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11 Septiembre 2017: Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have discovered remarkable differences in the abundance of heavier elements, and the Lithium content, in a binary star pair. The research team speculates that this difference is caused by the engulfment of rocky planets early in the system’s evolution which enriched one of the stars. The work also hints at a formation scenario resulting in gas giant planets forming relatively far from their host star. A team of astronomers led by Carlos Saffe (Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y el Espacio, Argentina) observed the peculiar binary system called HAT-P-4, which includes a confirmed exoplanet orbiting one of the stars in the pair. The team used the 8-meter Gemini North Telescope and the Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph (GRACES) located at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to perform high-resolution spectroscopy of the two stars. These spectra revealed that the star …

2 Agosto 2017: Gemini confirms a new class of variable stars called Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators. They are significantly bluer than main sequence stars of the same luminosity demonstrating that they are relatively hot. The new pulsating stars vary with periods ranging from 20 to 40 minutes and amplitudes spanning 0.2 – 0.4 magnitude. These characteristics have not been observed in any known hot pulsators. Astronomers using the Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini South telescope have confirmed a new class of variable stars called Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators (BLAPs). Pawel Pietrukowicz (Warsaw University Observatory, Poland) led the study as part of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE), a variability sky survey conducted on the 1.3-meter Warsaw Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. Following up on the team’s discovery of 14 candidate stars the team used GMOS to obtain spectra for three of the candidates. The Gemini data confirmed these stars have helium-rich atmospheres and …

20 Julio 2017: Spectroscopy using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope in Chile verifies the extreme distance of one of the most distant superluminous supernovae ever studied. The following text is reproduced from the University of California Santa Cruz press release issued on July 21, 2017. The paper is available here. At a distance of 10 billion light years, a supernova detected by the Dark Energy Survey team is one of the most distant ever discovered and confirmed. SANTA CRUZ, CA--The death of a massive star in a distant galaxy 10 billion years ago created a rare superluminous supernova that astronomers say is one of the most distant ever discovered. The brilliant explosion, more than three times as bright as the 100 billion stars of our Milky Way galaxy combined, occurred about 3.5 billion years after the big bang at a period known as "cosmic high noon," when the rate …

27 Junio 2017: A team of Korean astronomers uses imaging from the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini North to characterize the rotation of active asteroid P/2010 A2’s largest fragment. The observations show that this faint and tiny (about the size of an American football field) asteroid, which underwent a mass ejection episode, is slowly rotating, indicative of an impact fragmentation rather a rotational breakup. In January 2017, the active and fragmented main belt asteroid P/2010 A2 (hereafter A2) made its closest approach to the Earth after its 2010 discovery, when it exhibited a mysterious comet-like dust trail. Prior to this year’s passage, the fragments had not yet been characterized, due to the extremely small size (~120 meters in diameter) and faintness of this object. A Korean team, led by Yoonyoung Kim of Seoul National University, received time on Gemini North to observe the object’s 2017 close passage when the fragments and associated …

6 Junio 2017: The first exoplanet discovered using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a young, cool object between 2–10 Jupiter masses. Identified as 51 Eridani b, new research indicates that its color is redder than similar brown dwarfs and might be due to clouds in its atmosphere. The research also hints that the formation of this exoplanet is likely due to the collapse of icy disk materials followed by the accretion of a thick gas atmosphere – much like the process astronomers think probably formed the gas giants in our Solar System. An international team of astronomers led by Abhijith Rajan (School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University) observed the exoplanet 51 Eri b using GPI spectroscopy and determined that the planet is redder than similar brown dwarfs seen elsewhere. "This might be due to presence of clouds, similar to young L-type planetary mass companions," said Rajan. "A possible reason …

11 Mayo 2017: Researchers combine images from Gemini South’s wide-field adaptive optics system (GeMS/GSAOI) with data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the proper motion of a distant cluster of stars. The observations, the first to use ground-based adaptive optics to precisely measure the motion of a cluster at such a large distance, allowed astronomers to set a lower limit for the mass of our Milky Way while providing clues about the cluster’s origin. A study of the proper motion (apparent motion in the sky due to an object's motion around our galaxy) of several substructures across the Milky Way’s halo is underway at Gemini South. As part of this study the team used Adaptive Optics (AO) at Gemini South, along with data from HST, to focus on a distant cluster called Pyxis. The work allowed the team to set a lower limit for the Milky Way’s mass of 950 million …

23 Marzo 2017: Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), a team of astronomers led by J. Chilcote (University of Toronto) found that the low mass stellar companion β Pictoris b is about 13 times more massive than Jupiter with a surface temperature of about 1720 K. While these parameters are in good agreement with earlier observations, they allow better comparisons with planetary evolution models. The Gemini data indicate that β Pictoris b best matches an exoplanet with an atmosphere like that of a low-surface gravity (L21) brown dwarf. Observations at the Gemini South telescope in Chile, using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), are refining our understanding of the β Pictoris system. The system contains the ~ 13 Jupiter mass companion β Pictoris b which is at the mass boundary sometimes used to distinguish between an exoplanet and a brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are objects that are not massive enough for sustained nuclear reactions. …

