Issue 34, June 2007
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Unique Sky Survey Brings New Objects Into Focus 15 June 2009
Unique sky survey brings new objects into focus 15 June 2009 human intervention. The Palomar Transient Factory is a collaboration of scientists and engineers from institutions around the world, including the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); Columbia University; Las Cumbres Observatory; the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; and Oxford University. During the PTF process, the automated wide-angle 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory scans the skies using a 100-megapixel camera. The flood of images, more than 100 gigabytes This is the Andromeda galaxy, as seen with the new every night, is then beamed off of the mountain via PTF camera on the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the High Performance Wireless Research and Palomar Observatory. This image covers 3 square Education Network¬-a high-speed microwave data degrees of sky, more than 15 times the size of the full connection to the Internet-and then to the LBNL's moon. Credit: Nugent & Poznanski (LBNL), PTF National Energy Scientific Computing Center. collaboration There, computers analyze the data and compare it to images previously obtained at Palomar. More computers using a type of artificial intelligence software sift through the results to identify the most An innovative sky survey has begun returning interesting "transient" sources-those that vary in images that will be used to detect unprecedented brightness or position. numbers of powerful cosmic explosions-called supernovae-in distant galaxies, and variable Within minutes of a candidate transient's discovery, brightness stars in our own Milky Way. -
1 Director's Message
1 Director’s Message Laura Ferrarese 3 Rocky Planet Engulfment Explains Stellar Odd Couple Carlos Saffe 7 Astronomers Feast on First Light From Gravitational Wave Event Peter Michaud 11 Science Highlights Peter Michaud 15 On the Horizon Gemini staff contributions 18 News for Users Gemini staff contributions ON THE COVER: GeminiFocus October 2017 Gemini South provided critical GeminiFocus is a quarterly publication observations of the first of the Gemini Observatory electromagnetic radiation from 670 N. A‘ohoku Place, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720, USA a gravitational wave event. / Phone: (808) 974-2500 / Fax: (808) 974-2589 (See details starting on page 7.) Online viewing address: www.gemini.edu/geminifocus Managing Editor: Peter Michaud Associate Editor: Stephen James O’Meara Designer: Eve Furchgott/Blue Heron Multimedia Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the Gemini Partnership. ii GeminiFocus October 2017 Laura Ferrarese Director’s Message The Three Goals of a Year-long Vision Hello, Aloha, and Hola! I am delighted to address the Gemini community from my new role as the Observatory’s Interim Director. I will hold this position for the next year, while the search for a perma- nent Director moves forward. As I write this (beginning of September), I have been in Hilo, Hawai‘i, for almost two months, and it’s been an exciting time. I have enjoyed work- ing with the Gemini staff, whose drive, dedication, and talent were already well known to me from when I chaired the Observatory Oversight Council on behalf of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). -
Gemini North Telescope
Gemini North Telescope Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA/Joy Pollard Gemini Observatory Legacy Image Gemini North Telescope Gemini Observatory Facts The Gemini Observatory is operated by the Association of Universities for The 8-meter Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope is PRIMARY MIRRORS: Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the located near the summit of Hawaii’s Maunakea — a long Diameter: 8.1 meters; 26.57 feet; 318.84 inches National Science Foundation on behalf Mass: 22.22 metric tonnes; 24.5 U.S. tons of the Gemini Partnership. dormant volcano rising 4,205 meters into the dry, stable air Composition: Corning Ultra-Low Expansion (ULE) Glass of the North Pacific. Gemini North was designed and built, Surface Accuracy: 15.6 nm RMS (between 1/1000 - 1/10,000 in part, to provide the best image quality possible from the thickness of human hair) ground for telescopes of its size. TELESCOPE STRUCTURES: United States Four significant features help the telescope achieve this Height: 21.7 meters; 71.2 feet; 7 stories (from “Observing Floor”) goal: (1) An ~20-centimeter-thin primary mirror on a bed of Weight: 380 metric tonnes; 419 U.S. tons Optomechanical Design: Cassegrain ; Alt-azimuth 120 hydraulic actuators; (2) a 1-meter-diameter secondary DOMES: Canada mirror capable of rapid tip-tilt corrective motions; (3) vents on the cylindrical walls to provide a smooth flow of air Height: 46 meters; 151 feet; 15 stories (from ground) above the primary mirror, and to regulate the temperature Weight: 780 metric tonnes; 860 U.S. tons (moving mass) Rotation: 360 degrees in 2 minutes of the air above the mirror to match the outside Thermal Vents: 10 meters; 32.8 feet (width – fully open) temperature; and (4) an adaptive optics system which Brazil GEOGRAPHICAL DATA: can correct for image blurring caused by atmospheric Elevation: Gemini North: 4,214 meters; 13,824 feet turbulence. -
