Announcements

18 May 2006: In recent weeks the Gemini Science Archive (GSA) has passed three significant milestones and attained new levels of use unforeseen in the early days of its development. In this article, we have decided to reflect on the origins of the GSA, its current status in service to the Gemini community, and our plans for its future expansion into the world of the Virtual Observatory (VO). The first release of the GSA for public use, version 1.0, was in September 2004. At that time we expected its main function to be as a complex data repository, albeit one in which considerable “metadata” was stored along with the observation data. (Metadata is typically information that is itself not of direct scientific importance, but aids in the characterization of the science data. A good example would be data describing weather conditions during an observation run.) We have come a long way in the …

17 May 2006: A new educational outreach program at Gemini Observatory is pairing local students with astronomers to do cutting-edge astronomy with an 8-meter telescope. The first observations from this program were executed early on the morning of May 13 when three Hilo High School students observed the disintegrating comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, and observed the comet in both visible and infrared light. The observations show the classic “head and tail” of the comet as well as multiple pieces of the comet’s body breaking off. “As a pilot project we are beyond thrilled that this worked as well as it did,” said Gemini’s Head of Science, Dr. Jean-René Roy. “These students are extremely engaged in the process. I expect we’ll see them back at Gemini someday as professional astronomers!” Hilo High School student Nicholas Higa and classmates Keane Nakatsu and Ken Oyadomari began working with Gemini astronomer Scott Fisher in March, 2006 when it …

17 May 2006: Cerro Pachón, an 8,800-foot (2,682-meter) mountain peak in northern Chile, has been selected as the site for the proposed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The mountain is already home to the Gemini South telescope and the SOAR telescope. LSST Press Release

12 May 2006: The NOAO Long Range Plan for 2006-2010 has been published (login required). Highlights include our continued involvement in the development of large telescopes (LSST and GSMT), as well as creating ways to access the large amount of data that will be generated (DPP and NVO).

4 May 2006: The giant planet is in opposition this month, and the Kitt Peak Visitor Center is highlighting this chance to see it large in the night sky with an event called "Just Look at Jupiter!" On Saturday, May 20, Adam Showman of the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab will give a presentation, followed by observations of Jupiter (and other deep space objects) with the 20-inch RC telescope in the Visitor Center observatory.

21 April 2006: A new Gemini Observatory image of NGC 246, nicknamed the "Skull Nebula," shows what can happen as the outer atmosphere of a fast-moving, dying star similar in composition to the Sun (in several billion years) pushes through its local cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

20 April 2006: Astronomers traditionally attribute mid-infrared emission from young newly-forming stars to circumstellar disks. However, new observations using the Thermal-Region Camera and Spectrograph (T-ReCS) on Gemini South reveal that in at least one case the mid-infrared emission from a young stellar source is associated with a spectacular outflow. In a paper appeared in the May 1, 2006 Astrophysical Journal Letters, Gemini astronomer James De Buizer, offers a caution that mid-infrared emission from young stellar objects can be explained by processes other than circumstellar disks. The Gemini observations were focused on a young massive star in the G35.20-0.74 region in the outskirts of the Serpens constellation 7500 light years away. This young star has a known collimated outflow, which was first detected from its radio emission (white contours in Figure 2b). The new observations reveal a monopolar jet-like feature in the mid-infrared (Figure 2a). It is argued that this is thermal continuum emission …

13 April 2006: New high-resolution measurements of the famous massive star Eta Carinae using the NOAO-built Phoenix infrared spectrograph on Gemini South show that the star's bipolar nebula is the result of an aspherical explosion during its mid-19th century outburst, as opposed to the nebula being “pinched” by surrounding material.

12 April 2006: Eta Carinae The giant variable star Eta Carinae is one of the most remarkable stars in the southern sky. It lies just under 8,000 light-years away and, at about 100 times the mass of our Sun, is one of the most massive stars known. Eta Carinae is about five million times brighter than the Sun and is the brightest object outside of the solar system in the mid-infrared at 10-20 microns. It radiates most of its luminosity in the infrared part of the spectrum. First catalogued by the English astronomer Edmond Halley in 1677, Eta Carinae's brightness has evolved dramatically throughout recent history. The most spectacular events took place during the nineteenth century, when it outshone all bright stars except Sirius. It underwent a great eruption in the mid-19th century and ejected many solar masses of gas and dust. We now observe this mass loss as a spectacular bipolar nebula …

4 April 2006: This image is a wide-field view of the star-forming region NGC 281 taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter at Kitt Peak National Observatory. It is featured as the ground based image for this Hubble Heritage Image Release.

28 March 2006: Active observing ends on March 31, but dark-sky data will be accepted at the GLOBE at Night program for another week. NOAO is a major co-sponsor of this international public outreach activity, which has involved more than 12,200 people and 3,600 observations (and counting) from across the world.

