NOAO News & Reports
June 1, 2009
DAMIC and MONSOON
Left to right: Kevin Kuk, team leader Juan Estrada, Herman Cease, and Ben Kilminster in their underground lab. The DAMIC (Dark Matter in CCDs) detector is encased in the stack of lead bricks to the right of the group.
Juan Estrada of Fermilab is leading a small group of scientists in a novel experiment to search for low-mass dark matter candidates using CCD detectors designed for the Dark Energy Survey Camera. The team is using the very low noise (2e- rms) of the detectors to measure the nuclear recoil energy that is liberated when a dark matter particle impacts the nucleus of the detectors silicon atoms. This is analogous to measuring the seismic tremble of a mountain after it has been struck by a ping-pong ball. The experiment has pushed the noise threshold of low energy measurement to a new record using the MONSOON image acquisition system designed at NOAO, and the team expects to publish the new result in the coming months.
Coincidently, NOAO has been working to further reducing the read noise of CCD detectors used at the observatories. A group of engineering students at the Harvey Mudd College, working in collaboration with NOAO engineers, have recently concluded a study of a new method to process CCD detector signals to reduce the detector system read noise to below 1e-. The method, called over sampling, will be implemented in the new Torrent detector controller where the performance will be verified. Torrent is the most recent incarnation of the open source MONSOON technology.
More information on the DAMIC experiment from Fermilab’s news pages.
More information on the MONSOON image acquisition systems from the NOAO instrumentation pages.
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April 30, 2009
IYA2009 Boosts GLOBE at Night to Record Number of Dark-Skies Observations | The global citizen-science campaign GLOBE at Night 2009 recorded 80 percent more observations of the world’s dark skies than the program’s previous record—including double the number of digital measurements—thanks in large part to active participation and publicity from the network of 140 countries currently celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). NOAO Press Release 09-02
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April 12, 2009
Astronomy Picture of the Day | M39: Open Cluster in Cygnus
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March 4, 2009
Elusive Binary Black Hole System Identified | Finding a needle in a haystack might be easy compared to finding two very similar black holes closely orbiting each other in a distant galaxy.
Astronomers from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson have found what looks like two massive black holes orbiting each other in the center of one galaxy. It has been postulated that twin black holes might exist, but it took an innovative, systematic search to find such a rare pair. NOAO Press Release 09-01
Selected press mentions:
- Scientific American: Astronomers spot two black holes in an orbital dance
- Science News: These Cosmic Gluttons May Be Tight
- BBC News: Dancing black hole twins spotted
- Nature (subscription required): A candidate sub-parsec supermassive binary black hole system
- Live Science: Black Holes Bound to Join Forces
- Science Centric: Binary black hole system identified
- Discover Magazine (Bad Astronomy Blog): Binary black holes terrorize quasar nucleus
- The Register: Stargazers spy elusive binary black hole system
- More from Google News
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February 8, 2009
Astronomy Picture of the Day | Inside the Eagle Nebula
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December 26, 2008
‘Galileoscope’ celebrates birth of modern astronomy | When Stephen Pompea sat inside a UC Berkeley cafe and pulled a black telescope from its protective case, he did so with the care reserved for a fine instrument. And indeed it is, even if it’s about the cheapest new telescope on the market. Contra Costa Times article
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December 23, 2008
Frank Kelley Edmondson • August 1, 1912—December 8, 2008 | Indiana University Emeritus Professor Frank Kelley Edmondson passed away on Monday, December 8. He was 96. Professor Edmondson was one of the major players in the creation of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Observatory. Dr. Edmondson's Obituary
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October 7, 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. NOAO Press Release 08-07
Press Mentions:
- New Scientist: Galactic hit-and-run leaves trail of destruction
- Discovery News: High-Speed Crash Makes Hot, 'Sterile' Galaxies
- Discover Blogs/Bad Astronomy: Galactic tentacles of DOOM
- Spaceflight Now: Stars stop forming when big galaxies collide
- Science Daily: Stars Stop Forming When Big Galaxies Collide
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September 10, 2008
Probing a New Type of Stellar Explosion | Astronomers have been puzzling over the engine behind the historical 1843 outburst of Eta Carinae since it happened, but new observations with the Gemini South and the Blanco telescopes in Chile add a startling new clue. The new observations 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 research, led by Nathan Smith of the University of California, Berkeley, shows that the famous nebulosity around the star Eta Carinae contains extremely fast-moving filaments of material that had not been seen before, and are not explained by current theories. The result is featured in the September 11, 2008 issue of the journal Nature. Gemini Press Release | Berkeley Press Release
Press Mentions:
- Sky & Telescope: Eta Carinae: A Supermassive Showoff
- National Geographic: Mysterious Explosion Caused Massive Star to Brighten
- Discover: Mysterious Stellar Blast in the 1840s Was a “Supernova Imposter”
- Top News: Historic 1843 stellar outburst was a new type of star explosion
- Science Centric: Eta Carinae's historic 1843 outburst exemplifies
- Science News: Blast from the Past Poses Puzzle
- Space.com: Secret of Nearby Explosive Star Revealed
- Science Daily: 1843 Stellar Eruption May Be New Type Of Star Explosion
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