National Optical Astronomy Observatory

December 02, 2008

December 2008 NOAO/NSO Newsletter |  This issue includes articles on a NEWFIRM large-scale survey, science highlights from several NOAO Survey Programs, and a report from NOAO Director David Silva on “Strategy, Tactics, and Budgetary Results.”

Image credit: R. Gutermuth (FCAD/Smith College), E. Allgaier (University of Toledo) and NOAO/AURA/NSF

November 18, 2008

Gemini Releases Historic Discovery Image of Planetary “First Family” |  Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope and W.M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea have obtained the first-ever direct images identifying a multi-planet system around a normal star. The Gemini images allowed the international team to make the initial discovery of two of the planets in the confirmed planetary system. For more, including additional images, see the Gemini Press Release.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory Artwork by Lynette Cook

October 30, 2008

LSST Mirror Lifted |  The 8.4-meter mirror blank for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) has been successfully lifted from the furnace hearth at the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, installed into a turning ring, and tilted to a vertical position. It is now ready for core cleanout, which will reduce its mass from 46,500 kg to 16,600 kg. The mirror is scheduled to be completed in January 2012, and will be the largest two-surface optical mirror ever made from a single substrate.

Image credit: Jeffrey S. Kingsley/UA Steward Observatory

October 07, 2008

Big Galaxy Collisions Can Stunt Star Formation |  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. Taken with the wide-field Mosaic imager on the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, this Hydrogen-alpha image and related spectroscopic measurements of the filament provide striking evidence of a previously unsuspected high-speed collision between the two galaxies, creating enough heat to slow down and even stop star formation in the galaxy. For more, see NOAO Press Release PR-0807.

Image Credit: Tomer Tal and Jeffrey Kenney/Yale University and NOAO/AURA/NSF

September 15, 2008

Probing a New Type of Stellar Explosion |  A U.S. astronomer using the Gemini South and Blanco telescopes in Chile has added a startling new clue to the ongoing mystery over the "engine" of the historical 1843 outburst of Eta Carinae, a bright star in the southern skies. The new observations by Nathan Smith of the University of California, Berkeley, reveal faint but extremely fast material indicative of a powerful shock wave produced by the 1843 event, suggesting that its driving mechanism was an explosion rather than a steady wind. The result is featured in the September 11, 2008 issue of the journal Nature. For more, see the Gemini Press Release.

September 03, 2008

September 2008 NOAO/NSO Newsletter |  This issue includes articles on building the ReSTAR system, 2009A Observing Proposal deadlines and available instruments (including classical observing with Gemini), a science highlight on light echoes of galactic supernovae, and a follow-up report on the GSMT Chicago workshop.

Image credit: Gemini Observatory

August 20, 2008

Chris Smith Named Director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory |  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. NOAO Press Release 08-06

July 29, 2008

ALTAIR Seeks Community Input |  The ALTAIR (Access to Large Telescopes for Astronomical Instruction and Research) committee, recently convened by NOAO, seeks to understand the needs of the US community related to ground-based O/IR telescopes in the 6.5- to 10-m aperture range. We ask you to respond to the ALTAIR committee survey regarding your current and future anticipated use of such facilities, including Gemini.

July 22, 2008

New Director of the WIYN Observatory |  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.

Starting September 22, Martin succeeds George Jacoby, who will return to the scientific staff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). For more, see WIYN Press Release.

July 14, 2008

A Multiwavelength View of Celestial Fireworks |  Around May 1, 1006 A.D., observers from Africa to Europe to the Far East witnessed and recorded the arrival of light from what is now called SN 1006, a tremendous supernova explosion caused by the final death throes of a white dwarf star. This image of SN1006 is a composite of optical, radio, and X-ray data of the full shell of the supernova remnant. The optical data was obtained at the University of Michigan’s 0.9-meter Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. H-alpha, continuum-subtracted data were provided by FrankWinkler (Middlebury College) et al. The object has an angular size of roughly 30 arcminutes (about the size of the full Moon), and a physical size of 60 light-years, based on its distance of nearly 7,000 light-years. Hubble News Release

Image Credit—Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF GBT+VLA (Dyer, Maddalena and Cornwell, NRAO); X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G. Cassam-Chenai and J. Hughes et al.; Optical: F.Winkler/Middlebury College and NOAO/AURA/NSF; and DSS

July 03, 2008

Siamese Twin Galaxies in a Gravitational Embrace |  In what appears to be a masterful illusion, astronomers at Gemini Observatory have imaged two nearly identical spiral galaxies in Virgo, 90 million light years distant, in the early stages of a gentle gravitational embrace. The new image was obtained at the Gemini South telescope in Chile using GMOS, the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph.

Like two skaters grabbing hands while passing, NGC 5427 (the nearly open-faced spiral galaxy at lower left) and its southern twin NGC 5426 (the more oblique galaxy at upper right), are in the throes of a slow but disturbing interaction-one that could take a hundred million years to complete.

Image Credit: Gemini Obseratory

June 25, 2008

Huge Lenses for Dark Energy Camera |  UK astronomers have reached a milestone in the construction of one of the largest-ever cameras designed to detect the mysterious component of the Universe known as Dark Energy.  The pieces of glass for the five unique lenses in the Dark Energy Camera have been shipped from the US to France to be shaped and polished into their final form. The largest of the five is one meter in diameter, making it one of the largest lenses in the world.  The camera will be placed on NSF’s Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile to conduct a project called the Dark Energy Survey (DES), as well as other observations for the astronomical community.  DES observations will start in 2011 and continue until 2016.

For more, see https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/

Image credit: UK STFC

June 19, 2008

White Dwarf Lost in Planetary Nebula |  Call it the case of the missing dwarf. A team of stellar astronomers is engaged in an interstellar crime scene investigation. They have two suspects, traces of assault and battery, but no corpse. The southern planetary nebula SuWt 2 (seen in this color image taken with the 1.5-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile) is the scene of the crime, some 6,500 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Centaurus.  For details, see Hubble Press Release.

Image credit: NASA, NOAO, H. Bond and K. Exter (STScI /AURA)

June 02, 2008

NOAO/NSO Newsletter number 94 |  The June 2008 NOAO/NSO Newsletter includes articles on the new ALTAIR committee on large telescopes, a science highlight and operational report from the NEWFIRM infrared imager at Kitt Peak, and the results from a survey of the community on their use of the Gemini Observatory.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NOAO/AURA/NSF

May 19, 2008

NOAO Currents Issue 3 |  Read about the results of our Gemini Opportunity survey of the community, which showed great interest in increased US participation in Gemini. This issue of Currents also explains the need for active involvement by the community in the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope project, as we move toward public-private GSMT partnerships.

May 05, 2008

GLOBE at Night 2008 Reaches 62 Countries |  The international star-hunting activity known as GLOBE at Night, led by the NOAO educational outreach group, inspired 6,838 measurements of night-sky brightness by citizen scientists around the world, including 660 digital measurements using handheld sky-quality meters.

The third edition of GLOBE at Night was held from February 25-March 8. Just over 4,800 of the measurements came from the United States (with 48 states and the District of Columbia reporting at least one measurement). Observers in Hungary submitted the most measurements (380) from outside the U.S., followed by Romania, the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, and Spain, all with over 100 observations. For more, see NOAO Press Release 08-05.

April 24, 2008

David Silva Selected as New Director of NOAO |  The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) has selected Dr. David Silva as the new director of NOAO. Silva brings a wide variety of experience to this appointment, from his current duties as Observatory Scientist for the Thirty Meter Telescope project to past responsibilities for data management and user support at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Germany. During a prior tenure at NOAO from 1991 to 1996, Silva served as project manager during the commissioning of the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, and as a staff astronomer in the U.S. office of the Gemini Observatory. Silva is scheduled to formally start work as director on July 7.

Image credit: Thirty Meter Telescope

April 09, 2008

Spectacular Star Cluster May Host Black Hole Missing Link |  The well-known naked-eye star cluster Omega Centauri may be home to an elusive intermediate-mass black hole, according to observations made with the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph (GMOS) at Gemini South in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope.  A new study by astronomers Eva Noyola (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics) and Karl Gebhardt (University of Texas, Austin) found non-luminous matter at the center of Omega Centauri with roughly 40,000 times the mass of the Sun.  This result could lead to an understanding of how such intermediate black holes might evolve into the larger supermassive ones found at the cores of many galaxies; it also suggests that Omega Centauri may once have been a dwarf galaxy.

For more, see the Gemini Observatory Web site.

