Press Releases 2009

21 Diciembre 2009: Astronomers have reported new observations of a remarkable binary star population in a well-known star cluster.

30 Noviembre 2009: Using NEWFIRM on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, Veilleux, Rupke and Swaters have reported the discovery of warm H2 gas in the prototypical galactic wind of M82. They report filaments extending above and below the disk, roughly coincident with the location of the galactic wind in this galaxy.

15 Octubre 2009: Informally known as the "Soap Bubble Nebula", this planetary nebula (officially known as PN G75.5+1.7) was discovered by amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich on July 6th, 2008. It was noted and reported by Keith Quattrocchi and Mel Helm on July 17th, 2008.

5 Octubre 2009: The White House announced this weekend that President Obama will host a “Star Party” on the White House lawn Wednesday evening.

12 Agosto 2009: While far from a tropical rain forest, the equatorial region of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has recently displayed tantalizing evidence that the parched, dry, ultra-frigid desert can support large-scale storms.

5 Agosto 2009: Looking almost 11 billion years into the past, astronomers have measured the motions of stars for the first time in a very distant galaxy and clocked speeds upwards of one million miles per hour (about 1.6 million kilometers per hour), about twice the speed of our Sun through the Milky Way.

23 Julio 2009: Jupiter is sporting a glowing bruise after getting unexpectedly whacked by a small solar system object, according to astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i. A spectacular new mid-infrared image is available for download on this page.

30 Abril 2009: The Gemini Observatory has released the first color image of what astronomers are calling the most distant object ever seen in the universe. The object is what is known as a Gamma-ray burst (GRB) which are the most energetic single events known in the universe.

30 Abril 2009: The global citizen-science campaign GLOBE at Night 2009 recorded 80 percent more observations of the world’s dark skies than the program’s previous record—including double the number of digital measurements—thanks in large part to active participation and publicity from the network of 140 countries currently celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009).

1 Abril 2009: On the nights of April 2-3 (3-4 UT) both Gemini telescopes participated in the “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” live, around the world control room webcast. Gemini was honored to be the first control room visit for the event when at 11:00 pm (HST) on April 2nd (9:00 am UT on April 3rd) Gemini presented a new video introduction to Gemini followed by a live visit to the Gemini North control room on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea hosted by Gemini’s Scott Fisher. Nineteen hours later, Gemini South participated in the event at Midnight (Chile time) on the night of April 3-4 (4:00 am UT on April 4th) when Gemini South astronomer Etienne Artigau hosted a visit to the Gemini South control room in Chile.

4 Marzo 2009: Finding a needle in a haystack might be easy compared to finding two very similar black holes closely orbiting each other in a distant galaxy.