Press Releases

25 June 1999: At a ceremony in Hawaii today, astronomers revealed some of the sharpest infrared images ever obtained by a ground-based telescope. These first high-resolution images from the new Gemini North Observatory show the remarkable power of the telescope's technologies, which minimize distortions that have blurred astronomical images since Galileo first pointed a telescope skyward almost 400 years ago. The clarity of these images is equivalent to resolving the separation between a set of automobile headlights at a distance of 2,000 miles!

1 June 1999: Dr. Mark Giampapa of the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, has determined that the Sun is in a relatively moderate state of activity. Giampapa's observations of Sun-like stars in M67 suggest that about 40% of the time the Sun is likely to be either significantly more, or significantly less, active. A change to either of these states is likely to cause significant changes in the Earth's climate. These same observations also indicate excursions in the luminosity of the Sun from about 0.2% - 0.5% are possible, compared with the 0.1% variations that have been measured with modern satellite instruments during the 1980s and 1990s. Any variation in what is considered typical or normal solar activity must be taken into account in the study of long-term behavior of the global climate.

31 May 1999: Dr. Samuel Barden, astronomer at the National Science Foundation's National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, Arizona, has partnered with Mr. Willis Colburn and Mr. James Arns at Kaiser Optical Systems, Inc. (KOSI), Ann Arbor, Michigan for the development of large format spectroscopic gratings using holographic technology for astronomical applications funded by the National Science Foundation through the Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation Program in the division of Astronomy. These new technology gratings can provide information at multiple regions of the spectrum simultaneously, with higher efficiency, less cost, and greater durability than the conventional grating technology that astronomers have relied on for over a hundred years.

31 May 1999: Dr. John W. (Jack) Harvey, astronomer at the National Science Foundations National Solar Observatory (NSO) at Kitt Peak, Arizona, has been awarded the prestigious George Ellery Hale Prize by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the field of solar astronomy over an extended period of time".

31 May 1999: The National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory is preparing for the upcoming solar maximum with SOLIS, a new suite of ground-based solar telescopes that will increase our understanding of solar activity and its effect on Earth's climate and atmosphere.

31 May 1999: The Sun is known to exhibit a maximum of activity, including solar flares and an increased number of sunspots and coronal mass ejections, approximately every 11 years. Dr. Richard C. Altrock announces today his prediction that the next solar maximum will occur between January and April of 2000 based on a new method employing daily observations of high latitude coronal activity. Dr. Altrock, an Air Force Research Laboratory astronomer at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory (NSO) at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, will present his result today to the American Astronomical Society meeting in Chicago, Illinois. This prediction is of interest to solar astronomers and others who design and operate satellites.

15 April 1999: The Gemini Observatory has received $600,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a significant expansion of the internet connection speed between its Mauna Kea observatory, its Hilo headquarters in University Park, and the rest of the world. By coordinating the Gemini grant with a similar but different NSF grant recently made to the University of Hawaii's (UH) Information Technology Services, all of the Big Island observatories and UH-Hilo will share in the benefits of this much improved connection.

25 March 1999: Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), near Tucson, Arizona, contributed important optical observations of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) discovered on 23 January 1999. The KPNO observations of this particularly powerful and well-observed GRB are included in articles appearing in current issues of the journals Science and Nature. This event was the first GRB detected simultaneously at optical and gamma-ray wavelengths, and may provide the first clear evidence that GRBs emit a stream, or jet, of photons directed out into space like a searchlight.

6 January 1999: Astronomers George H. Jacoby and Taft E. Armandroff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, Arizona, and James E. Davies of The Johns Hopkins University announced today their discovery of a new galaxy in The Local Group, the group of galaxies within 4 million light-years of our own Milky Way. The new galaxy is the second one that the team has found in the past year by using new computer enhancement techniques applied to 10-year old photographs of the sky. Small galaxies of the type found by Jacoby and collaborators are the most common type of galaxy in the universe, yet the region around the Milky Way Galaxy's big brother, the spiral galaxy in Andromeda, had been thought to be highly deficient of these "dwarf" galaxies before the team began their search. The census of the Local Group, though, is now as high as 43 galaxies, meaning that our neighborhood may not be as unusual as was previously thought.