23 Febrero 2017: Using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South, a team led by Jay Farihi (University College London) found, for the first time, a dust and debris disk surrounding a binary star with a white dwarf as a substellar companion. To date, almost all of the known planetary systems which include a white dwarf are single stars. Using GMOS spectra Farihi et al. identified critical metal features in the spectrum as well as the higher Balmer lines. From the Gemini data the team estimated a surface temperature of 21,800 Kelvin (about 3.5 times hotter than the Sun) and a mass of ~0.4 solar masses for the white dwarf star and a mass of ~0.063 solar masses for the companion. The research is published in the February 27th online issue of Nature Astronomy. The following text is provided verbatim from the University College London press release: Evidence of planetary debris surrounding …

22 Febrero 2017: On February 17th Gemini reached another significant milestone with the celebration of the official handover to Base Facility Operations (BFO) at Gemini South. It took more than 2 years to complete this important step and involved all departments from Gemini South. About a year ago, Gemini North reached the same milestone, so now both Gemini telescopes operate routinely from the base facilities in La Serena, Chile and Hilo, Hawai‘i. Atsuko Nitta, the BFO Project lead adds, ”... although we’ve been operating fully remotely at Gemini South since mid-November of last year, we have now signed off on all BFO work packages and it’s official – both Gemini telescopes are remotely operational!” Atsuko also notes that this move has a profound impact on our nighttime operations (with no losses in data acquisition or on-sky observing efficiencies). The move to BFO also significantly improves our environmental stewardship mostly due to fewer trips …

7 Febrero 2017: Gemini follows up on candidate galaxies with fading active galactic nuclei (AGN) first identified thanks to the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. Researchers find that these galaxies show a significant reduction in ionizing photons within the last 20,000 years. Additionally, the gas clouds around these fading AGN are dominated by rotation, unlike those around radio-loud AGN, which are outflows coming from the nuclei. William C. Keel (University of Alabama) and his collaborators used Hα narrowband filters on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in conjunction with multi-object spectroscopy with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) integral-field unit (IFU) on the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea to observe a set of fading active galactic nuclei (AGN). These fading AGN, identified in the Galaxy Zoo project, appear to have experienced a significant reduction in luminosity within 20,000 years or less based on this research. This work focused on nine AGN which are accompanied by …

13 Diciembre 2016: Using spectroscopic data from the Gemini North telescope, researchers have probed a complex binary T Tauri system that hints at a hidden planetary body shrouded deep within a stellar environment at the late stages of formation. Nicole Arulanantham of Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut, now at University of Colorado Boulder) and colleagues used the Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (GNIRS) on the Gemini North telescope to target the binary T Tauri system V582 Mon (KH 15D) — two K-type stars in a circumbinary ring that is inclined to the binary’s orbit. The team obtained data at three different orientations of the system’s two young stars, allowing them to study several key aspects of this complicated system — including characterising the photosphere and magnetosphere of the companion star (B), exploring a jet of material associated with a bipolar outflow, and probing the scattering properties of its circumbinary ring. The research uncovered an excess of …

26 Octubre 2016: Summary: A team using the Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS) with the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) have, for the first time, measured the stellar masses relative to the physical sizes of several galaxies in a cluster at a lookback time of about 5 billion years. The data suggest that the relationship between stellar mass and size has a constant slope over time. This leads to the conclusion that the most likely evolutionary course for the larger (more expansive) galaxies we see in the nearby Universe is either from the combination of smaller galaxies and/or outflows from black holes at galactic cores. During the past 20 years astronomers have developed a picture for the evolution of the size and structure of galaxies – from the formation of the first galaxies in the early Universe, to what we see today. One of the most important discoveries is that the …

20 Octubre 2016: Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active world in our Solar System. Now, the longest series of frequent high-resolution tracking of Io’s thermal emission is providing insights on Io’s volcanoes thanks to a powerful joint observation program between the Gemini North telescope (with NIRI+Altair instrument) and the W.M. Keck Observatory. The observations use advanced adaptive optics technology to remove distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere and provide remarkably sharp imaging of Io’s volcanic activity over a period of 29 months. The results show patterns in the volcanic activity over time and location on the satellite, but also present many new questions. Compellingly, some of the eruptions appeared to progress across the surface over time, as if one somehow triggered another 500 kilometers away. According to University of California Berkeley (UCB) Graduate Student Katherine de Kleer, "While it stretches the imagination to devise a mechanism that could operate over distances …

20 Septiembre 2016: Astronomers studying a mysterious phenomenon known as Lyman-alpha blobs (LABs) have discovered several of these high-energy objects in galaxies that are much closer than previously known. The discovery is significant because these closer specimens are much easier to study, and because they live at a time when the Universe was much older and more mature, allowing astronomers to study their evolution with cosmic time. The observations are of a rare type of relatively nearby galaxy, engulfed in large clouds of ionized gas as a result of violent, energetic activity in their cores. These closer specimens were first described in 2013, catching the astronomers’ attention with their luminosities and sizes. Data taken with the Gemini Observatory quickly revealed that these galaxies are unparalleled by any other objects known in the nearby Universe. To understand their nature and formation, observations with the Chandra X-ray observatory, the GALEX UV satellite, and the mid-infrared …