21 March 2006: Astronomers from the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA) used Gemini North to make "crucial" observations of an object designated as Asteroid 118401. The Gemini imaging conclusively showed that the body is ejecting dust like a comet, according to an IfA press release based on a paper in the March 23rd issue of Science Express. University of Hawaii graduate student Henry Hsieh and Professor David Jewitt, who led the research, suggest that asteroids and comets are much more closely related than previously thought. The fact that there may be a class of icy bodies like comets that live primarily in the main asteroid belt strongly supports the idea that these objects could be a major source of Earth's present-day water. The Gemini observations were made using the GMOS imager on the night of November 26, 2005. The Gemini observations complement other observations made by the ESO 1.0-meter, UH 2.2-meter …

16 March 2006: A team of astronomers led by Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University has used the Gemini South telescope and NOAO’s high-resolution infrared spectrograph Phoenix to uncover the dynamics of a pair of eclipsing brown dwarfs. The observations enabled the team to directly weigh and measure the brown dwarfs (often called “failed stars” for their intermediate mass between planets and stars). The Gemini data complemented data the team gathered from Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo.

15 March 2006: A U.S.-led team of astronomers, led by Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University, has used Gemini South's high-resolution infrared spectrograph PHOENIX to uncover the dynamics of the eclipsing brown dwarf pair 2MASS J0532184-0546085. The observations of the pair, in the Orion Nebula, complemented data from the 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak and the 0.9-meter, 1.0-meter and 1.3-meter telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The findings show that the radii of the failed stars are quite large (as models predict), but that the least massive of the pair is hotter than the larger partner. The temperature observations are contrary to expectations. The Gemini data consists of a suite of high-resolution spectra made from eight observations between December 2002 and January 2003. This allowed the team to sample the velocities of the two objects throughout their entire orbital phase. This is the first direct, accurate measurements of the physical properties of young …

10 March 2006: Gemini Observatory has worked since its inception to become a unique facility offering northern and southern sky coverage with telescopes fully optimized for mid-infrared (7-25 micron) observing. MICHELLE, the Gemini North mid-infrared imager and spectrometer, was first on the scene, initially operating only in a purely imaging mode for the scientific community in semester 2003B. During that same time, commissioning also began for T-ReCS (the Thermal-Region Camera and Spectrograph) at Gemini South. Since 2003B, Gemini staff members have made tremendous progress in enhancing and improving the mid-infrared performance of our telescopes and instruments. Now, more than ever, Gemini is poised to make great strides in understanding our mid-infrared universe. Gemini Mid-Infrared Capabilities are Better than Ever Among the improvements and enhancements, the 2006A semester marks the commissioning of the imaging polarimetry mode of MICHELLE. Our mid-infrared instruments are now fully operational for the upcoming 2006B semester and performing better than …

6 March 2006: The new NOAO/NSO Newsletter includes articles on a variety of science results from the Magellanic Clouds, the commissioning of the NIFS spectrograph at Gemini North, the new NOAO NVO Portal, the SOAR telescope, and the future of imaging at WIYN.

2 March 2006: A new era in astronomy education and outreach was ushered in with the opening of the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i in Hilo, Hawai‘i. The unique 40,000-square-foot facility blends Hawaiian culture with the science of astronomy, using interactive exhibits, multi-media theaters and a state-of-the-art planetarium. The $28 million (U.S.) center was funded primarily through NASA and is located directly across from Gemini’s Hilo Base Facility on the University of Hawaii Hilo - Science and Technology Park. Gemini has been participating in the development of the center on many levels, from supplying content advisors to making the loan of our unused summit console for use in a Gemini-developed Virtual Observatory exhibit. Discussions are well underway to establish multiple partnerships with the center to leverage with Gemini’s local outreach and education programming. As part of the nine-day public preview events in mid-February, a fundraising dinner paid tribute to Senator Daniel K. Inouye …

24 February 2006: The NOAO Data Products Program has unveiled a new Web-based tool to discover, access, and analyze astronomical imaging data from public archives. This effort is part of a larger program to provide the community with simple, consistent, astronomer-friendly interfaces to the tools and resources of the National Virtual Observatory (NVO).

16 February 2006: Using Gemini observations of globular clusters in NGC 3379 (M105), a team led by PhD student Michael Pierce and Prof. Duncan Forbes of Swinburne University in Australia, have found evidence for normal quantities of dark matter in the galaxy’s dark halo. This is contrary to previous observations of planetary nebulae that indicated a paucity of dark matter in the galaxy. The observations of 22 globular clusters in the Leo Group elliptical galaxy were made using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini North in early 2003. The data were obtained in the GMOS multi-slit mode with exposures of 10 hours on-source at a spectral resolution of FWHM ~4Å over an effective wavelength range of 3800Å-6660Å. The final spectra have a signal-to-noise ratio of 18-58/Å at 5000 Å. The spectroscopic data allowed the team to derive ages, metallicities and α-element abundance ratios for the sample of globular clusters. All of the …

8 February 2006: This artist concept illustrates new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of an unusual class of interacting binary stars that emit excess amounts of infrared radiation, suggesting that these odd objects are surrounded by large disks of cool dust. The results were produced by one of six teams of professional astronomers and high school teachers participating in a unique program co-sponsored by the Spitzer Science Center and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). NOAO Press Release 06-04