Illustration Credit: Lynette Cook for Gemini Observatory

April 02, 2008

LSST Mirror Passes High Fire |  The LSST primary/tertiary mirror experienced a successful “high fire” over the weekend of March 28-29, reaching a peak temperature of approximately 1165°C (2125°F).  The LSST mirror will now anneal and cool gradually to room temperature over the next 100 days in the slowly rotating oven at the UA Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, and will be removed in mid-August to begin grinding and polishing.

Image credit: R. Bertram/Steward Observatory and LSST Corporation

March 19, 2008

LSST Mirror Ready to Fire |  More than 51,000 pounds of glass has been loaded into the mold for the primary and tertiary mirrors for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Inset pictures show employees from the University of Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory placing the first pieces of glass into the mold. The glass will be melted and then spun inside the rotating oven to create the 8.4-meter mirror.

Image credit: R. Bertram/Steward Observatory and LSST Corporation

March 13, 2008

Astronomers Find Organics and Water Where New Planets May Grow |  John Carr of the Naval Research Laboratory and Joan Najita of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory developed a new technique to measure and analyze the chemical composition of the gases within protoplanetary disks using the infrared spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. They discovered large amounts of simple organic gases and water vapor in a possible planet-forming region around the infant star AA Tauri, which they report in the March 14 issue of Science magazine. Spitzer Press Release 08-02

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Naval Research Laboratory

March 03, 2008

GLOBE at Night 2008 Going Strong |  This dark-skies awareness activity led by NOAO and the GLOBE Program has drawn more than 5,500 measurements from citizen-scientists all over the world since it began on February 25. Get out before March 9 and look up at the constellation Orion (seen here over the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory) to add to the growing database!

Image credit: J. Glaspey and NOAO/AURA/NSF

For more, see the GLOBE at Night web site.

February 19, 2008

Introducing NOAO Currents |  Intended as a sparkplug for communication between NOAO and our community, this new electronic newsletter provides updates—and solicits community input—on NOAO observing opportunities and NOAO programs and policies on a more rapid timescale than is possible with the quarterly NOAO-NSO Newsletter. The first issue includes articles on ReSTAR, Gemini, and supernova spectroscopy.

January 31, 2008

Double-Wide Image of Pickering’s Triangle |  A new wide-field image of Pickering’s Triangle taken with the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory was released recently at the 211th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. This nebula is part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, which includes the famous Veil Nebula. It is located about 1,500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Astronomers estimate that the supernova explosion that produced the nebula occurred between 5,000 to 10,000 years ago; the entire shell stretches more than six full Moons in width across the sky. NOAO Press Release

Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 11, 2008

Dark Matter Discovered in Accretion Disks |  Suggests Major Revisions to Concepts of Disk Structure and Luminosity. Observations of the interacting binary star using telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that the disks of hot gas that accumulate around a wide variety of astronomical objects—from degenerate stars in energetic binary systems to supermassive black holes at the hearts of active galaxies—are likely to be much larger than previously believed. Released at the 211th AAS Meeting in Austin. NOAO Press Release 08-02

Image Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 03, 2008

LSST Receives $30 Million from Charles Simonyi and Bill Gates |  The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Project is pleased to announce receipt of two major gifts: $20 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10 million from Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Under development since 2000, with work on the telescope design and site being led by NOAO, the LSST is a public-private partnership. These two gifts enable the fabrication of the three large mirrors required for LSST — the first stages of production for the two largest are beginning now at the Mirror Laboratory at the University of Arizona. LSST Press Release [pdf]

Image Credit: LSST Corporation

December 21, 2007

2009: The International Year of Astronomy |  The 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations has proclaimed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy. An initiative of the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO, IYA 2009 is focused completely on public outreach and science education, and includes significant leadership roles for NOAO PAEO staff. For more on the emerging US and international plans, see www.astronomy2009.us and www.astronomy2009.org

November 29, 2007

Cosmic Cannonball |  Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest-moving stars ever seen, using a combination of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the international ROSAT satellite, and the 0.9-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. A team observed a neutron star known as RX J0822-4300 over a period of about five years. During that span, three Chandra observations clearly show the neutron star moving away from the center of the Puppis A supernova remnant and the stellar debris field created during the same explosion in which the neutron star was formed, about 3,700 years ago. By combining how far the neutron star has moved across the sky with its distance from Earth, astronomers determined the star is moving at more than 3 million miles per hour. NASA Release

Image Credit: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Middlebury College/F.Winkler; ROSAT: NASA/GSFC/S.Snowden et al.; Optical: NOAO/AURA/NSF/Middlebury College/F.Winkler et al.

November 15, 2007

Colliding Planet Embryos in Famous Star Cluster |  A team of US-led astronomers used the Gemini North 8-meter telescope to find evidence for the formation of young rocky planets around the star HD 23514 located in the well-known Pleiades (Seven Sisters) star cluster, which is easily visible in the current evening sky. Joseph Rhee (UCLA) and his collaborators used the infrared camera Michelle to measure heat from hot dust surrounding a 100 million year-old star in the bright cluster, one of the very few solar-type stars known to be orbited by warm dust particles. For more, see Gemini Press Release.

Illustration credit: Gemini Observatory/Lynette Cook

November 05, 2007

Comet Holmes from Kitt Peak |  This image of the freshly expanding cloud of gas and dust around Comet 17P/Holmes was taken at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center observatory on November 2. The comet, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, is located in the constellation Perseus and can be seen in the northeast night sky with unaided eyes.

Image credit: F. Haase, S. Kaur and NOAO/AURA/NSF

October 30, 2007

Comet Holmes from Kitt Peak |  This image of the freshly expanding cloud of gas and dust around Comet 17P/Holmes was taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory on the night of October 29, 2007. The image was taken by a group including a teacher and students from the NOAO Astronomy RBSE program. The comet, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, is located in the constellation Perseus and can be seen in the northeast night sky with unaided eyes.

Image credit: K. Garmany, T. Rutherford, V. Wynn, B. Redmon and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

October 17, 2007

Most Massive Stellar Black Hole |  Astronomers have located an exceptionally massive black hole in orbit around a huge companion star in the nearby galaxy M33. The mass of the black hole, known as M33 X-7, was determined to be 15.7 times that of the Sun. This result, published in the journal Nature, has intriguing implications for the evolution and ultimate fate of massive stars. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Gemini North, and the 2.1-meter and WIYN 3.5-meter telescopes at Kitt Peak were combined to make this discovery, which includes contributions from NOAO astronomer Lucas Macri regarding the precise distance to M33. For more, see Chandra Press Release.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

September 24, 2007

Orphan Stars Found in Long Galaxy Tail |  Astronomers have found evidence that stars have been forming in a long tail of gas that extends well outside its parent galaxy, using a combination of images in X-ray light from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical light from the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope in Chile. This comet-like tail of newborn stars extends more than 200,000 light years, and suggests that such "orphan" stars may be much more prevalent than previously thought. For more, see Chandra Press Release.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MSU/M.Sun et al; H-alpha/Optical: SOAR (MSU/NOAO/UNC/CNPq-Brazil)/M.Sun et al.

September 03, 2007

View the NOAO Showcase: Local Group Galaxies in Google Earth.

August 28, 2007

Milky Way Rising |  The Milky Way rises above Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and the Blanco 4-meter telescope in this 30-second exposure taken with a Canon 1D Mark IIN digital camera and a 15mm fisheye lens.

Image Credit: K. Don and NOAO/AURA/NSF

August 07, 2007

Monster Galaxy Pileup |  Astronomers have combined data from the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak and NASA’s Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes to identify one of the biggest collisions of galaxies ever observed. Four large galaxies have been spotted in the process of tangling and, ultimately, merging into single gargantuan galaxy five billion light-years from Earth.
Yale Press Release | Spitzer Press Release

July 17, 2007

Major Award for Dark Energy Discovery |  NOAO astronomers Chris Smith and Tom Matheson, and former scientific staff members Nicholas Suntzeff, Mark Phillips and Robert Schommer, have been awarded the prestigious Gruber Cosmology Prize as contributors to two scientific teams who simultaneously discovered the "crazy" phenomenon of the accelerating expansion of the Universe, known since by the name dark energy. For more info on the roles of NOAO staff and telescopes, see this article in the September 2006 NOAO/NSO Newsletter. Gruber Foundation Press Release

Image of SN1999em in galaxy NGC 1637.

July 11, 2007

Alambre Fire Response

July 06, 2007

Horses & Stars At Kitt Peak |  The Tohono O’odham Boys & Girls Club of Sells held its annual horse camp this year at the Kitt Peak picnic grounds from June 22-24, including a star party one evening (lower right) presented by volunteers from NOAO and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association. Three dozen kids and a dozen adults participated.