16 Agosto 2016: Gemini explores the possibility of short-lived optical emission (visible light) from the violent events that produce gravitational waves. Even before the announcement of the first gravitational wave detection by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in February of this year, theorists wondered if the extreme energy required to produce strong gravitational waves might also produce a detectable optical flash. Currently the most widely accepted explanation for gravitational wave events is the collision of black holes. The impact would send gravitational waves rippling through space at the speed of light. Thanks to LIGO the existence of gravitational waves is now confirmed, but unknown is the extent to which they might be accompanied by the emission of optical light or radiation at higher energies such as x-ray or gamma-rays. A recent study headed by Stephen Smartt at Queen’s University in Belfast and Ken Chambers from University of Hawai‘i could help answer this …

19 Junio 2016: View CFHT release. The novel collaboration between the Gemini Observatory and Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT) called GRACES (Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDOnS Spectrograph), helped to characterize a “hot Jupiter” around the T-Tauri star V830 Tau. The work appears in the current advanced online issue of the journal Nature. GRACES uses an innovative 270-meter fiber cable to transport light from the Gemini 8-meter telescope to the ESPaDOnS Spectrograph at CFHT. The system began operating in late 2015 and now is a popular option allowing Gemini and CFHT users to perform high-resolution optical spectroscopy with Gemini North’s larger mirror. The Nature paper is available online (subscription required) and is summarized in the press release from Observatoire Midi Pyrenees in Toulouse, France and CFHT that follows (release is reproduced verbatim from original): Newborn Giant Planet Grazes its Sun For the last 20 years the giant planets known as hot Jupiters have presented astronomers …

24 Mayo 2016: Using the Gemini Planet Imager astronomers have successfully monitored the motion of a planet around the forming exoplanet system orbiting the star HD 95086 and suggest that more unseen planets are present. The large international team, led by Julien Rameau, a postdoctoral researcher at the Université de Montréal (Canada), used the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at the Gemini South telescope in Chile to observe the system over a period from 2013 until early this year. “During this short time we directly imaged the exoplanet, known as HD 95086 b, a 4-5 Jupiter mass planet, and its motion,” says Rameau. With these data, Rameau and his team determined that this planet is orbiting nearly face-on from our perspective, at about 60 astronomical units or twice the distance between our Sun and Neptune, and it has a low eccentricity, or nearly circular, orbit. Rameau adds, “This extremely high-resolution imaging with GPI was …

11 Mayo 2016: Before low-medium mass stars become white dwarfs they pulsate wildly and eventually spew their outer layers into space – often forming beautiful planetary nebulae. The same stars are predicted to continue pulsating during their transformation to a white dwarf, if they have helium in their atmospheres. A team from the University of Oklahoma used Gemini North, in conjunction with the 1.2-meter FLWO telescope in Arizona, to observe a much-sought-after link between these pulsations and helium in the star’s atmospheres. The researchers studied a trio of low mass white dwarf precursors, each with a mass less than one-third the mass of our Sun, and with pulsations ranging from approximately 5-10 minutes. According to team leader Dr. Alexandros Gianninas these GMOS-N observations appear to confirm the predictions of models based on non-adiabatic pulsation theory that predict the helium connection. “The nature of the observed pulsations matches almost perfectly with the predictions of …

5 Abril 2016: Using the FLAMINGOS-2 spectrometer/imager at Gemini South, astronomers have characterized an especially young, free-floating analogue to Jupiter in our neighborhood (92 light years away). The discovery and Gemini follow-up is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (preprint on astro-ph) and described in the Western University press release that follows. Western-led astronomy team discovers Jupiter analogue among young stars A team of astronomers from Western University's Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) and the Carnegie Institute of Washington has discovered one of the youngest and brightest free-floating, planet-like objects within relatively close proximity to the Sun. At an age of only 10 million years, which means its practically a baby in space time, the object identified as 2MASS J1119–1137 is between four and eight times the mass of Jupiter. Using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and other ground-based telescopes, 2MASS J1119–1137 was identified by its unique light …

22 Marzo 2016: During the week of March 7-11, 83 observatory professionals consisting of astronomers, engineers, astronomy educators, and other observatory staff brought their passion for science into hundreds of local Hawai'i Island classrooms as a part of Gemini Observatoryʻs flagship annual outreach program, Journey Through the Universe (aka Journey). Thanks to combined efforts, we were able to reach about 7980 students in both the Hilo-Waiākea district (7250 students) and Honoka‘a Schools (730 students with coordination by the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope), and several hundred more in various community events, for a total reach of over 8550 students, families, and community members. "STEM initiatives like the Journey program are crucial to developing studentsʻ knowledge and interest about the universe," said Brad Bennett, the Hawai‘i Department of Education (DOE) Hilo-Waiākea complex area superintendent. "We are proud of the partnership that has been established with our scientific community and look forward to working together in the future …