Press Releases: Gemini Observatory

8 March 2013: A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun, according to a paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The duo is the closest star system discovered since 1916. The discovery was made by Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and a researcher in Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds.

8 January 2013: A new image released today reveals how Gemini Observatory's most advanced adaptive optics (AO) system will help astronomers study the universe with an unprecedented level of clarity and detail by removing distortions due to the Earth’s atmosphere. The photo, featuring an area on the outskirts of the famous Orion Nebula, illustrates the instrument's significant advancements over previous-generation AO systems.

21 December 2012: Potential asteroid collision in 2040 is a non-threat based on new Gemini Observatory data.

17 October 2012: When the lamp is shattered,
The light in the dust lies dead.
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow's glory is shed.

25 September 2012: Despite being infamously demoted from its status as a major planet, Pluto (and its largest companion Charon) recently posed as a surrogate extrasolar planetary system to help astronomers produce exceptionally high-resolution images with the Gemini North 8-meter telescope. Using a method called reconstructive speckle imaging, the researchers took the sharpest ground-based snapshots ever obtained of Pluto and Charon in visible light, which hint at the exoplanet verification power of a large state-of-the-art telescope when combined with speckle imaging techniques. The data also verified and refined previous orbital characteristics for Pluto and Charon while revealing the pair’s precise diameters.

29 August 2012: Nature hath no fury like a dying star – and astronomers couldn’t be happier…

13 August 2012: Until now, evidence for what astronomers suspect happens at the cores of the largest galaxy clusters has been uncomfortably scarce. Theory predicts that cooling flows of gas should sink toward the cluster’s center, sparking extreme star formation there, but so far – nada, zilch, not-so-much.

29 June 2012: That surprise you feel when your favorite store turns off its lights, locks up its doors, and suddenly, for no apparent reason, goes out of business? That's just how astronomers felt recently when a dusty disk of rocky debris around a nearby star abruptly shut down and by all appearances went out of business.

14 May 2012: A new Legacy Image from the Gemini Observatory reveals the remarkable complexity of the planetary nebula Sharpless 2-71 (Sh 2-71). Embroiled in a bit of controversy over its “birth parents” the nebula likely resulted from interactions between a pair of two old and dying stars. Legacy images like this one share the stunning beauty of the universe as revealed by the twin 8-meter Gemini telescopes in Hawai‘i and Chile.

24 April 2012: In mid-July 2012, astronomers from around the world will converge in San Francisco, California to discuss recent and future science from the Gemini Observatory. From direct imaging of exoplanets, to the most massive black holes ever measured, the meeting’s program features a wide-range of topics that are summarized on the conference’s webpage (above).

3 April 2012: Learn how Gemini is leading the way in developing the next generation of adaptive optics to power the new Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS).

23 March 2012: Dr. William Smith, President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc. (AURA), announced today the selection of Dr. Markus Kissler-Patig as the new Director of the Gemini Observatory.

6 January 2012: Gemini’s next-generation adaptive optics system produces highest-resolution with largest field-of-view ever captured from the ground using laser guide star technology.

1 December 2011: Observations with the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveal evidence for what astronomers are calling the largest black holes ever measured in our nearby cosmological neighborhood. This result is crucial in explaining the long-standing mystery of where the largest black holes are hiding in our present-day universe.

2 November 2011: Join in the celebration of Gemini Observatory’s one-thousandth scientific paper by becoming a friend of Gemini on Facebook. There, you can follow along, through the end of 2011, as some of the top science results (and dozens of stunning images) from the twin 8-meter telescopes are featured each week in “Gemini Gems.”

25 July 2011: In a partnership between amateur and professional astronomers, the recent discovery of a dying star’s last gasps could help resolve a decades-old debate among astronomers. That is, are stellar companions key to the formation and structure of planetary nebulae?

29 June 2011: An international team of astronomers announced today the discovery of the most distant known supermassive black hole, seen as a luminous quasar [1] caused by gas falling into the black hole.

25 May 2011: In a game of cosmological one-upmanship, what is likely the most distant gamma ray burst (GRB) ever detected could be presenting humanity with a glimpse back to within about half a billion years of the Big Bang. "Like any finding of this sort there are uncertainties,” said the study's principal investigator Antonino Cucchiara. “However, if I were in Vegas, I would never bet against the odds that this is the most distant GRB ever seen and we estimate that there is even a 23% chance that it is the most distant object ever observed in the universe."

4 May 2011: An all-time favorite of skywatchers on both hemispheres, the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, or M8) is among the most striking examples of a stellar nursery in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy. Visible in small telescopes and binoculars its fuzzy glow reveals the type of chaotic environment where new stars are born.

29 March 2011: A New Gemini Podcast, In October of 2010, the Gemini South primary mirror received a shiny new coating of protected silver. A new two-part podcast allows you to experience an insider's view of this exciting process, one that few outside of Gemini have ever witnessed. Navigate to the Podcast by clicking on the video clip below.