NOAO News & Reports
May 13, 2013
A Kepler’s Dozen: Thirteen Stories about Distant Worlds that Really Exist
Left: The position of the Kepler field in the sky, with the Kepler stars identified by number. The sky was imaged using a diffraction grating to show the spectra of brighter stars. Image credit J. Glaspey; telescopes imaged separately and combined, credit P. Marenfeld.
Right: Jacket for book
For centuries, humans have pondered what life on other planets beyond our solar system might be like. With the launch of the Kepler Spacecraft in 2009 we now have evidence for the widespread existence of such planets. Kepler’s discovery of hundreds of planet candidates around other stars has inspired a new book that combines both science and science fiction: A Kepler’s Dozen: Thirteen Stories about Distant Worlds that Really Exist. This anthology is co-edited by David Lee Summers (author of The Pirates of Sufiro and editor of Space Pirates) and Dr. Steve Howell (Kepler Project Scientist).
Read more in NOAO Press Release 13-05.
: : : : : :
April 30, 2013
A Better View with Adaptive Optics into the Heart of a Globular Cluster
Globular cluster NGC 6496 observed with SAM. The image is about 3 arc minutes across. The enlarged sections of the cluster show the image with SOAR adaptive optics (AO) on and off. (Image Credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF)
Astronomers at the Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research (SOAR) and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) have demonstrated the significant difference that sharp stellar images can make in our understanding of the properties of stars. They have observed the globular cluster NGC 6496 using a new instrument dubbed SAM, for SOAR Adaptive Module, which creates an artificial laser guide star. SAM, built by CTIO/NOAO-S, is mounted on the SOAR 4.1 meter telescope.
: : : : : :
April 1, 2013
Star Birth in Cepheus
This image of Cep OB 3b was created by combining the light from four separate observations taken through different filters on the 0.9 meter telescope at Kitt Peak. The brightest yellow star near the center of the image is a foreground star, lying between us and the young cluster. The other bright stars are the massive young stars of the cluster that are heating the gas and dust in the cloud and blowing out cavities. Image processing was done by Dr. Travis Rector.
Watching starbirth isn’t easy: tens of millions of years are needed to form a star like our Sun. Much like archeologists who reconstruct ancient cities from shards of debris strewn over time, astronomers must reconstruct the birth process of stars indirectly, by observing stars in different stages of the process and inferring the changes that take place. Studies show that half of the common stars, including our Sun, formed in massive clusters, rich with young stars, from which they eventually escape. As part of his PhD thesis work, Thomas Allen, University of Toledo, has been observing such a region where stars are forming.
: : : : : :
February 18, 2013
Asteroid 2012 DA14 Speeds Away from Earth
An international team led by Nicholas Moskovitz (MIT), observed the asteroid with a number of telescopes, including the 2.1m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory: the video (linked in the release, animated .gif files) shows the asteroid as it was leaving the vicinity of the earth.
On February 15, asteroid 2012 DA14 passed extraordinarily close to the earth. Unlike the unexpected asteroid collision over Russia that day, this encounter never presented any danger but astronomers were eager to observe the event. An international team led by Nicholas Moskovitz (MIT) observed the asteroid with a number of telescopes, including the 2.1m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory: the accompanying video shows the asteroid as it was leaving the vicinity of the earth. As Dr. Moskovitz said, “Flybys like this, particularly for objects smaller than 2012 DA14, are not uncommon. This one was special because we knew about it well in advance so that observations could be planned to look at how asteroids are effected by the Earth’s gravity when they come so close.” In this movie, the asteroid is seen moving across a field about one third the size of the full moon in about 45 minutes. The field is located in the constellation of the Little Dipper: north is to the left and east is down.
: : : : : :
February 12, 2013
A Valentine Rose
This image of a planetary nebula, which may suggest a rose to some, was obtained with the wide-field view of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Mosaic 1 camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
Sh2-174 is an unusual ancient planetary nebula. A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life. The core of the star remains and is called a white dwarf. Usually the white dwarf can be found very near the center of the planetary nebula. But in the case of Sh2-174 it is off to the right. (It is the very blue star near the center of the blue gas). This asymmetry is due to the planetary nebula’s interaction with the interstellar medium that surrounds it.
: : : : : :
Previous News items...