Image credit: J. Kennedy and NOAO/AURA/NSF

June 19, 2007

Science Foundation Arizona Awards |  NOAO’s educational outreach programs recently received two of nine “K-12 Student & Teacher Discovery Program” grants from Science Foundation Arizona. The Hands-On Optics program was awarded $225,000 to expand its offerings to several rural locations throughout southern Arizona. The Research Based Science Education program was awarded $125,000 to enable math/science teachers to have research experiences in astronomy and image processing, and then implement these high-tech topics in their classrooms through a new initiative called Building Information Technology Skills (BITS) Through Astronomy. Science Foundation Arizona Press Release [pdf]

June 05, 2007

June 2007 Newsletter |  The new NOAO-NSO Newsletter includes articles on the renewal of KPNO and CTIO as recommended by the NSF Senior Review, recent spectroscopic results from Gemini, the new ReSTAR committee on the science case for a small and mid-sized telescope system, and “Disturbing News in the Large Magellanic Cloud” [see image] from Knut Olsen and Phil Massey.

May 30, 2007

Classic and Digital Versions of GLOBE at Night Thrive in 2007 |  The GLOBE at Night 2007 citizen-science campaign generated nearly double the number of measurements of the world’s dark (and not so dark) skies compared to its first year. The program also successfully demonstrated a prototype digital data-collection effort that aims to grow to a global scale by 2009 during the International Year of Astronomy. For more see NOAO Press Release 07-07, released this week at the AAS meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.

May 17, 2007

NGC 1333 |  This image of the nearby star-forming region NGC 1333 was released in honor of the retirement celebration for Stephen Strom, a two-time staff member of the U.S. national observatory who has led a multifaceted life in astronomy, public policy, and the arts. For more, see NOAO Press Release 07-06.

May 14, 2007

Stars & Music |  Saturday, May 19, come to Kitt Peak, watch the sunset and then enjoy an hour of chamber music by the Tucson Jr. Strings Quartet. When the music ends and the stars have come out, attend an hour-long star party and view celestial wonders through a variety of amateur telescopes. More information on the Visitor Center’s May events page.

May 07, 2007

TSIP Call for Proposals |  Letters of Intent to propose for the 2007 Telescope System Instrumentation Program funding cycle are due May 11, 2007. See the TSIP web site for the current Program Announcement and Proposal Solicitation.

May 03, 2007

Hot-wiring the Transient Universe: A Joint VOEvent & HTN Workshop |  
May 4 is the registration deadline for this conference in Tucson to be held from June 4-7. The interdisciplinary agenda covers technology, methods and experimental design for the detection and rapid follow-up observations of celestial transients, as well as data fusion to create knowledge about the underlying astronomical phenomena.

April 27, 2007

NGC 3372 |  This fresco painting-like image of the Carina Nebula was made by combining numerous images in Hydrogen-alpha light from the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope with color data from CTIO taken by Nathan Smith.

For more, see The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme

April 23, 2007

GALEX Finds Link Between Big and Small Stellar Blasts |  Proof that certain double-star systems can erupt in full-blown explosions and then continue to flare up with smaller bursts has been spotted by the ultraviolet eyes of NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, with help from data including narrowband images taken at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

For more, see http://www.galex.caltech.edu/

April 17, 2007

Astronomy Day, 2007 |  Come to Kitt Peak National Observatory on Saturday, April 21st, to celebrate Astronomy Day, an annual celebration since 1973. The Kitt Peak Visitor Center will host a series of presentations covering various aspects of astronomy by professional and amateur astronomers, along with hands-on activities and solar telescope viewing of the Sun.

April 02, 2007

NGC 2442 |  This image of a distorted barred spiral galaxy located 50 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Volans was taken in early 2007 by the SSRO/PROMPT telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. For more information, see Star Shadows Remote Observatory.

Image Credit: SSRO/PROMPT

March 27, 2007

WIYN telescope to get innovative billion-pixel, $6.6 million camera |  BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A telescope used by Indiana University astronomers and their colleagues at Kitt Peak National Observatory is about midway through a major improvement — the addition of a new kind of camera that will allow scientists to record the telescope's entire exceptionally wide field of view for the first time. For more, see Indiana University Press Release.

Image Credit: WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

March 22, 2007

Jannuzi Named Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory |  Astronomer Buell T. Jannuzi has been named to five-year term as the director of Kitt Peak National Observatory. Buell joined the NOAO scientific staff in Tucson in 1995. His main scientific interests are the formation and evolution of galaxies, the large-scale structure of the Universe, and the physical processes that produce active galactic nuclei. For more, see NOAO Press Release 07-05.

Image Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

March 19, 2007

GLOBE at Night 2007 Passes 2006 Count! |  Worldwide measurements for GLOBE at Night 2007 have now exceeded the 4,591 measurements reported in the first global dark skies campaign 2006, with more than 5,000 measurements by citizen-scientists from 61 countries now being reported at the public Web site! Data collection for 2007 ends on March 21. For more, see NOAO Press Release 07-04.

Image Credit: ESRI, GlobeXplorer

March 15, 2007

NOAO Deep-Wide Data Helps Capture Black Hole Evolution |  Astronomers using data from the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey have captured an image of more than a thousand supermassive black holes. These results give astronomers a snapshot of a crucial period when these monster black holes are growing, and provide insight into the environments in which they occur.

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Hickox et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/Caltech/P.Eisenhardt & D.Stern et al.; Optical: NOAO/B.Jannuzi & A.Dey et al.

March 09, 2007

GLOBE at Night 2007 is Underway! |  There have been more than 2446 observations from 51 countries since the start of GLOBE at Night 2007 on March 8! This international star-counting activity comes in two flavors: the “classic” GLOBE at Night exercise that anyone can have fun doing with their unaided eyes, and a new effort to obtain precise measurements of urban dark skies using digital sky-brightness meters. For more, see NOAO Press Release 07-04.

Image Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC, DMSP Digital Archive

March 02, 2007

NOAO/NSO Newsletter number 89 |  High Spectral Resolution in the Mid-Infrared with TEXES on Gemini, as illustrated by the above image, is one of the Science Highlights from the March 2007 issue of the NOAO/NSO Newsletter. Other stories include NEWFIRM first light, a progress report on how NOAO is implementing the Senior Review, and a new section on the NOAO Data Products Program.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory

February 21, 2007

IC 342 |  This beautiful new image of spiral galaxy IC 342 that takes advantage of the dark night sky at Kitt Peak National Observatory was released last week in Washington, DC, at the opening of “The Night: Why Dark Hours Are So Important,” a two-day symposium hosted at the Carnegie Institution. More in NOAO Press Release 07-03.

Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

February 12, 2007

NEWFIRM Sees First Light |  The BNKL Nebula in the constellation Orion was one of the first targets of the initial science verification runs for the NOAO NEWFIRM infrared imager at the Mayall 4-meter telescope. This image is a portion of one full image, selected to show the fine detail that is already apparent.

Image Credit: J. Bally (U. Colorado), J. Walawender (U. of Hawaii), R. Probst & F. Valdes and NOAO/AURA/NSF

February 05, 2007

The NOAO Users Committee has submitted their 2006 report [119 KB PDF].

Image Credit: M. Hanna and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 31, 2007

Comet McNaught |  as seen from Cerro Pachón on 20 January 2007, with planet Venus and the Moon at lower right, and the Gemini South telescope.

Credit: Joao Santos

January 23, 2007

Second Conference on Gemini Science Results |  Register now for the Gemini Science 2007 meeting to be held June 11-13 in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Circular fisheye lens image of Gemini North, with the Milky Way above. Credit: Gemini Observatory

January 17, 2007

Barnard 163 |  This dark nebula that lies within IC 1396 was imaged with the Mosaic-1 imager on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Dr. Travis Rector explains how this image was created in this video podcast recorded at the recent AAS meeting in Seattle.

Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 08, 2007

Interactive Binaries Show Signs of Induced Hyperactivity |  Astronomers studying highly energetic binary stars called polars have obtained the first observational evidence that the intense magnetic fields produced by the white dwarf half of the interacting pair can induce flares, sunspots and other explosive activity in its otherwise low-wattage, low-mass partner. NOAO Press Release 07-01

Image Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

December 28, 2006

SOAR Science in 2007 |   About 27 nights of observing time on the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope in Chile are expected to be available to the U.S. community in 2007B through the NOAO observing time allocation process. For more, watch the NOAO Proposal Information page.

