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17 Noviembre 2005: Coming up in January, Saturn will be at opposition, appearing at its largest in the skies of Earth. This image of Saturn and its moon Titan (lower right) was taken during the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program, using a set of stacked images from a Web cam on the Kitt Peak Visitor Center 20-inch telescope.

28 Octubre 2005: The recent addition of a field lens in the Altair adaptive optics system has resulted in a significant improvement in near-infrared imaging capabilities at Gemini North. Altair with the field lens will begin regular science use in semester 2006A. Adaptive Optics - Straightening Bent Starlight Adaptive optics (AO) technology uses deformable mirrors to remove distortions to starlight caused by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere. Using this technology, astronomers can improve near-infrared images to rival the resolution of space-based observations. The technology is rapidly evolving and technologies such as laser guide stars and 3-dimensional turbulence mapping (multi-conjugate AO) are making the technology even more powerful. The lens was installed based on recent turbulence monitoring that demonstrated that about 60% of the turbulence on Mauna Kea occurs close to the ground. Altair was originally designed based on the assumption of a dominant turbulence layer at 6.5 kilometers. According to Gemini’s Associate Project Scientist …

19 Octubre 2005: In this giant star-forming region, also called 30 Doradus, energy from hot, young stars creates dramatic voids and filaments in the surrounding gas. The nebula is located 160,000 light-years distant in the southern constellation Dorado, within the galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. This image was taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, as part of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (MCELS) project.

11 Octubre 2005: A team of astronomers including NOAO scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to identify the source of a mysterious blue light surrounding a supermassive black hole in our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The strange light has puzzled astronomers for more than a decade. Infrared image of the Andromeda Galaxy taken with the Mayall 4-meter telescope at KPNO.

5 Octubre 2005: Based on Press Release from the University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy Astronomers using the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea have found the source of short flashes of gamma rays from outer space: a collision of two dead stars. For 35 years, astronomers have been fascinated by mysterious flashes of high-energy radiation from apparently random places in the sky. These events, known as gamma-ray bursts, were first discovered by U.S. military satellites designed to monitor nuclear tests in space. A typical burst lasts less than a few seconds, which makes them notoriously difficult to catch. In fact, until recently astronomers had been uncertain whether the bursts were coming from the solar system, the Milky Way, or distant galaxies. Because of this, research on the short bursts floundered for decades. However on July 9, 2005, Paul Price of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and Kathy Roth …

27 Septiembre 2005: Over the course of 14 dark nights at Kitt Peak National Observatory, more than 70 images of the Virgo galaxy cluster were taken by the Case Western Reserve University’s 24-inch Burrell Schmidt telescope. Advanced image processing techniques were used to combine the individual images into a single image capable of directly revealing for the first time a vast, complex web of intracluster starlight between the galaxies.

20 Septiembre 2005: With system and science verification complete, the Gemini Bench-mounted High-Resolution Spectrograph (bHROS) is available for science programs in 2006A. Proposals are due September 30, 2005. BHROS: a new and unique high-resolution optical spectrograph on Gemini South is the highest resolution optical (400-1000 nm) echelle spectrograph optimized for use on an 8-meter telescope. It achieves efficiencies of 13-18% (depending upon fiber mode with median seeing), with well-sampled spectra at a spectral resolution of R=150,000. Located within the thermally stable pier of the Gemini South telescope, bHROS is fiber-fed through the core of the telescope from the cassegrain focus. It is anticipated that bHROS will be well-suited for studies that include: High precision abundance analysis including determination of the 6Li/7Li isotopic ratio, abundances in ultra metal-poor stars, ISM, etc. Analysis of absorption line profiles High-precision radial velocity measurements (planet searches etc.)

15 Septiembre 2005: Fulfilling one of its central operational goals in a big way, the SOuthern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachón in Chile made the first observations of the glowing remains of the most distant explosion ever seen in the Universe. The international telescope then provided the first accurate measurement of just how incredibly far away this explosion appears to be.

6 Septiembre 2005: A unique wide-field view of the Orion Nebula in the mid-infrared, from Gemini South, is featured on the cover of the September 2005 NOAO/NSO Newsletter. This image reveals new details about the preferred locations and inferred lifespans of newborn planetary systems in the nebula. Other topics in the Newsletter include submissions to the NSF Senior Review, new partnership opportunities, and semester 2006A proposal information.

30 Agosto 2005: This image of galaxy cluster Abell 3266 was taken using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) instrument on the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachón, Chile, in July 2005. The image was obtained by the NOAO Fundamental Plane Survey team as part of follow-up observations in support of their spectroscopic data from Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

11 Agosto 2005: Starlight illuminates wispy clouds of dust above the star Antares in this image mosaic from the Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program. Globular cluster M4 can be seen to the right of the bright star.