Printer Friendly
Printer Friendly - - science news articles online technology magazine articles Printer Friendly Beyond Pluto We are only beginning to discover how vast and strange our solar system truly is By Kathy A. Svitil Illustrations by Don Foley DISCOVER Vol. 25 No. 11 | November 2004 | Astronomy & Physics As a child, Mike Brown had all the trappings of an astronomer-in-the-making, with space books, rocket drawings, and a poster of the planets on his bedroom wall. On it, Pluto was depicted as “this crazy and very eccentric planet,” he says. “It was everyone’s favorite crazy planet.” Brown still recalls the mnemonic he learned for the names of the planets: Martha visits every Monday and—a for asteroids—just stays until noon, period. “The ‘period,’ for Pluto, was always suspicious,” Brown says with a laugh. “It didn’t seem to fit. So maybe that was when I first got the idea that Pluto didn’t belong.” Nowadays Brown, a planetary astronomer at Caltech, has no doubt about Pluto’s place in the solar system: “Pluto is not a planet. There is no logical reason to call Pluto a planet.” Like a growing number of his colleagues, Brown believes Pluto is best understood as the largest known member of the Kuiper belt, a band of rocky, icy miniplanets that orbit the sun in a swath stretching from beyond Neptune to a distance of nearly 5 billion miles. “I don’t think it denigrates Pluto at all to say that it is not a planet. I think Pluto is a fascinating and interesting world, and being the largest Kuiper belt object is an honorable thing to be.” No longer is Pluto a lonely outpost in an otherwise empty frontier. -
Noirlab Visual Identity V.1.0 — Noirlab Brand Manual “A Logo Is a Flag, a Signature, an Escutcheon, a Street Sign
NOIRLab Visual Identity v.1.0 — NOIRLab Brand Manual “A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon, a street sign. A logo identifies. A logo is rarely a description of a business. A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it represents is more important than what it looks like. The subject matter of a logo can be almost anything.” Paul Rand VI 1.0 ii Table of Contents NOIRLab Visual Identity v.1.0 i » — NOIRLab Brand Manual i Introduction — about this manual 1 ● About NOIRLab 1 ● NOIRLab Design brief 3 » Logo 3 ● General branding principles 4 The NOIRLab Logo 5 ● NOIRLab logo variations 7 » Versions for colored backgrounds 7 » Appropriate and Inappropriate Uses 8 » Widescreen version (for special applications) 9 » Clear Space 9 » NSF and NOIRLab 9 NOIRLab Typeface 10 ● Quatro — Headlines, Subheads, & Callouts 10 ● Source Sans Pro — for sans serif body text 10 ● Freight — for serif body text 10 ● Fallback typeface: Arial — (sans serif) 10 ● Times New Roman — (serif) 10 Color Usage 11 ● Accent Colors 11 Additional Brand Elements 12 ● Watermark elements 13 ● Program Iconography 13 Applications of the Visual Identity 14 ● Letterhead 14 ● Presentation slides 15 ● Poster Templates 15 ● Social Media Posts and Events 16 ● Employee Access Badges 16 ● Conference Nametags 16 ● Office Door Signs 17 ● Controlled document template 17 ● Credit block for CAD drawings 17 Acknowledgments and Affiliations 18 ● Acknowledgments in scientific papers 18 ● Affiliations on conference badges, email signatures etc. 18 iii 2021.06.24 ● Suggested Email signatures 18 ● NOIRLab Scientific and Technical Staff Affiliations 19 ● Image and video Credits 19 ● Branding issues in press releases and other texts 19 ● Business Cards 20 Program logos 21 ● NOIRLab Program Logos 21 ● Cerro Tololo 22 ● Kitt Peak 22 ● Community Science and Data Center 23 ● The Gemini Observatory 23 ● The Vera C. -
NOAO NEWSLETTER from the Office of the Director
Director’s Corner NOAO NEWSLETTER From the Office of the Director .......................................................................................................................................2 ISSUE 118 | OCTOBER 2018 Science Highlights Looking Ahead to Looking Back in Time with DESI ....................................................................................................3 The Dark Energy Survey: The Journey So Far and the Path Forward ......................................................................5 Managing Editor A Reconnaissance of RECONS .......................................................................................................................................8 Sharon Hunt Discovering 12 New Moons Around Jupiter .................................................................................................................9 NOAO Director’s Office Community Science & Data David Silva “More Is Different” in Data-Driven Astronomy ..........................................................................................................11 Data Lab 2.0 Is Bigger and Better ...............................................................................................................................12 Science Highlights The US Extremely Large Telescope Program .............................................................................................................13 Tod R. Lauer “Science and Evolution of Gemini Observatory” Conference ...............................................................................14 -
