Gemini News Archive
The Galactic Center’s Mysterious Quintuplet Stars Unmasked
Web Feature | 2017 September 22
Gemini astronomer Tom Geballe describes his recent infrared spectroscopic observations of a mysterious quintuplet of stars. Each of these stars is embedded in its own cocoon of dust in a cluster of massive stars near the center of the Milky Way.
Rocky Planet Engulfment Explains Stellar Odd Couple
Web Feature | 2017 September 11
Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have discovered remarkable differences in the abundance of heavier elements and the Lithium content in a binary star pair.
The Little Star That Survived a Supernova
Press Release | 2017 August 17
GRACES observes a fast-moving object that is likely a white dwarf star expelled from a supernova explosion and sent hurtling through our galactic neighborhood.
Gemini Confirms a New Class of Variable Stars
Web Feature | 2017 August 2
Gemini confirms a new class of variable stars called Blue Large-Amplitude Pulsators. They are significantly bluer than main sequence stars of the same luminosity demonstrating that they are relatively hot.
Gemini Confirms Super-distant, Superluminous Supernova
Web Feature | 2017 July 20
Spectroscopy using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope in Chile verifies the extreme distance of one of the most distant superluminous supernovae ever studied.
Striking Gemini Images Point Juno Spacecraft Toward Discovery
Press Release | 2017 June 30
Detailed Gemini Observatory images peel back Jupiter’s atmospheric layers to support the NASA/JPL Juno spacecraft in its quest to understand the giant planet’s atmosphere.
Korean Astronomers Dissect a Fragmented Asteroid
Web Feature | 2017 June 27
A team of Korean astronomers uses imaging from GMOS on Gemini North to characterize the rotation of active asteroid P/2010 A2’s largest fragment. The observations show that this faint and tiny asteroid, which underwent a mass ejection episode, is slowly rotating.
A Partly-cloudy Exoplanet
Web Feature | 2017 June 6
The first exoplanet discovered using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a young, cool object between 2–10 Jupiter masses. Research hints that the formation of this exoplanet is likely due to the collapse of icy disk materials followed by the accretion of a thick gas atmosphere.
Gemini Observatory Astronomer Meg Schwamb to be Awarded Sagan Medal
Press Release | 2017 June 2
Gemini Observatory astronomer Meg Schwamb is this year’s recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science. Schwamb is being honored for the creation and development of new tools and venues to facilitate planetary science communication.
Dr. Laura Ferrarese Appointed Interim Director of Gemini Observatory
Press Release | 2017 June 2
On July 1, 2017, Dr. Laura Ferrarese begins a one-year term as Interim Director of the Gemini Observatory.
Gemini Tracks Distant Star Cluster with Adaptive Optics
Web Feature | 2017 May 11
Researchers combine images from Gemini South’s wide-field adaptive optics system (GeMS/GSAOI) with data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the proper motion of a distant cluster of stars.
OCTOCAM Looks Toward a New Era of Discovery
Press Release | 2017 April 5
Gemini Observatory announces the development of a major new facility-class broadband optical and near-infrared imager and spectrograph named OCTOCAM.
Planetoid Pairs Reveal a Kinder, Gentler Neptune
Press Release | 2017 April 4
The Gemini/CFHT observations help address ongoing questions and debates among scientists about Neptune’s migration from its primordial formation orbital location to its current locale.
β Pictoris b: An Exoplanet With the Atmosphere of a Brown Dwarf
Web Feature | 2017 March 23
Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), a team of astronomers led by J. Chilcote (University of Toronto) found that the low mass stellar companion β Pictoris b is about 13 times more massive than Jupiter with a surface temperature of about 1720 K.
First evidence of rocky planet formation in Tatooine system
Web Feature | 2017 February 23
Using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South, a team led by Jay Farihi (University College London) found, for the first time, a dust and debris disk surrounding a binary star with a white dwarf as a substellar companion. To date, almost all of the known planetary systems which include a white dwarf are single stars.
Base Facility Operations on Two Hemispheres!
Web Feature | 2017 February 22
Gemini reached another significant milestone with the celebration of the official handover to Base Facility Operations (BFO) at Gemini South. About a year ago, Gemini North reached the same milestone, so now both Gemini telescopes operate routinely from the base facilities in La Serena, Chile and Hilo, Hawai‘i.
Gemini Explores Fading Active Galactic Nuclei ID'd by Galaxy Zoo
Web Feature | 2017 February 7
Gemini follows up on candidate galaxies with fading active galactic nuclei (AGN) first identified thanks to the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. The gas clouds around these fading AGN are dominated by rotation, unlike those around radio-loud AGN, which are outflows coming from the nuclei.
Exploring a Fast Radio Burst in Three Dimensions
Press Release | 2017 January 5
Gemini Observatory provides critical rapid follow up observations of a Fast Radio Burst – one of modern astronomy's greatest enigmas. These observations provide the first details on a burst's distant extragalactic host.
The Beautiful Messiness of Star Birth
Press Release | 2016 December 29
A new image released today by the Gemini Observatory offers a deep, revealing view into an active stellar nursery known as GGD 27. The infrared view peels back layers of obscuring gas and dust to unshroud the inner workings of star formation.
Untangling a Complex Young Stellar System
Web Feature | 2016 December 13
Using spectroscopic data from the Gemini North telescope, researchers have probed a complex binary T Tauri system that hints at a hidden planetary body shrouded deep within a stellar environment at the late stages of formation.