Image Credit: M. Urzúa Zuñiga/Gemini Observatory

December 21, 2006

Happy Holidays from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

Image of the Small Magellanic Cloud taken at CTIO. Credit: F. Winkler/Middlebury College, the MCELS Team, and NOAO/AURA/NSF

December 04, 2006

The December 2006 NOAO/NSO Newsletter |   includes articles on the NSF Senior Review report and our response, Gemini science in the mid infrared, new partnerships at CTIO, first light for the QUOTA imager at WIYN, and more.

November 16, 2006

Twenty New Stars in the Neighborhood |  Astronomers have identified 20 new stellar systems in our local solar neighborhood, including the twenty-third and twenty-fourth closest stars to the Sun. When added to eight other systems announced by this team and six by other groups since 2000, the known population of the Milky Way galaxy within 33 light-years (10 parsecs) of Earth has grown by 16 percent in just the past six years. Data taken with the SMARTS telescopes at CTIO. NOAO Press Release 06-14

Image Credit: Zina Deretsky/National Science Foundation

November 09, 2006

NOAO Annual Report |  The cover of the FY 2006 NOAO Annual Report [1.7 MB pdf] features this image of M83, taken by the SINGG Survey Team. The report details scientific research, observatory developments, new programs, and educational/public outreach activities for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006. A pdf of the appendices is also available [957 KB].

Image Credit: Gerhardt Meurer (JHU), the SINGG Survey Team and NOAO/AURA/NSF

November 06, 2006

Mercury Transit Live from Kitt Peak |  On November 8, 2006, starting at 12:12 p.m. local MST in Tucson, Arizona, the planet Mercury began its transit across the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth. The National Science Foundation’s Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Exploratorium joined forces to present a live view of the 5 hour transit both on the mountain and via webcast.

October 31, 2006

Creative Comet Missions |  NOAO Astronomer Emeritus Michael Belton is a member of the science teams for two new NASA Discovery Program mission studies - one proposal would send the Deep Impact spacecraft onward to Comet Boethin in December 2008; the other would send the Stardust spacecraft to Comet Tempel 1 to observe the crater left there by Deep Impact's explosive earlier visit in 2005, which was observed widely from Kitt Peak, SOAR and Gemini North (see image).

For more, see the NASA Announcement of Discovery Program Selections.

October 19, 2006

Hands-On Optics in Sells |  The NOAO Hands-On Optics team has established ongoing programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Tucson and Sells (photo). For more, see the the Public Affairs and Educational Outreach section [721 KB pdf] of the September 2006 Newsletter.

October 13, 2006

Strategy for Instrumentation |  The 3^rd Community Workshop on the Ground Based O/IR System takes place November 16-17 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.

Illustration credit: P. Marenfeld NOAO/AURA/NSF

September 28, 2006

NGC 253, The Sculptor Galaxy |  This image of spiral galaxy NGC 253 was taken with the National Science Foundation’s Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Image credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOAO/AURA/NSF

September 20, 2006

NOAO-Spitzer Synergy |  Data from the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey and the MARS optical spectrometer on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak were combined with observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope to help astronomers discover an extremely cold T-type brown dwarf. Spitzer Release

Artwork credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

September 14, 2006

Belton Symposium |  The deadline for submitting poster abstracts to the Belton Symposium: "Journey Through the Solar System" (November 10-11 in Tucson) has been extended until October 20.

August 31, 2006

September 2006 Newsletter |  The new NOAO/NSO Newsletter includes articles on new and renewed Kitt Peak partnerships with Clemson University and the University of Maryland, updates on the Blanco and SOAR telescopes, and information on observing opportunities for semester 2007A, with proposals due October 2.

August 24, 2006

NEWFIRM Passes Key Tests |  The optical system for the NOAO Extremely Wide-Field Infrared Imager (NEWFIRM) instrument passed a major milestone on August 14 with highly successful optical bench tests for alignment and on-axis focus. NEWFIRM is on track to see first light in 2007.

Image Credit: R. Probst and NOAO/AURA/NSF

August 09, 2006

M78 |  This image of star-forming region M78 in Orion was taken recently with the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak.

Image Credit: T. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker and NOAO/AURA/NSF

August 03, 2006

NASA Funds Destiny |  NOAO astronomer Tod Lauer is the leader of a team selected by NASA to further develop Destiny, the Dark Energy Space Telescope, a small spacecraft that would detect and observe more than 3,000 supernovae to measure the expansion history of the Universe. For more, see NOAO Press Release 06-10.

Image Credit: NASA/GSFC

July 26, 2006

Cosmic Reionization |  The box shows the distribution of neutral hydrogen (maroon) and ionized hydrogen (light blue) around the most energetic star-forming sources (yellow dots) in the very early universe (a redshift of 9.3). This image is a frame from an animation that illustrates the Science Nugget article in the second TMT Newscast.

Image Credit: Nick Gnedin/Fermilab

July 18, 2006

Hands-On Optics |  The Hands-On Optics program run by NOAO educational outreach, SPIE and the Optical Society of America has spent part of the summer conducting informal science education activities for the Boys & Girls Clubs in Sells and South Tucson.

See here for more information on the project, or contact outreach@noao.edu.

July 11, 2006

Interacting Galaxies from SINGG |  This image from the Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG), an NOAO Survey Program, shows a strong interaction between the barred spiral NGC1512 and its Blue Compact Dwarf companion, NGC1510. This pair (imaged with the CTIO 1.5-meter telescope) illustrate how galaxy interactions are able to trigger starbursts. Several new images from SINGG have been added to the NOAO Image Gallery.

June 28, 2006

Debut of Thirty Meter Telescope “Newscast” |  With the successful completion of the project’s Conceptual Design Review, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has a science vision, technical requirements, a thoroughly reviewed design and a powerful team carrying the work forward. A new electronic newsletter, edited at NOAO, will keep you informed about the latest project happenings. Click here to see the first issue and subscribe.

June 15, 2006

Gemini Probes the Center of Andromeda Galaxy |  Two studies featured at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Calgary, Canada, bring into focus the core and evolution of our nearest large galaxy neighbor. Extremely sharp adaptive optics images of the center of M31 taken by a team led by Knut Olsen of NOAO allowed the analysis of thousands of individual stars, which indicates a long-stable environment around the galaxy’s core. Gemini Release

June 01, 2006

June 2006 Newsletter |  The new NOAO/NSO Newsletter includes articles on the selection of Cerro Pachón in Chile for the LSST, the TMT Conceptual Design Review, and an update on the Tohono O’odham Nation, the NSF, VERITAS and Kitt Peak.

May 17, 2006

Cerro Pachón Chosen for LSST | Cerro Pachón, an 8,800-foot (2,682-meter) mountain peak in northern Chile, has been selected as the site for the proposed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The mountain is already home to the Gemini South telescope and the SOAR telescope. LSST Press Release

Image credit: C. Claver, NOAO/LSST

May 12, 2006

The NOAO Long Range Plan for 2006-2010 has been published. Highlights include our continued involvement in the development of large telescopes (LSST and GSMT), as well as creating ways to access the large amount of data that will be generated (DPP and NVO).

May 04, 2006

Just Look at Jupiter |  The giant planet is in opposition this month, and the Kitt Peak Visitor Center is highlighting this chance to see it large in the night sky with an event called "Just Look at Jupiter!"

On Saturday, May 20, Adam Showman of the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab will give a presentation, followed by observations of Jupiter (and other deep space objects) with the 20-inch RC telescope in the Visitor Center observatory.

For more information, contact outreach@noao.edu

Image Credit: Jeff Hapeman/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

April 21, 2006

A Shocking Skull of Gas |  A new Gemini Observatory image of NGC 246, nicknamed the "Skull Nebula," shows what can happen as the outer atmosphere of a fast-moving, dying star similar in composition to the Sun (in several billion years) pushes through its local cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

For more, see the Gemini Release.

Credit: Gemini South GMOS/Travis Rector University of Alaska Anchorage

April 13, 2006

A Spectacular Show From A Convulsing Massive Star |  New high-resolution measurements of the famous massive star Eta Carinae using the NOAO-built Phoenix infrared spectrograph on Gemini South show that the star's bipolar nebula is the result of an aspherical explosion during its mid-19th century outburst, as opposed to the nebula being “pinched” by surrounding material.

For more, see the Gemini Release.

April 04, 2006

NGC 281 |  This image is a wide-field view of the star-forming region NGC 281 taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter at Kitt Peak National Observatory. It is featured as the ground based image for this Hubble Heritage Image Release.

Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage and WIYN/AURA/NSF

March 28, 2006

“GLOBE at Night” Data Accepted Until April 7 |  Active observing ends on March 31, but dark-sky data will be accepted at the GLOBE at Night programfor another week. NOAO is a major co-sponsor of this international public outreach activity, which has involved more than 12,200 people and 3,600 observations (and counting) from across the world.

Image Credit: david sanders / Arizona Daily Star

March 16, 2006

Magnificent Failures: Brown Dwarf Pair Measured by Gemini Observations |  A team of astronomers led by Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University has used the Gemini South telescope and NOAO’s high-resolution infrared spectrograph Phoenix to uncover the dynamics of a pair of eclipsing brown dwarfs. The observations enabled the team to directly weigh and measure the brown dwarfs (often called “failed stars” for their intermediate mass between planets and stars). The Gemini data complemented data the team gathered from Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/Jon Lomberg Illustration

March 06, 2006

March 2006 Newsletter |  The new NOAO/NSO Newsletter includes articles on a variety of science results from the Magellanic Clouds, the commissioning of the NIFS spectrograph at Gemini North, the new NOAO NVO Portal, the SOAR telescope, and the future of imaging at WIYN.

February 24, 2006

The NOAO NVO Portal |  The NOAO Data Products Program has unveiled a new Web-based tool to discover, access, and analyze astronomical imaging data from public archives. This effort is part of a larger program to provide the community with simple, consistent, astronomer-friendly interfaces to the tools and resources of the National Virtual Observatory (NVO).

See: nvo.noao.edu

February 08, 2006

Spitzer Reveals Unexpected Disks Around Interacting Stars |  This artist concept illustrates new Spitzer Space Telescope observations of an unusual class of interacting binary stars that emit excess amounts of infrared radiation, suggesting that these odd objects are surrounded by large disks of cool dust.

The results were produced by one of six teams of professional astronomers and high school teachers participating in a unique program co-sponsored by the Spitzer Science Center and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). NOAO Press Release 06-04

Image Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

February 03, 2006

NOAO Astronomer Sidney Wolff Awarded Education Prize by American Astronomical Society |  The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has awarded its 2006 Education Prize to Dr. Sidney Wolff, an astronomer and former director of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona.

The AAS Education Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to the education of the public, students and/or the next generation of professional astronomers. NOAO Press Release 06-05

January 26, 2006

Rapidly Spinning Star Vega has Cool Dark Equator |  Strong darkening observed around the equator of Vega suggests that the fifth brightest star in Earth’s sky has a huge temperature difference of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit from its cool equatorial region to its hot poles. Jason Aufdenberg of NOAO led a team using the CHARA array on Mount Wilson to obtain this result. NOAO Press Release 06-03.

Credit: J. Aufdenberg and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 11, 2006

ET Discovers Young Star with Planetary Companion |  A team led by a University of Florida astronomer has discovered a planet orbiting a star about 100 light-years from Earth. The star is just 600 million years old, one of the youngest stars ever found with a planetary companion. The discovery was made at Kitt Peak National Observatory with a new interferometric instrument called the Exoplanet Tracker (ET) that promises to greatly expand the efficiency of searches for new exoplanets. NOAO Image Release 06-01.

Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 09, 2006

Flashes from the Past: Echoes from Ancient Supernovae |  A team led by astronomers from CTIO has found faint visible echoes of three ancient supernovae by detecting their centuries-old light as it is reflected by clouds of interstellar dust hundreds of light-years removed from the original explosions. The oldest one is likely to have occurred more than six hundred years ago. More in NOAO Press Release 05-12.

Additionally, the team has used the Gemini South telescope in Chile to obtain a detailed spectrum of an echo of light from an ancient supernova that enables them to identify the original star’s cause of death. More in NOAO Press Release 06-02.

Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

December 28, 2005

Flashes from the Past: Echoes from Ancient Supernovae |  A team led by astronomers from CTIO has found faint visible echoes of three ancient supernovae by detecting their centuries-old light as it is reflected by clouds of interstellar dust hundreds of light-years removed from the original explosions. The oldest one is likely to have occurred more than six hundred years ago. NOAO Press Release 05-12

Credit: P. Marenfeld and NOAO/AURA/NSF

December 14, 2005

Galaxy Mergers |  More than half of the largest galaxies in the nearby universe have collided and merged with another galaxy in the past two billion years, according to a new study using hundreds of images from two of the deepest sky surveys ever conducted.

The idea of large galaxies being assembled primarily by mergers rather than evolving by themselves in isolation has grown to dominate cosmological thinking. However, a troubling inconsistency within this general theory has been that the most massive galaxies appear to be the oldest, leaving minimal time since the Big Bang for the mergers to have occurred. NOAO Press Release 05-11

Credit: P. van Dokkum/Yale University and NOAO/AURA/NSF

December 02, 2005

The Andromeda Galaxy |  M31 is the nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way, located a mere 2.2 million light-years distant. The Local Group Galaxies Survey team used the Mosaic camera on the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-meter telescope to investigate M31’s substantial population of young, massive stars over a very large field of view. Each of the squares in the image, featured on the cover of the December, 2005 NOAO Newsletter, is half a degree on a side, about the size of the full Moon.

Credit: Phil Massey (Lowell Observatory), Knut Olsen and Mark Hanna (NOAO/AURA/NSF), and the Local Group Galaxies Survey Team

November 17, 2005

The Ringed Planet |  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.

Credit: Kevin Bays and NOAO/AURA/NSF

October 19, 2005

The Tarantula Nebula |  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.

Credit: S. Points, C. Smith, R. Leiton, C. Aguilera and NOAO/AURA/NSF

October 11, 2005

Mysterious Disk of Blue Stars Around Black Hole in M31 |  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. Hubble Press Release

Infrared image of the Andromeda Galaxy taken with the Mayall 4-meter telescope at KPNO.

Credit: T. Lauer (NOAO/AURA/NSF)

September 27, 2005

Virgo Cluster from Kitt Peak |  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. Case Press Release

Image Credit: Chris Mihos

September 15, 2005

GRB 050904 |  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.

• NOAO Press Release 05-09
• NASA Release/Images

Image Credit: Dr. Daniel Reichart

September 06, 2005

Orion Nebula in Mid-infrared |  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.

Image Credit: Nathan Smith/University of Colorado and Gemini Observatory

August 30, 2005

Galaxy Cluster Abell 3266 |  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. NOAO Press Release 05-08

Image Credit: Michael Hudson and Russell Smith (University of Waterloo) and Gemini Observatory

August 11, 2005

Antares Region |  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.

Image Credit: Jay Ballauer/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

July 27, 2005

Supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy |  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. Read more in NOAO Press Release 05-07.

Image Credit: WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

July 18, 2005

NGC 1275 |  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.

Image Credit: C. Conselice/Caltech and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF.

July 07, 2005

Comet Trail |  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.

Image Credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF.

July 05, 2005

Before and After |  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.

Image Credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF.

July 01, 2005

Comet Tempel 1 Animation |  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). More in NOAO Press Release 05-06.

June 16, 2005

Gamma Ray Burst |  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. See here for more information: http://www-int.stsci.edu/~rhoads/GRB050607/

June 03, 2005

Solar Chromosphere |  The cover of the June, 2005 NOAO/NSO Newsletter features this false color image of the dynamic solar chromosphere, taken on 18 January 2005. Daily images like this one, made with the new SOLIS vector spectromagnetograph, have been obtained with various instruments on Kitt Peak for 31 years. The June Newsletter contains articles on a new roadmap for optical-infrared astronomy, related partnership opportunities at NOAO, and recent Gemini science instrument productivity.

Image Credit: NSO/AURA/NSF.

May 18, 2005

Van den Bergh 93 |  Curtains of gas and dust open dramatically to reveal the inner area of this starforming region. The unceremoniously named bright star SAO 152320 shines with intense light in the center of this field. Clouds of gas glow strongly and dust shrinks quickly under its radiative prowess. This vista lies some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation Monoceros. This is a portion of a much larger nebula called Gum 1.

Image Credit: Bill Uminski and Cyndi Kristopeit/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

May 06, 2005

Strategies for Evolution of U.S. Optical/Infrared Facilities |  The draft report of the O/IR Long Range Planning Committee is available for community review and input until May 15.

See the O/IR Long Range Planning Committee web page for more information and to download a draft report.

April 16, 2005

Colliding Galaxies in the Visible and Infrared |  These images show two views of the active galaxy Centaurus A—in visible light from Cerro Tololo and in infrared light from two instruments aboard the NASA-JPL Spitzer Space Telescope. For more details, see the Image Gallery page.