Exoplanet Community Report
JPL Publication 09‐3 Exoplanet Community Report Edited by: P. R. Lawson, W. A. Traub and S. C. Unwin National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California March 2009 The work described in this publication was performed at a number of organizations, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Publication was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Compiling and publication support was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement by the United States Government, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. © 2009. All rights reserved. The exoplanet community’s top priority is that a line of probeclass missions for exoplanets be established, leading to a flagship mission at the earliest opportunity. iii Contents 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 EXOPLANET FORUM 2008: THE PROCESS OF CONSENSUS BEGINS.....................................................2 -
A Sodium Laser Guide Star Coupling Efficiency Measurement
Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics manuscript no. (LATEX: content.tex; printed on September 21, 2021; 19:04) A Sodium laser guide star coupling efficiency measurement method Feng Lu1, Zhi-Xia Shen1, Suijian Xue1, Yang-Peng Li1, Kai Jin2, Angel Otarola4, Yong Bo3, Jun-Wei Zuo3, Qi Bian3, Kai Wei2, Jing-Yao Hu1 1 Key Laboratoryb of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; [email protected] 2 The Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610209, China 3 Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China 4 Thirty Meter Telescope Corporation, Pasadena, California, United States Received 2016; accepted 2016 Abstract Large telescope’s adaptive optics (AO) system requires one or several bright arti- ficial laser guide stars to improve its sky coverage. The recent advent of high power sodium laser is perfect for such application. However, besides the output power, other parameters of the laser also have significant impact on the brightness of the generated sodium laser guide star mostly in non-linear relationships. When tuning and optimizing these parameters it is necessary to tune based on a laser guide star generation performance metric. Although re- turn photon flux is widely used, variability of atmosphere and sodium layer make it difficult to compare from site to site even within short time period for the same site. A new metric, coupling efficiency is adopted in our field tests. In this paper, we will introduce our method for measuring the coupling efficiency of a 20W class pulse sodium laser for AO application during field tests that were conducted during 2013-2015. -
The Galactic Center
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union IAU Symposium No. 303 IAU Symposium IAU Symposium 30 September – 4 October 2013 IAU Symposium 303 highlights the latest Galactic Center research by scientists from around the world. Topics vary from theory 303 Santa Fe, NM, USA through observations, from stars and stellar orbits through nearby black holes and explosive events, to the building blocks and transport of energy in galaxies similar to our own Milky Way. Highlights presented include: high-resolution, multi-wavelength 30 September – 303 30 September – 4 October 2013 The Galactic Center: large-scale surveys of molecular gas in the central molecular and 4 October 2013 The Galactic Center: dust zones of our Galaxy; studies of stellar populations and stellar Santa Fe, NM, USA orbits around the supermassive black hole Sgr A*; presentations of Santa Fe, NM, USA Feeding and Feedback theoretical models to explain the dusty S-cluster object (DSO) G2, Feeding and Feedback in as well as the general accretion and jet formation in the vicinity of Sgr A*; and discussions of large-scale γ -ray emission in the context in a Normal Galactic of energetic activity and magnetic fi elds in the Galactic Center. The volume concludes by looking ahead to future observing a Normal Galactic Nucleus Nucleus opportunities across the electromagnetic spectrum at very high resolution. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union Editor in Chief: Prof. Thierry Montmerle This series contains the proceedings of major scientifi c meetings held by the International Astronomical Union. Each volume contains a series of articles on a topic of current interest in astronomy, giving a timely overview of research in the fi eld. -
Spitzer to Size up Newly Found Planet
