Hawaii and the McDonald Observatory in Texas to monitor the velocities of stars orbiting around the centers of a pair of galaxies. These velocities reveal the strength of the gravitational pull on those stars, which in turn is linked with the masses of the black holes lurking there.
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