Image Credit:
Visible—Eric Peng, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and NOAO/AURA/NSF
Infrared—Jocelyn Keene, NASA/JPL and Caltech

April 05, 2005

At the Base of Kitt Peak |  The winter rains were plentiful in 2004-2005, giving rise to a beautiful display of wildflowers along the road to Kitt Peak. A number of telescopes are visible in the background of this image from March 2005, including the Mayall 4-meter telescope at the peak of the mountain.

Image Credit: Copyright © 2005, Kenneth W. Don

March 25, 2005

M7 |  This open star cluster in the constellation Scorpius is set against the dramatic backdrop of the Milky Way. At 800-1000 light years away, M7's 80-odd stars are spread over some 20-25 light-years and are in excess of 200 million years old. This image of M7 was taken during the Advanced Observing Program.

Image Credit: Allan Cook/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

March 10, 2005

NOAO-NSO Newsletter |  The March 2005 NOAO-NSO Newsletter contains articles on the pending NSF Senior Review, observing opportunities in Semester 2005B, the Gemini WFMOS instrument concept, and the WIYN One-Degree Imager.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory, University of Florida/C. Telesco and AURA

March 01, 2005

Exposing Dusty Galactic Hideouts |  How do you hide something as big and bright as a galaxy? You smother it in cosmic dust. Researchers used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey to uncover a hidden population of monstrously bright galaxies approximately 11 billion light-years away. Spitzer Press Release 2005-08

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)

February 10, 2005

Star Birth in the Trifid Nebula |  Visible light images from NOAO telescopes (left) have been used by scientists from the Spitzer Science Center to help them better understand dozens of massive embryonic stars in the Trifid Nebula (M20), which were discovered in images from two instruments aboard the Spitzer Space Telescope (right). JPL Press Release 2005-014

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/J. Rho (SSC/Caltech)

January 31, 2005

Portrait of a Star on the Edge |  NOAO Astronomer Steve Ridgway is part of a team that used the CHARA array on Mount Wilson to make detailed measurements of the physical properties of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. They found that Regulus’ frenetic spin gives the star a grossly bulging mid-section; its equatorial diameter is one-third larger than its north-south diameter. The star’s axis of rotation happens to point in the same direction as its motion through the galaxy—meaning Regulus zips along like an enormous, spinning bullet. NSF press release

Image Credit: Wenjin Huang, CHARA, Georgia State University

January 11, 2005

LSST |  A current rendering of the 8.4-meter Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) which will use a special three-mirror design, creating an exceptionally wide field of view. The LSST Corporation has awarded a $2.3 million contract to the University of Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Lab to purchase the glass and begin engineering work for the 8.4-meter diameter main mirror that will enable the LSST to survey the visible sky in only three nights. LSST press release

Image Credit: LSST Corporation

January 02, 2005

Galactic Fireworks |  Like the annual New Year’s fireworks display, astronomers at Gemini Observatory are ushering in 2005 with a striking image that dazzles the eye with stellar pyrotechnics. In this new image, the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is ablaze with colorful outbursts fueled by the births and deaths of multitudes of brilliant, massive stars.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory /Travis Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage

December 24, 2004

Happy Holidays! |  The staff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory wishes you all the best this holiday season.

December 20, 2004

New Clouds Add to Titan’s Mystery |  Using adaptive optics on the Gemini North and Keck II telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawai’i, a U.S. team has discovered a new phenomenon in the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Unlike previous observations showing storms at the south pole, these new images reveal atmospheric disturbances at Titan’s temperate mid latitudes—about halfway between the equator and the poles. Read the Gemini Press Release.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory.

December 13, 2004

Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) |  Discovered just this past summer, Comet Machholz continues to brighten toward being visible with the unaided eye in both the northern and southern hemispheres. This image was taken at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center Observatory on December 11, 2004.

Image Credit: A. Block, NOAO/AURA/NSF.

December 02, 2004

N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud |  This image of the massive N11 complex is featured on the cover of the December 2004 NOAO Newsletter. Numerous star forming regions and shells blown out by supernovae and strong stellar winds can be seen. The data used to create the image were taken with the University of Michigan Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile, as part of the Magellanic Clouds Emission Line Survey (MCELS).

Image Credit: Sean Points, Chris Smith and Mark Hanna, NOAO/AURA/NSF.

October 22, 2004

NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey |  The third data release (DR3) from the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (NDWFS) is now available. This release includes all the Mosaic-1 optical and ONIS K-band imaging of the 9.3 square degree Boötes survey field. Catalogs of objects detected in the images are also provided. The images can also be obtained via the NOAO Science Archive.

October 05, 2004

Mystery Object Neither Star Nor Brown Dwarf |  Astronomers including Steve Howell of NOAO-WIYN have used the Gemini North and Keck II telescopes to peer inside a violent binary star system to find that one of the interacting stars has lost so much mass to its partner that it has regressed to a strange, inert body resembling no known star type. Gemini Press Release

Illustration credit: Jon Lomberg/Gemini Observatory

September 27, 2004

Mira stars, red giant variables that have been studied for 400 years, are generally half as large in diameter as had been believed, thanks to an opaque shell of water vapor and other molecules that surrounds them. A team including Steve Ridgway of NOAO used the IOTA interferometer on Mount Hopkins, AZ, to make this discovery. Read more in the Astronomy and Astrophysics press release, Forseeing the Sun’s Fate.

Illustration credit: Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics

September 08, 2004

Stephan’s Quintet |  This stunning image from the Gemini Observatory’s Multi-Object Spectrograph captures the graceful interactions of a galactic ballet, on a stage some 300 million light-years away. The galaxies are literally tearing each other apart, as the shapes of four of them are warped by mutual gravitational interactions. The fifth galaxy, at the top center of the image (NGC 7320) is thought to be much closer to us than the others, so it remains unaffected by the dance of galaxies behind it. It is further distinguished in this image by numerous red blobs indicating hydrogen-rich star forming regions.

Image credit: Gemini Observatory/Travis Rector—University of Alaska Anchorage

August 31, 2004

Planetary Nebula PK40-0.1 |  In theory all Planetary Nebula should look like this one: a nearly perfect sphere with a brightened limb. The reality is that most nebulae are found in a wide variety of shapes and colors. Round ones like PK 40-0.1 are actually a rarity in the Universe.

Image Credit: John Pierce/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

August 13, 2004

Searching for the end of the cosmic dark ages with GMOS |  A team of U.S. astronomers reports the discovery of extremely high rates of star formation (more than 11 solar masses per year) in one of the most distant known galaxies in the Universe, some 12.8 billion light-years away. Astronomers traced the galaxy's starburst activity by measuring light emitted in the Lyman-alpha emission line, using deep multi-object spectroscopy conducted at the Gemini Observatory with GMOS-North.

July 27, 2004

First High-Res Image of Dust Around Supernova 1987A |  Infrared observations of SN 1987A made in October 2003 as part of the checkout of the new Thermal-Region Camera Spectrograph (T-ReCS) instrument on Gemini South have revealed emission from a cool dust ring that is surprisingly luminous. It co-exists with hot gas components left over from the relic equatorial ring featured prominently in data from other observatories in wavelengths from X-ray to radio.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory

July 16, 2004

N11 in the LMC |   An image of N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, taken with the Curtis Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) as part of the Magellanic Clouds Emission-Line Survey (MCELS).

This color image was produced using three separate exposures taken in hydrogen, sulfur and oxygen bandpasses. It was used to support the July 2004 release by the Hubble Heritage project.

Image Credit: S. Points and C. Smith/NOAO/AURA/NSF

July 08, 2004

NGC 6559 |   Some 5,000 light years from Earth, toward the asterism of Sagittarius, lies the emission nebula NGC 6559. Hydrogen gas is responsible for the diffuse red glow, while dark clouds of dust absorb much of the nebula's star light. Smaller dust particles scatter the blue light from the bright stars in the bottom half of the image, creating the beautiful blue and purple reflection nebulosity.

Image credit: John and Christie Connor/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

June 29, 2004

M39 |   This loose, widely spaced open cluster is found in the constellation Cygnus, about 800 light-years away. Also known as NGC7092, it has around 30 members and is two to three hundred million years old. This picture is a combination of 33 dithered frames in BVR colors taken with the Mosaic camera at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Arizona

Image credit: Heidi Schweiker/NOAO/AURA/NSF

June 18, 2004

Young Galaxy in the Very Early Universe |  Astronomers using a combination of data sets from the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak, including the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey (image above), have found a galaxy that formed when the Universe was just six percent of its present age, suggesting the "dark ages" of the early universe ended in a patchy, gradual process.

