Press Releases: NOAO

18 Julio 2011: Astronomers from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and their collaborators have found that hundreds of the stars found in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) were stolen from another nearby galaxy – the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are both neighbor galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy and easily visible to the unaided eye from the southern hemisphere.

17 Marzo 2011: Poorly-aimed and unshielded outdoor lights are more than an annoyance. They waste more than $2 billion (17 billion kilowatt-hours) of energy in the United States each year. Poorly shielded roadway lights are also a safety and glare hazard, especially for older citizens. Under an unpolluted sky we ought to see more than 2000 stars, yet we see less than a hundred from many cities. The Milky Way is unknown to most city dwellers.

27 Octubre 2010: Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have detected arrangements of carbon atoms known as buckyballs outside of the Milky Way galaxy for the first time. Sir Harry Kroto of Florida State University, who won a Nobel Prize for discovering buckyballs, says life may even owe its existence to the atom “cages” which resemble soccer balls. The discovery of buckyballs in the Small Magellanic Cloud suggests that these complex molecules may be present around many stars where it was predicted they would be unlikely to form. Extensive follow-up studies using ground-based telescopes will be used to establish the conditions helpful for the formation of buckyballs in our galaxy and other galaxies.

21 Septiembre 2010: New measurements of the Kitt Peak National Observatory night sky brightness by Lowell Observatory astronomers show that, despite Tucson’s rapid growth, the sky brightness has remained remarkably constant over the past 20 years. The measurements suggest that the strengthened lighting ordinances adopted by Tucson and surrounding Pima County have been effective in suppressing the sky glow caused by outdoor lighting.

3 Marzo 2010: With half of the world’s population now living in cities, many urban dwellers have never experienced—and maybe never will—the wonderment of pristinely dark skies. This loss, caused by light pollution, is a concern on many other fronts as well: safety, energy conservation, cost, health, and effects on wildlife. Yet, even though light pollution is a serious and growing global concern, it’s one of the easiest environmental problems that you can address on local levels.

22 Febrero 2010: In one of the nearest giant clusters of galaxies, Abell 3627, astronomers have reported finding a galaxy with two distinct tails of gas. Of particular significance, there are unambiguous signs of current star formation in this gas tail, providing the first evidence that star formation can actively take place in the cold intergalactic medium. These results challenge ideas based on the current computer simulations and modeling.

15 Febrero 2010: The groundbreaking for the viewpoint Vista Sidney Wolff took place on February 1, 2010. The vista is on the road to the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile and has a beautiful view of the SOAR and Gemini telescopes and also of the site selected for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The construction of the vista point is a tribute to Dr. Sidney C. Wolff’s leadership in enabling the construction of these world-class facilities on Cerro Pachón high in the Andes mountains. Dr. Wolff served as President of the SOAR Board and first Director of the Gemini Observatory. She is currently President of the LSST Corporation.

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.

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).

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.

8 Diciembre 2008: The memorial service will be held at 2:30 PM on Saturday, Jan. 24, in the Frangipani Room at the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington. Friends and colleagues who wish to send thoughts to be shared at the memorial service should send them to Caty Pilachowski.

7 Octubre 2008: A deep new image of the Virgo cluster has revealed monumental tendrils of ionized hydrogen gas 400,000 light-years long connecting the elliptical galaxy M86 and the disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 4438.

20 Agosto 2008: Dr. R. Chris Smith has been selected as the next director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Smith will succeed Dr. Alistair Walker in November. Walker will return to the scientific staff of CTIO after five years as director.

22 Julio 2008: Astronomer Pierre Martin, director of science operations at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), has been selected as the new director of the WIYN Observatory, which operates 3.5-meter and 0.9-meter telescopes on Kitt Peak.

22 Abril 2008: The international star-hunting activity known as GLOBE at Night inspired 6,838 measurements of night-sky brightness by citizen scientists around the world, including 660 digital measurements using handheld sky-quality meters.

25 Marzo 2008: The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) has selected Dr. David Silva as the new director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), based in Tucson, Arizona.

18 Febrero 2008: The international star-counting activity known as GLOBE at Night returns for its third edition from February 25-March 8, 2008, with assistance from the educational outreach networks of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) to help spread the campaign more widely to amateur astronomers and science centers.