I n s i d e August 12, 2005 Volume 35 Number 16 News Briefs . 2 The story behind ‘JPL Stories’ . 3 Special Events Calendar . 2 Passings . 4 MRO launch postponed . 2 Letters, Classifieds . 4 Jet Propulsion Laborator y However, the object was so far away Spitzer that its motion was not detected until they reanalyzed the data in January of this year. In the last seven months, to size up the scientists have been studying the planet to better estimate its size and newly its motions. “It's definitely bigger than Pluto,” said found Brown, a professor of planetary astrono- my at Caltech. Scientists can infer the size of a solar planet system object by its brightness, just as one can infer the size of a faraway light bulb if one knows its wattage. The re- Artist’s concept of the flectance of the planet is not yet known. planet catalogued as Scientists cannot yet tell how much 2003UB313 at the light from the Sun is reflected away, lonely outer fringes of but the amount of light the planet re- our solar system. Later this month, the Spitzer Space Telescope flects puts a lower limit on its size. “Even if it reflected 100 percent of the light reaching it, it would Our Sun can be seen will look toward the recently discovered planet in the outlying regions of the solar system. The observation will still be as big as Pluto,” says Brown. “I'd say it’s probably one and a in the distance. bring new information on the size of the 10th planet, which lies half times the size of Pluto, but we’re not sure yet of the final size. -
The Physics of the Sodium Laser Guide Star: Predicting and Enhancing the Photon Returns
THE PHYSICS OF THE SODIUM LASER GUIDE STAR: PREDICTING AND ENHANCING THE PHOTON RETURNS Edward Kibblewhite University of Chicago ABSTRACT Not all lasers give the same photon return/watt and it is this parameter, rather than the raw power generated by the laser, that is the more important figure of merit. In this paper we outline the physical processes involved in calculating this photon return from different types of laser, starting off with the single frequency CW laser developed at the SOR facility. Methods of increasing the return are then discussed and recent experimental results from chirping experiments at Palomar Observatory presented. 1. INCREASING THE COLUMN DENSITY OF SODIUM ATOMS IN THE MESOSPHERE About 100 tons of meteorite burn up in the upper atmosphere every day, producing of about 100 kg of sodium metal [1]. The metal is removed by various complex physical and chemical processes, which ionize the atoms at high altitudes and lock the sodium atoms either into chemicals or on the surface of sub-micron sized “smoke” at altitudes below 85 km [1]. The total mass of sodium available in the entire mesosphere for generating a guide star is about 500 kg, implying a lifetime of about 5 days, with significant annual and diurnal variation. Greatly enhanced short-lived sodium abundances , so-called “sporadic” sodium , occur on shorter time scales which can increase the abundance by over a factor of ten for periods of minutes to hours [2]. Typical column densities are between 2 and 7 x 1013 atoms/m2 with peak densities sometimes exceeded 20 x 1013 atoms/m2 [2]. -
The Four-Laser Guide Star Facility: Design Considerations and System Implementation
Adv. Opt. Techn. 2014; 3(3): 345–361 Research Article Domenico Bonaccini Calia, Wolfgang Hackenberg, Ronald Holzlöhner*, Steffan Lewis and Thomas Pfrommer The Four-Laser Guide Star Facility: Design considerations and system implementation Abstract: Ground-based optical telescopes, in particular object, can be measured with wavefront sensors and ana- large ones, require adaptive optics to overcome the atmos- lyzed by an adaptive optics (AO) system [1, 2]. A correction pheric seeing limit due to turbulence. Correcting the dis- signal is sent to a deformable mirror to correct and flatten torted wavefront necessitates bright stars in the field of the wavefront on atmospheric timescales that are on the view. The sky coverage can be greatly increased by using order of one to several milliseconds. artificial sodium laser guide stars in addition to natu- There is a lack of sufficiently bright stars in the sky that ral guide stars. We describe the underlying physics and can serve as natural guide stars (NGS) for AO. Therefore, technical considerations relevant to such systems before one has to resort to artificial beacons that can be gener- discussing the design of the four-laser guide star facility ated by powerful lasers. The telescope includes wavefront (4LGSF) which is currently under development for the sensors that either image the Rayleigh scattering of those ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, Chile. lasers (Rayleigh LGS) or else the resonant scattering from The focus is upon the justification of the requirements and alkali atoms in the mesosphere, typically sodium (sodium their technical solution. LGS). The resolution of large telescopes without AO is Keywords: adaptive optics; adaptive optics facility; ELT; limited by atmospheric turbulence (seeing-limited).