For more, see NOAO Press Release 04-05

June 03, 2004

Galaxy Cleaned Out by Encounter with Hot Cluster Gas |  This three-color composite image of spiral galaxy NGC 4402 shows several key lines of evidence for the galaxy being stripped bare of its star-forming material by its violent ongoing encounter with the hot gas in the center of the Virgo galaxy cluster, as NGC 4402 falls into it. Released at the AAS meeting in Denver.

Image Credit: H. Crowl (Yale University) and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

May 26, 2004

Close-up of Comet NEAT |  This image of Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) was taken with the Mosaic I camera at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ, on May 7, 2004. The comet will remain visible for several weeks with binoculars and small telescopes just after sunset, high in the western sky. See also NOAO Press Release 04-04.

Image Credits: T. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Z. Levay and L.Frattare (Space Telescope Science Institute) and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

May 21, 2004

Starburst Eye of a Galaxy Produces a Cosmic Shower |  Combining images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the WIYN Telescope on Kitt Peak, near Tucson, Ariz., this image is a color-coded picture of the archetypal starburst galaxy M82. It shows the horizontal stellar disk of the galaxy, which harbors its active star formation, and a perpendicular supergalactic wind of ionized gas powered by the energy released in the starburst. See also University of Wisconsin-Madison press release.

Image Credits: Mark Westmoquette (University College London), Jay Gallagher (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Linda Smith (University College London), WIYN//NSF, NASA/ESA

May 05, 2004

Two Comets, Two Hemispheres |  These two comet images were taken a few days and half a world apart. On the left is C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), imaged on Cerro Tololo, Chile on April 30, 2004 at the Curtis Schmidt telescope. On the right is C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), imaged on April 21, 2004 during the Advanced Observing Program at Kitt Peak, near Tucson, AZ.

Image Credits

• C/2001 Q4 (NEAT): A.Gomez & H. Tirado NOAO/AURA/NSF
• C/2002 T7 (LINEAR): Svend and Carl Freytag/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

April 15, 2004

SOAR: A 21st Century 4-meter Telescope |  Sitting on Cerro Pachón, a few hundred meters from the 8-m Gemini South telescope, and within view of NOAO’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the SOuthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope was dedicated on April 17, and is expected to begin routine science operation in late 2004. This 4.1-meter aperture telescope, funded by a partnership between the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the country of Brazil, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is designed to produce the best quality images of any observatory in its class in the world.

Links to more information can be found in Current News.

March 22, 2004

Henize 206 |  This superb new image of a stellar nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud named Henize 206 combines data from the Spitzer Space Telescope with visible imaging from the University of Michigan/CTIO Heber D. Curtis Schmidt telescope at NOAO’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile as part of the Magellanic Cloud Emission Line Survey (C. Smith, et. al.). See Caltech press release.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/V. Gorjian (JPL)

March 11, 2004

Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) Key Science Opportunity Webcast |  As GNIRS nears first-science, NOAO is keen to see the powerful capabilities of GNIRS exploited for major scientific initiatives. Hence, NOAO is conducting a pilot program to enable observations with high scientific potential that require significant blocks of time with GNIRS on Gemini South (15 to 20 nights over the next two to three years). Find out more at the GNIRS Key Science Opportunity Webcast, Tuesday, March 16 at 10:00am MST.

March 03, 2004

NOAO/NSO Newsletter 77 |  The March 2004 edition of the Newsletter features news about the Adaptive Optics Development Program, progress reports from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the AURA New Initiatives Office, and information on preparing observing proposals for 2004B.

February 02, 2004

Giant Galaxy String Defies Models of How Universe Evolved |  Wide-field telescope observations from the CTIO Blanco 4-meter telescope of the remote and therefore early Universe, looking back to a time when it was a fifth of its present age (redshift = 2.38), have revealed an enormous string of galaxies about 300 million light-years long. This new structure defies current models of how the Universe evolved, which can’t explain how a string this big could have formed so early.

For more information, see the NASA/Goddard Press release

January 21, 2004

Too Fast, Too Furious: A Galaxy’s Fatal Plunge |  Trailing 200,000-light-year-long streamers of seething gas, a galaxy that was once like our Milky Way is being shredded as it plunges at 4.5 million miles per hour through the heart of a distant cluster of galaxies. These findings use data from the Mayall 4-meter and Gemini Telescopes.

For more information, see the STScI Press release

January 14, 2004

SOAR Mirror Arrives in Chile |  The mirror for the SOAR 4-meter telescope arrived safely on Cerro Pachón in Chile on the afternoon of 9 January 2004 to the great excitement of the SOAR project team, who will now prepare the optics system for first light. Dedication of the telescope is planned for mid-April.

For more information, see: http://www.soartelescope.org/

January 05, 2004

Faintest Spectra Ever Raise Glaring Question: Why do Galaxies in the Young Universe Appear so Mature? |  Why are some galaxies brighter than others? Bright galaxies where stars are forming may outshine dimmer, more massive galaxies. In all previous surveys of the “Redshift Desert,” the brighter star-forming galaxies were the only type bright enough to be sampled. The Gemini Deep Deep Survey (GDDS) was able to sample the dimmer, more massive galaxies and provide a better representation of the galaxies at this epoch of the Universe. The GDDS results revealed that there is a greater abundance of these more massive and older galaxies than expected from current models when the Universe was only 20-40% of its current age. Gemini Press Release 2004-1

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory Illustration

December 23, 2003

Happy Holidays! |  The staff of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory wishes you all the best this holiday season.

December 09, 2003

GNIRS Meets Gemini South |  The Gemini Near-InfraRed Spectrograph, designed and built by NOAO, has been mounted on the Gemini South telescope in Chile. This multi-million dollar, long-slit spectrometer will help astronomers make measurements of the chemical abundances of stars in other galaxies, the conditions at the centers of other galaxies (including very distant young objects) and the initial mass functions for very young star clusters.

December 03, 2003

The 2004 REU Program at Kitt Peak National Observatory |  There are six research assistant positions available for the summer of 2004. As part of their research activities, REU students gain first-hand experience with KPNO’s state-of-the-art telescopes and develop expertise in astronomical data reduction and analysis. Applications are due January 26, 2004.

November 05, 2003

Cassiopeia A |  The remnants of a Type 1a Supernova that first appeared in 1572, as imaged by Kitt Peak Visitors Center telescope as part of the Advanced Observing Program.

Image credit: Doug Matthews and Charles Betts/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

October 24, 2003

GNIRS has left the building |  NOAO has completed construction and testing of the Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS). The instrument left Tucson on October 24 on its way to be mounted on the Gemini South telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile, where it arrived on October 27 (see bottom image). This multi-million dollar, long-slit spectrometer will help astronomers make measurements of the chemical abundances of stars in other galaxies, the conditions at the centers of other galaxies (including very distant young objects) and the initial mass functions for very young star clusters.

For more information on GNIRS, see the GNIRS homepage.

October 06, 2003

Pelican Nebula |  This image of the clouds of gas and dust next to the “neck” and “body” of the Pelican Nebula was produced by an NOAO Survey Program known as the Deep Imaging Survey of Nearby Star-Forming Clouds, led by John Bally of the University of Colorado and Bo Reipurth of the University of Hawaii.
Image Gallery Page | NOAO Press Release 03-08

Image Credit: University of Colorado, University of Hawaii and NOAO/AURA/NSF

September 30, 2003

Gemini Detects Something "Cool" in Our Neighborhood |  While searching for planet-sized bodies that might accompany the nearby star system Epsilon Indi, astronomers using the Gemini South telescope in Chile made a related but unexpected detection. The nearest known specimen of a brown dwarf, Epsilon Indi B (now Ba), has a cooler and less massive companion: Epsilon Indi Bb. This discovery was made with the NOAO-built PHOENIX high-resolution spectrometer, using a narrow-band filter within the J-band, and without the aid of adaptive optics. The separation between Epsilon Indi Ba and Bb is 0.7 arcsecond.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/PHOENIX

September 25, 2003

Trifid Nebula |   This nebula, also known as M20, gets its distinct look from dust lanes that seem to divide the nebula into three parts. Its distance is estimated at approximately 5,000 light-years and it can be found in the constellation Sagittarius. This image was taken at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center 20" telescope as part of the Advanced Observing Program.

Image Credit: Jim and Janet Castano/A. Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

September 02, 2003

SINGG Survey Mosaic |   This montage of galaxy images from the Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG) is featured in the Science Highlights section of the September 2003 NOAO/NSO Newsletter, which is online now.

