Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Pluto Spray Paints its Moon Red
The red color near the north pole of Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, originates on Pluto. Once a mystery, it now appears that the red color of “Mordor Macula” arises as methane gas escapes from Pluto’s atmosphere and freezes onto the icy surface of Charon’s north pole. UV light from the Sun then transforms the methane into reddish organic materials. The New Horizons team that reported this result includes NOAO astronomer Tod Lauer.
Read more in the NASA Press Release.
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Join the international star-hunt campaign, Globe at Night, September 22 - October 1. Use a smart phone to submit sky brightness in real time! Visit globeatnight.org.
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Ultra-faint stellar systems discovered toward the Sagittarius stream. The discovery team included NOAO astronomers Kathy Vivas, Tim Abbott, David James, Chris Smith, and Alistair Walker. -
The September 2015 NOAO Newsletter is online and ready to download. -
Zwicky Transient Facility Community Workshop at January AAS meeting.
Instrument capabilities, data products, public survey parameters, & release schedule will be discussed. Arrive early at AAS 229 to join in! -
More Than Meets the Eye: A Massive Galaxy That’s Nearly All Dark Matter. Observations made with Gemini and Keck were used to infer the mass of the galaxy from the motions of its stars. -
A five-planet system revealed by NASA's Kepler K2 mission. The Robo-AO adaptive optics system on the Kitt Peak 2.1m telescope was used to rule out a non-planetary origin for the transit signals.
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Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Enters Construction Phase. Installation at the Kitt Peak Mayall telescope will begin in 2017.
