Gemini News Archive
Back on the Sky at Gemini South
Web Feature | 2015 November 2
After 18 days of hard work during the recent scheduled maintenance shutdown, the Gemini South telescope is back on the sky! During maintenance, which took place October 13th - 30th, the 8.1-meter primary mirror received a fresh multi-layer protected silver coating - a key task for the shutdown.
Time Delay in Lensed Quasar: First Fast Turnaround Result
Web Feature | 2015 October 29
A team of Norwegian and US astronomers, using data from Gemini North and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), have measured the time delay in images of a quasar lensed by a foreground cluster of galaxies
Gemini Launches Local Students on an Exciting Week-long Viaje al Universo
Web Feature | 2015 October 22
Gemini Observatory kicked off its week-long program Viaje al Universo with an opening ceremony at the University of La Serena. The annual program is an immersive week of fun, hands-on learning focusing on local students and teachers.
Mysterious Starburst Unshrouded in Nearby Galaxy
Web Feature | 2015 October 21
The nearest spiral galaxy with a nuclear starburst (greatly enhanced star formation near a galaxy’s center) is also the site of a long-standing astronomical mystery. The core of this galaxy is so shrouded by gas and dust that the exact location of its core has remained unresolved for years.
The Deepest Ground-based Photometry in a Crowded Field
Web Feature | 2015 September 30
Expecting to resolve stars deep into the crowded field of a globular cluster is a tall order for ground-based telescopes. However, Paolo Turri (University of Victoria, Canada) and colleagues have used the Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics System (GeMS) with the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) to do just that.
Searching for Orphan Stars Amid Starbirth Fireworks
Press Release | 2015 September 25
A new Gemini Observatory image reveals the remarkable “fireworks” that accompany the birth of stars. The image captures in unprecedented clarity the fascinating structures of a gas jet complex emanating from a stellar nursery at supersonic speeds. The striking new image hints at the dynamic (and messy) process of star birth. Researchers believe they have also found a collection of runaway (orphan) stars that result from all this activity.
Watching an Exoplanet in Motion Around a Distant Star
Press Release | 2015 September 14
A team of astronomers has given us our best view yet of an exoplanet moving in its orbit around a distant star.
Gemini Installs Record-Breaking Rooftop PV Solar Panel System
Press Release | 2015 September 10
Continuing Gemini Observatory’s commitment to the positive stewardship of our planet, Gemini leads in the use of renewable energy sources on Maunakea.
Gemini-Discovered World is Most Like Jupiter
Press Release | 2015 August 13
Going beyond the discovery and imaging of a young Jupiter, astronomers using the Gemini Observatory's new Planet Imager (GPI) have probed a newly discovered world in unprecedented detail.
Gemini Studies a Plethora of Brown Dwarfs Candidates
Web Feature | 2015 July 23
An international team of astronomers recently discovered 42 new brown dwarfs using data from the near-infrared imager and spectrograph Flamingos-2 at Gemini South and other telescopes in Chile and Hawai’i.
NGC 2346: A COSMIC BUTTERFLY’S DELICATE WINGS
Press Release | 2015 July 9
NOAO scientists, using the Gemini Observatory 8-meter telescope in Chile, have obtained the highest resolution image ever obtained for the planetary nebula NGC 2346.
Seeing Where Stars Collide
Press Release | 2015 June 15
Using the advanced adaptive optics system GeMS, on the Gemini South telescope, astronomers have imaged a beautiful stellar jewel-box – a tightly packed cluster of stars that is one of the few places in our galaxy where astronomers think stars can actually collide.
Discovery Harkens to Early Solar System
Web Feature | 2015 May 27
Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at the Gemini South telescope in Chile, astronomers have discovered a young, emerging planetary system that shares remarkable similarities to our own Solar System in its infancy.
Star Pair’s Dusty Disk Shines Light on Planet Formation
Web Feature | 2015 April 2
Astronomers using the Gemini South telescope in Chile have discovered striking new evidence for planet formation in a dusty disk surrounding a pair of stars in Sagittarius.
Don’t Blink: A Light Show in a Dynamic Stellar Nursery
Web Feature | 2015 March 25
In the cosmic “blink of an eye,” astronomers have detected rapid changes in brightness and appearance of a restless stellar nursery in Orion.
Orion’s Fingers: New Clarity on an Explosive Outflow
Web Feature | 2015 March 12
With new observations using adaptive optics imaging from Gemini South, John Bally of the University of Colorado and colleagues find over 120 high-velocity outflows in the “Orion Fingers.”
FAR FROM HOME: WAYWARD CLUSTER IS BOTH TINY AND DISTANT
Press Release | 2015 March 3
Astronomers have found an unusually small and distant group of stars that seems oddly out of place. The cluster, made of only a handful of stars, is located far away, in the Milky Way’s “suburbs.” It is located where astronomers have never spotted such a small cluster of stars before.
Supermassive Black Hole Lurks at Dawn of the Universe
Web Feature | 2015 February 25
Infrared observations with the Gemini North telescope have confirmed a 12 billion solar mass black hole in an exceptionally bright quasar in the very early universe. The finding, led by a Chinese team, used Gemini and other telescopes to discover and characterize an extremely massive black hole from a period when the universe was very young.
Gemini’s "Fast Turnaround" Observing Mode is LIVE!
Web Feature | 2015 January 15
As of January 2nd, 2015, Gemini’s Fast Turnaround (FT) program is open for business. Following the first proposal deadline on January 31st, the Gemini community is now able to submit proposals every month for the duration of this open-ended trial.
THE GEMINI PLANET IMAGER PRODUCES STUNNING OBSERVATIONS IN ITS FIRST YEAR
Press Release | 2015 January 6
Stunning exoplanet images and spectra from the first year of science operations with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) were featured today in a press conference at the 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington.
