The WIYN Observatory supports the current and future research and
education needs of its scientists by operating and maintaining the
WIYN facilities at a superb level of performance, and by developing
opportunities to enable frontier astrophysical research.
The WIYN Observatory
The WIYN Telescope, a 3.5-meter instrument employing many technological breakthroughs, is the newest and second largest telescope on Kitt Peak. The WIYN Observatory (pronounced "win") is owned and operated by the WIYN Consortium, which consists of the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Most of the capital costs of the observatory, which amounted to $14 million, were provided by these universities, while NOAO, which operates the other telescopes of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, provides most of the operating services. This partnership between public and private universities and NOAO is the first of its kind. The universities benefit from access to a well-run observatory at an excellent site, and the larger astronomical community served by NOAO benefits from the addition of this large, state-of-the-art telescope to Kitt Peak's array of telescopes.
Detailed information on the WIYN Telescope is available on the WIYN Technical Specifications page.
News
Input to NSF Portfolio Review from the WIYN Board of Directors
The three member universities of the WIYN consortium
strongly recommend continuing NSF investment in WIYN through the US OIR national observatory,
NOAO. The WIYN partnership among state and private universities and NSF/NOAO has produced
a state-of-the-art facility with highly productive yet cost-effective operations.
Read the complete letter here.
Science Highlight
In a paper just published in Nature, Aaron Geller (Northwestern U) and Robert Mathieu (U of Wisconsin) have shown that blue stragglers are most probably formed from mass transfer or mergers in binary systems, rather than originating from stellar collisions as has also been proposed. Observations made at the WIYN 3.5m of the old open cluster NGC 188 show that blue stragglers in long period binaries have companions with masses ~ 0.5 solar mass, with very little scatter.
This image of the open star cluster NGC 188 was taken at the WIYN 0.9m in V, B and I. The blue stragglers discussed in this paper are circled. (image credit: K. Garmany, F. Haase NOAO/AURA)
Further articles on the findings can be found here:
A mass transfer origin for blue stragglers in NGC 188 as revealed by half-solar-mass companions Nature October 19, 2011
Astronomers Explain 'Blue Stragglers' Northwestern University October 17, 2011
Astronomers discover how mysterious stars stay so young.
Vampire stars mystery may have been solved Msnbc.com October 19, 2011
"People have been trying to explain the origin of blue stragglers since their discovery in 1953," said study lead author Aaron Geller, an astronomer at Northwestern University.
Why these blue stars should(n't) exist CNN October 19, 2011
Aaron Geller and colleagues at Northwestern University observed a cluster of stars that all formed at about the same time - 7 billion years ago - with 21 blue stragglers. The scientists looked at companion stars that are about half the mass of our sun. Blue stragglers tend to be more massive than our sun, on the other hand.
Mystery of age-defying blue stars solved UPI October 19, 2011
Until now, scientists have lacked the observations with which to test theories about the so-called blue stragglers, but two astronomers from Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they think they have the answer.
Visitor Information
The WIYN 3.5m is not open to the public. However, the visitor's center does offer daily tours of other telescopes on Kitt Peak. For more information on visiting Kitt Peak National Obseratory see the Kitt Peak Visitor's Center web site.