August 11, 2003

Mars |   This planet has captured the public’s imagination like no other in our solar system. As it nears its closest approach to Earth in some 60,000 years, Mars offers observers spectacular views such as this one taken on August 3, 2003 at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center 20-inch telescope.

Image Credit: A. Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

July 08, 2003

Images from New Gemini Spectrograph Rival View from Space |  This striking image of the Hickson Compact Group 87, a diverse group of galaxies located about 400 million light-years from Earth, was acquired with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the 8-meter Gemini South Telescope without the help of adaptive optics. NOAO provided the highly capable detector subsystem and related software for GMOS-South. Gemini Press Release

June 24, 2003

M3 |   A sixth magnitude globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici, this ball of 500,000 stars is approximately 160 light years across and 100,000 light years from Earth. The image is a combination of a B-band image and a Z-band image (Z is approximately from 8500 to 9500 A) taken at the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope with the WIYN Tip-Tilt Module (WTTM).

Image Credit: S. Kafka and K. Honeycutt Indiana University/WIYN/NOAO/NSF

May 27, 2003

NGC 1333 |   This star cluster in Perseus is the home of at least seven extremely large dusty disks around young stars where newborn planets could be forming. These disks were detected in infrared images using the FLAMINGOS instrument at Kitt Peak. See NOAO Press Release 03-05.

Image Credit: University of Florida and NOAO/AURA/NSF

May 09, 2003

Helix Nebula |  This composite picture is a seamless blend of ultra-sharp NASA Hubble Space Telescope images combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.

Image Credit: NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), and T.A. Rector (NRAO)

April 17, 2003

NGC4274 |   A compact spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, this image of NGC4274 comes from the public Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program.

Image credit: Steve and Sherry Bushey/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

April 01, 2003

Crescent Nebula |  This wide-field image of the Crescent Nebula (NGC6888) was taken at the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak with the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera.

Image credit: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOAO/AURA/NSF)

March 17, 2003

Globular Cluster M5 |  This image of M5 comes from the public Kitt Peak Advanced Observing Program.

Image credit: Sally and Curt King/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF

March 07, 2003

M100 |  Located in the constellation Coma Berenices, M100 (also known as NGC4321) is one of the brighter galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The presence of many young stars give the arms of this spiral galaxy a blue appearance. This image was taken December 20, 2002 at the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak.

Image credit: N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF

February 17, 2003

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula |  This month’s Hubble Heritage image of the Dumbbell Nebula is superimposed onto a WIYN image of M27, highlighting the differences in the field of view of the two telescopes. The Heritage site features several other supplemental ground-based images from WIYN and the Mayall 4-meter telescope.

January 29, 2003

M17, the Omega Nebula |   This unusual image was created from five frames imaged with filters covering a narrow range of wavelengths. The color changes across filaments are indicative of physical changes in the bright emission nebula.

Image Credit: Hillary Mathis, N.A.Sharp, REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF

January 08, 2003

Possible Stellar Cocoons |   found in the harsh environment of the Carina Nebula, using the Blanco telescope. For more information, see the press release: NOAO 03-01

December 26, 2002

Happy Holidays from NOAO! |  The SOAR (SOuthern Astrophysical Research) telescope dome on snow covered Cerro Pachon.

Image Credit: Sergio Franco (with enhancements by M. Newhouse)

December 16, 2002

M94 |  Many detailed features in this spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici have been brought out by drastically compressed image mapping: an extremely bright inner region surrounded by a blue ring of young star clusters, a fainter yellowish region of older stars also surrounded by traces of young stars, and even further out, a very much fainter outer ring.

Image credit: Hillary Mathis, N.A.Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF

November 25, 2002

M33, the Triangulum Galaxy |  This revealing image combines optical data from the 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak with radio data from the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands.

Image Gallery page for this image.

November 14, 2002

Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea Named in Honor of Dr. Frederick C. Gillett |  Marian Gillett, right, with her children, Michael Gillett and Denuta Gessner, stand before the plaque which honors her deceased husband, Dr. Fred Gillett (inset), in a naming ceremony of the Gemini North telescope, November 13, 2002, on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i. Gemini Press Release

Image credit: Gemini Observatory

November 07, 2002

The Dumbbell Nebula |  This excellent image of M27, a planetary nebula in the constellation of Vulpecula, was taken at the 3.5-meter WIYN telescope using the Mini-Mosaic imager. NOAO Image gallery page

October 22, 2002

Arc of Blue Stars a Lingering Sign of Shredded Dwarf Galaxy |  An unobtrusive arc of blue stars stretching above the iconic galaxy Centaurus A represents the lingering signature of an episode of galactic cannibalism that is surprisingly recent and, astronomically speaking, quite nearby. NOAO Press Release 02-11

October 10, 2002

Tucson Mayor Robert Walkup and three students from the Indian Oasis Middle School in Sells cut the ribbon at the official opening night of the Space Weather Center exhibit at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center.

September 27, 2002

The Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) instrument at the CTIO Blanco 4-meter telescope has obtained this first-light image of globular cluster 47 Tucanae taken in the infrared H-band.

More information on ISPI and its 11 x 11 arcmin field of view.

September 18, 2002

This image of the Eagle Nebula (M16) taken at Kitt Peak has been turned into a popular poster available for purchase at the Visitor Center.

For high resolution images see the NOAO Image Gallery Page.

September 09, 2002

The proposed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) was discussed several times at the recent Workshop on Science Requirements for Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids.

For more information, see: NOAO Press Release 02-08 and the Mitigation Workshop information page.

August 04, 2002

The Trifid Nebula is located in the constellation of Sagittarius. This stunning image of the much-photographed, dynamic cloud of gas and dust, was taken at the Gemini North Observatory with the GMOS instrument, which uses software developed by NOAO.

Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/GMOS Image. For high resolution images, see the Gemini Press Release (2002-10).

July 15, 2002

NGC 2420 is a richly populated star cluster in the Milky Way whose stellar population has surprising similarities to the Sun's composition.

For high resolution images, see the NOAO Image Gallery.

June 20, 2002

Supernova 2002dj is the bluish dot to the right of the center of the galaxy NGC 5018 in this image taken by the 0.9-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile on 14 June 2002.

For high resolution images, see the NOAO Image Gallery.

May 30, 2002

A Brown Dwarf Orbits a Low-Mass Star at a distance of just 3 AU in this adaptive optics image from Gemini North.

NOAO Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/Melanie Freed, Laird Close, Nick Siegler University of Arizona/ Hokupa'a-QUIRC image, University of Hawaii, IfA

For more information, see the NOAO Press Release.

April 09, 2002

The Ring Nebula, Ground and Space Views |  The WIYN 3.5-meter telescope on Kitt Peak took this image of the Ring Nebula (left) on April 2, 2002 aided by the new WIYN Tip-Tilt Module (WTTM). This adaptive optics device helps correct for degradation of the telescope's imaging quality due to atmospheric effects and shaking of the telescope by wind.

For larger versions of the comparable WIYN and Hubble Space Telescope images, see The WIYN Tip-Tilt Module.

March 31, 2002

The center of our Milky Way Galaxy in the infrared, centered around the Brackett Alpha emission line, is shown in this composite image of 42 frames obtained by the Abu thermal infrared camera on the Gemini South 8-meter telescope. Abu was built by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

More information in the NOAO Image Gallery.

February 20, 2002

The nearby irregular galaxy NGC 6822 shows a myriad of hot blue massive stars and several famous nebulae in impressive detail in this new color image taken at the Blanco 4-meter telescope in Chile by the NOAO Local Group Galaxies Survey Team.

More information in the NOAO Image Gallery.

January 08, 2002

Gemini South Image of NGC 6369 | A planetary nebula produced by a star that was once like our Sun. This image was obtained with the "Abu" thermal-infrared camera built by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and was released in honor of the dedication of Gemini South on January 18, 2002.

For further information, see the Gemini Press Release.

For copies of this science image and several others, see the Gemini South Dedication Science Images.

November 29, 2001

Edge-on Protoplanetary Disk | Astronomers using the recently commissioned Gemini North telescope in Hawaii have discovered a protoplanetary disk orbiting one of the stars in a newborn quadruple star system.

For further information, see the NOAO Press Release.

November 25, 2001

Gamma Ray Burst | The blue dot in the center of this image (highlighted by a blue arrow) is the optical light signature of Gamma Ray Burst 011121. It was taken with the National Science Foundation's Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile on November 23. The reddish dot adjoining the transient gamma ray burst, at its lower left, is probably the core of the galaxy in which the gamma ray burst occurred.

For further information, see: NOAO Image Gallery.