Gemini News Archive
Galactic Herding: New Image Brings Galaxy Diversity to Life
Web Feature | 2015 January 2
A compelling new image from Gemini Observatory peers into the heart of a group of galaxies (VV166) traveling through space together. The variety of galactic forms range from a perfect spiral, to featureless blobs and present, at a glance, a sampling of the diversity and evolution of galaxies.
Gemini Images Comet Hours Before Probe’s Landing
Web Feature | 2014 November 17
New Gemini Observatory images show an Earth-based perspective of the comet targeted by the Rosetta spacecraft. The images capture the comet about nine hours before the Philae probe landed on the “dirty snowball’s” surface.
First Surface Observations of Oort Cloud Objects
Press Release | 2014 November 7
Astronomers are announcing today the discovery of two unusual objects in comet-like orbits that originate in the Oort cloud but with almost no activity, giving scientists a first look at their surfaces.
Quenching Star Formation in Cluster Galaxies
Web Feature | 2014 November 5
An international team using data from the Gemini Cluster Astrophysics Spectroscopic Survey to explore galaxies that have recently stopped (quenched) the formation of stars. Their findings reveal that these quenched galaxies tend to be closer to the cluster’s center and moving especially fast.
A Pair of Stellar Corpses Surrenders Secrets
Web Feature | 2014 October 21
The observations, led by Mukremin Kilic of the University of Oklahoma, reveal a unique, very close pairing of stellar corpses that have different evolutionary histories: one is the extremely dense, mountain-sized remains of a supernova explosion, and the other is a Neptune-sized cooling ember of a deceased Sun-like star that pulsates about every 30 minutes.
gAstronomy & Exoplanets: Food for Thought!
Web Feature | 2014 October 2
Gemini Observatory and ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center shared with Hawai'i residents "The Adventures of gAstronomy!" Dr. Steve Howell, Project Scientist for NASA's Kepler Planet Finding Mission, and Chef Bill Yosses, former White House Executive Pastry Chef, wowed the audience with their speculation about the conditions on selected exoplanets -- which inspire recipes for chefs like Yosses.
Smallest Known Galaxy with a Supermassive Black Hole
Press Release | 2014 September 16
A University of Utah astronomer and his colleagues discovered that an ultracompact dwarf galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole – the smallest galaxy known to contain such a massive light-sucking object. The finding suggests huge black holes may be more common than previously believed.
Gemini Frontier Field: First Data Now Available
Web Feature | 2014 September 8
The first data from the Gemini Frontier Fields are now available for astronomers. This dataset features wide-field adaptive optics images of a strong lensing galaxy cluster obtained with the GeMS adaptive optics system and GSAOI on the Gemini South telescope.
Half of all Exoplanet Host Stars are Binaries
Web Feature | 2014 September 2
A team of astronomers, led by Dr. Elliott Horch, Southern Connecticut State University, have shown that stars with exoplanets are just as likely to have a binary companion: that is, 40% to 50% of the host stars are actually binary stars.
Planet-like Object May Have Spent Its Youth as Hot as a Star
Press Release | 2014 August 5
Gemini observations helped prove the coolness of a “Y dwarf” – WISE J0304-2705 – which may have been a hot star in its youth.
Extreme Volcanism: Image Captures one of the Brightest Volcanoes Ever Seen in the Solar System
Press Release | 2014 August 1
During the middle of 2013, Jupiter’s moon Io came alive with volcanism. An image from the Gemini Observatory captures what is one of the brightest volcanoes ever seen in our solar system.
Gemini Reveals a Gravitational Wave Source in Hiding
Web Feature | 2014 June 16
A team of researchers have recently identified one of the best gravitational wave sources currently known using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on the Gemini North telescope and the Blue Channel spectrograph on the 6.5-meter MMT Telescope.
Galaxy-wide Outflows, Powered by Supermassive Black Holes, Common Among Quasars
Web Feature | 2014 June 10
Observations using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini South reveal that galaxy-wide high-velocity outflows are extremely common among galaxies that host luminous quasars. These outflows may represent a crucial stage in a galaxy’s evolution when the supermassive black hole at its center begins injecting vast amounts of mass and energy into the galaxy.
Revealing the Complex Outflow Structure of Binary UY Aurigae
Web Feature | 2014 May 15
An international team of astronomers has revealed a complicated outflow structure in the binary UY Aur (Aurigae). The team observed the binary using the Gemini North's NIFS (Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer) with the Altair adaptive optics system and found that the primary star has a wide, open outflow, while the secondary star has a well-collimated jet.
Tackling the Orbit and Size of Beta Pictoris b
Web Feature | 2014 May 15
A Lawrence Livermore team and international collaborators have tracked the orbit of a planet at least four times the size of Jupiter by using the Gemini Planet Imager which snapped an amazingly clear and bright image of the gas giant Beta Pictoris b after an exposure of just one minute.
Odd planet, so far from its star...
Press Release | 2014 May 12
An international team led by Université de Montréal researchers has discovered and photographed a new planet 155 light years from our solar system by combining observations from the Gemini Observatory, the Observatoire Mont-Mégantic (OMM), the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and the W.M. Keck Observatory.
FIRST POTENTIALLY HABITABLE EARTH-SIZED PLANET CONFIRMED BY GEMINI AND KECK OBSERVATORIES
Press Release | 2014 April 17
The first Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of another star has been confirmed by observations with both the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory.
Sakurai’s Object: Stellar Evolution in Real Time
Press Release | 2014 April 2
Using the Altair adaptive optics (AO) system with the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai’i to compensate for distortions to starlight caused by the Earth’s atmosphere, two NOAO astronomers were able to observe the shell of escaping material around Sakurai’s Object (V4334 Sgr).
Limits on Binarity of Exoplanet Host Stars
Web Feature | 2014 February 20
New research by Stephen Kane (San Francisco State University) and collaborators shows that planets on highly eccentric (very non-circular) orbits are not necessarily explained by the presence of an additional star still present in the system. The Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) on the Gemini North telescope was used in this research.
Gemini North Back On-sky: Dome Repairs Complete
Web Feature | 2014 February 18
Gemini North completed dome shutter system repairs and is back on-sky.