23 December 1998: Over the past two weeks, the Gemini North telescope near the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea has succeeded in accomplishing several key steps in the completion of this state-of-the-art 8-meter telescope facility.

17 December 1998: The discovery of the acceleration of the universe by two teams of astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) was named by the journal Science as the top scientific research advance of 1998.

18 November 1998: On November 18, 1998, the Gemini Observatory Northern Operations Center at the University of Hawaii's University Park will be officially dedicated and blessed. This new 17,000+ square foot facility is the first permanent home for the Gemini Observatory's scientific, technical and administrative staff. The building will also contain the Observatory's remote access control center, instrument labs, meeting & conference facilities and will serve as a hub for Gemini's world-wide communication network that connects the seven countries participating in the Gemini Project. The building's lobby has been designed to greet visitors with exhibits that will interpret Gemini research for the public and display current scientific research done at the observatory.

24 September 1998: October of 1998 marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), the first astronomy observatory in the U.S. available to all qualified astronomers regardless of institutional affiliation. Kitt Peak today is home to the world's largest collection of optical telescopes, under skies which continue to be some of the finest in the world for astronomical observations. Historical images and information on the excellence of scientific research at Kitt Peak can be found through a link on the KPNO Home Page at http://www.noao.edu/kpno/40th/.

22 September 1998: The National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak announces the 19th Annual International Workshop to take place in Sunspot, New Mexico, from September 28 to October 2, 1998. Titled "High Resolution Solar Physics: Theory, Observations, and Techniques", this year's workshop features the most recent high spatial and temporal resolution observations of the solar atmosphere. About 75 scientists are expected to attend, nearly half from outside the US. Contact information is listed below for media representatives interested in attending the workshop.

21 September 1998: The National Science Foundation will honor Dr. Richard B. Dunn on September 30, 1998, by renaming the Vacuum Tower Telescope of the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, as the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, after its creator. This recognizes Dunns long and distinguished career and his contributions to the world's most advanced solar instrumentation, which have greatly increased our understanding of the physics of the Sun. The rededication ceremony to mark this important event will be held at the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, and will be the centerpiece of a workshop on High Resolution Solar Physics, also dedicated to Dr. Dunn in recognition of his lifetime contributions to solar research. Scientists from all corners of the world, including Austria, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Siberia, Spain, and Sweden will attend the festivities.

3 August 1998: "Gemini Observatory Update", to appear in Hilo's Tribune Herald, Friday August 7th.

29 June 1998: Measuring over 26 feet across, the largest single-piece telescope mirror ever to travel to Mauna Kea arrived safely at its final destination, 13,780 feet above sea level, on Sunday, June 28th. Weighing in at over 25 US tons and encased in a 20-ton steel crate, the mirror took three days to travel from Kawaihae Harbor to the Gemini Observatory site. As one of the widest loads ever transported to the summit, the 28 foot-wide crate required road improvements and even temporary removal of road signs before the mirror could make the final 65-mile journey to its home on the top of Hawai'i.

17 June 1998: Samuel Barden, National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) , has been awarded the 1998 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific . The Muhlmann Award is given for innovative advances in astronomical instrumentation, software, or observational infrastructure that enable significant astronomical discoveries. The award to Dr. Barden recognizes his pioneering use of optical fibers with astronomical spectrometers.

21 April 1998: Two teams of astronomers searching for signs of other solar systems with telescopes in Chile and Hawaii have independently discovered a disk around a nearby star that may be forming--or may have already formed--planets.

13 April 1998: The Sunspot Astronomy and Visitor Center was formally dedicated on April 13, 1998. The Visitor Center is located at the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. The list of 150 attendees ranged from Rudy Cook, the first observer at the location in 1947, to U.S. Representative Joseph Skeen and included most of the persons responsible for the successful completion of the Visitor Center.