27 Julio 2005: High school teachers making observations with the research telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory as part of the Teacher Leaders in Research Based Science Education (TLRBSE) workshop obtained some of the earliest multicolor imaging and spectra of a newly exploded massive star in a nearby galaxy.

18 Julio 2005: This image shows a deep Hydrogen-alpha image of the brightest X-ray source in the sky, NGC 1275, taken by the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. The filaments emanating from this galaxy likely are the result of an interaction between the black hole in the center of the galaxy and the intracluster medium surrounding it.

7 Julio 2005: On the night of the Deep Impact event, many hundreds of images were taken of comet Tempel 1 at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center Observatory. In the almost two hours of time that elapsed during that imaging, the comet's position changed against the background stars. When all of the images of this motion are added together, the resulting streak of light is shown in the image above. Starting from the left, the comet was its natural brightness. The streak brightens significantly in the middle, immediately after impact of the probe! A full size version of the above image and more are available on our Deep Impact page.

7 Julio 2005: The Gemini community has embarked on a broad, multi-faceted search for planets around other stars. The prospect of answering the age-old question of how common solar systems like our own are in the universe captured the imaginations of astronomers who attended the June 2003 Aspen meeting, where new capabilities for the Gemini telescopes were imagined. In preparation for the next generation of planet-finding instruments, Gemini Observatory is actively looking for sub-stellar mass companions using the existing Adaptive Optics (AO) system Altair on Gemini North, and building the specialized near-infrared coronagraph (NICI) with its own AO system for Gemini South. Proposing for the NICI Planet Search Campaign We request that astronomers interested in participating in the NICI Planet Search Campaign send a short letter of interest to Joe Jensen, including the following details: name and institution; names and affiliations of other possible team members with whom you plan to or would …

5 Julio 2005: The blinking image above are two images of Tempel 1 about 20 minutes before and after the Deep Impact probe impacted the comet. These images of were taken using the Kitt Peak Visitor Center’s 20in Ritchey-Chretien telescope (RCOS) and an SBIG ST10XME CCD camera. A full size version of the above animation as well as a time-lapse animation are available on our Deep Impact page.

2 Julio 2005: The Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea successfully captured the dramatic fireworks display produced by the collision of NASA's Deep Impact probe with Comet 9P/Tempel 1. Researchers in two control rooms on Hawaii’s Big Island (on Mauna Kea and in Hilo) were able to keep enough composure amid an almost giddy excitement to perform a preliminary analysis of the data. They concluded from the mid-infrared spectroscopic observations that there was strong evidence for silicates or rocky material exposed by the impact. Little doubt remains that the unprecedented quality of the Gemini data will keep astronomers busy for years. “The properties of the mid-infrared light were completely transformed after impact,” said David Harker of the University of San Diego, co-investigator for the research team. “In addition to brightening by a factor of about 4, the characteristics of the mid-infrared light was like a chameleon and within five minutes of the collision …

1 Julio 2005: How can you watch the planned first-of-its-kind collision between a comet and a spacecraft from Earth this weekend, even if your night skies don’t allow a direct view? The Visitor Center at Kitt Peak National Observatory plans to offer a live feed of the encounter between NASA’s Deep Impact mission and Comet Tempel 1 starting this Sunday night (local time), running about an hour before the planned 10:52 p.m. PDT impact though about 45 minutes afterward. The feed will consist of still images of the distant comet, and a frequently updated movie assembled from the individual frames, similar to the animation above (imaged on the night of June 14-15, 2005).

28 Junio 2005: Imaging by Gemini North's Michelle mid-infrared imager/spectrograph has allowed an international team of researchers to isolate and characterize the dusty remains of the supernova remnant SN 2002hh some 20 million light-years away. Led by UK astronomer Michael Barlow (University College London), the team imaged SN 2002hh in the relatively nearby galaxy NGC 6946 to study the dust expelled (and/or created) during the supernova explosion. Earlier Spitzer Space Telescope observations identified the dust excess from the supernova as part of the Survey for Evolution of Emission from Dust in Supernovae (SEEDS) project using Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) Legacy data set. However, due to a lack of spatial resolution, these observations failed to confirm the identity of Source 1 (see Figure 1) as the supernova. The new Gemini results provided an approximately ten-fold increase in resolution at 11.2 and 18.5 microns and were able to clearly isolate the supernova source …

16 Junio 2005: This image of a faint optical remnant of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) 050607 was obtained by James Rhoads (Space Telescope Science Institute) using the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak in the early morning hours of June 7, 2005. Rhoads suspended his science program and got “on source” on the GRB just 10 minutes after an alert was issued on the burst being detected by NASA’s Swift satellite.