|
|
Cosmic Heavyweights in Free-
…
The most crowded collision o
…
4/17/09
| Description |
The most crowded collision of galaxy clusters has been identified by combining information from three different telescopes. This result gives scientists a chance to learn what happens when some of the largest objects in the universe go at each other in a cosmic free-for-all. Using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, astronomers were able to determine the three-dimensional geometry and motion in the system MACSJ0717.5+3745 (or MACSJ0717 for short) located about 5.4 billion light years from Earth. The researchers found that four separate galaxy clusters are involved in a triple merger, the first time such a phenomenon has been documented. Galaxy clusters are the largest objects bound by gravity in the universe. In MACSJ0717, a 13-million-light-year-long stream of galaxies, gas and dark matter -- known as a filament -- is pouring into a region already full of galaxies. Like a freeway of cars emptying into a full parking lot, this flow of galaxies has caused one collision after another. Image Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/IfA/C. Ma et al.), Optical (NASA/STScI/IfA/C. Ma et al.) |
| Date |
4/17/09 |
|
HR 4796 with Dust Disk
This color image of the star
…
4/21/98
| Date |
4/21/98 |
| Description |
This color image of the star HR 4796 and its surrounding dust disk was taken on March 15, 1998 at the Keck II Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, using MIRLIN, JPL's mid-infrared camera. Images were taken at two different infrared wavelengths (12 and 21 micrometers) and are represented by bluish green and red in this picture. The star, which is similar to our Sun, appears white in this image. A much cooler disk of dust, a few times larger than our own solar system, appears red. A slight decrease in the brightness between the star and the outer parts of the disk implies that material in this region has condensed to form planets. The bright outer disk may represent material left over from this planet-building phase and could still be actively forming comets. The W.M. Keck Observatory is owned and operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, a joint venture between the University of California, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, and NASA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, a division of Caltech, manages the use of the W.M. Keck Observatory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image of HR 4796 is posted on the World Wide Web, at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/98/hr4796.html ##### |
|
Sharper Vision
| title |
Sharper Vision |
| date |
07.09.2004 |
| description |
The power of the Keck telescope's adaptive optics system is clear in this image of Uranus, its rings and the moon Miranda. The two sets of exposures compare Keck AO system off (left) to Keck AO system on (right). Upper: Uranus, its rings and moon Miranda at near infrared wavelengths of 2.2 microns. Lower: Uranus and its atmospheric details as seen in near infrared wavelengths of 1.6 microns. The image has been doubled in size. Date is Universal Time. *Image Credit*:Heidi Hammel, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO/Imke de Pater, University of California, Berkeley/ W. M. Keck Observatory |
|
Uranus from Earth
| title |
Uranus from Earth |
| date |
07.11.2004 |
| description |
An infrared composite image of the two hemispheres of Uranus obtained with Keck adaptive optics. The component colors of blue, green, and red were obtained from images made at near infrared wavelengths of 1.26, 1.62, and 2.1 microns respectively. The images were obtained on July 11 and 12, 2004. The representative balance of these infrared images which were selected to display the vertical structure of atmospheric features gives a reddish tint to the rings, an artifact of the process. The North pole is at 4 o'clock. *Image Credit*: Lawrence Sromovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison/ W. M. Keck Observatory |
|
Deep Field, X-ray/Optical
| Name |
Deep Field, X-ray/Optical |
|
World's Most Powerful Telesc
…
| Title |
World's Most Powerful Telescopes Team Up With a Lens in Nature to Discover Farthest Galaxy in the Universe |
|
World's Most Powerful Telesc
…
| Title |
World's Most Powerful Telescopes Team Up With a Lens in Nature to Discover Farthest Galaxy in the Universe |
|
Gamma-Ray Burst Found to be
…
| Title |
Gamma-Ray Burst Found to be Most Energetic Event in Universe |
| General Information |
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. A team of astronomers has announced that a recently detected gamma-ray burst was as bright as the rest of the universe, releasing a hundred times more energy than previously theorized. The team measured the distance to a faint galaxy from which the burst, designated GRB 971214, originated. It is about 12 billion light-years from Earth. The astronomers used a suite of satellites and ground-based telescopes to follow the burst. This Hubble image of the GRB 971214 field was taken about four months after the burst, well after the afterglow had faded away. The extremely faint and distant object marked with an arrow is the host galaxy of the gamma-ray burst. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1998/17/text/ ] |
|
Hubble and Keck Team Up to F
…
| Title |
Hubble and Keck Team Up to Find Farthest Known Galaxy in Universe |
|
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant
…
| Title |
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant Star's Massive Outbursts |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, Kameula, Hawaii, astronomers have learned that the gaseous outflow from one of the brightest super-sized stars in the sky is more complex than originally thought. The outbursts are from VY Canis Majoris, a red supergiant star that is also classified as a hypergiant because of its very high luminosity. The eruptions have formed loops, arcs, and knots of material moving at various speeds and in many different directions. The star has had many outbursts over the past 1,000 years as it nears the end of its life. Read more: * The Full Story [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/03/full/ ] |
|
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant
…
| Title |
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant Star's Massive Outbursts |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, Kameula, Hawaii, astronomers have learned that the gaseous outflow from one of the brightest super-sized stars in the sky is more complex than originally thought. The outbursts are from VY Canis Majoris, a red supergiant star that is also classified as a hypergiant because of its very high luminosity. The eruptions have formed loops, arcs, and knots of material moving at various speeds and in many different directions. The star has had many outbursts over the past 1,000 years as it nears the end of its life. Read more: * The Full Story [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/03/full/ ] |
|
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant
…
| Title |
Astronomers Map a Hypergiant Star's Massive Outbursts |
| General Information |
What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory, Kameula, Hawaii, astronomers have learned that the gaseous outflow from one of the brightest super-sized stars in the sky is more complex than originally thought. The outbursts are from VY Canis Majoris, a red supergiant star that is also classified as a hypergiant because of its very high luminosity. The eruptions have formed loops, arcs, and knots of material moving at various speeds and in many different directions. The star has had many outbursts over the past 1,000 years as it nears the end of its life. Read more: * The Full Story [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/03/full/ ] |
|
Astronomers Use Hubble and K
…
| Title |
Astronomers Use Hubble and Keck to Identify Dwarf Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. A team of astronomers at the University of California at Santa Barbara report that they have resolved a dwarf galaxy 6 billion light-years away. Weighing only 1/100 as much as our Milky Way Galaxy, the dwarf is much smaller than anything studied before in any detail at this distance. They report in the Dec. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal that the galaxy looks very similar to one of the dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster, which is located only 60 million light-years away. "We believe we may have identified the progenitors of local dwarf galaxies," says Tommaso Treu. "We see them as clearly as we would see dwarfs in the Virgo cluster using ground-based telescopes. The sharp view of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and the laser guide stars adaptive optics system on the W.M. Keck Telescope, were aimed at a natural lens in space, called a gravitational lens, to study the dwarf. The researchers took advantage of the fact that the distant dwarf galaxy lies behind a massive foreground galaxy that bends light rays much as a glass lens does. This gravitational lensing amplifies the image of the much farther dwarf galaxy, making it appear 10 times brighter and 10 times larger than it would normally be seen by either Hubble or Keck. |
|
Astronomers Use Hubble and K
…
| Title |
Astronomers Use Hubble and Keck to Identify Dwarf Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. A team of astronomers at the University of California at Santa Barbara report that they have resolved a dwarf galaxy 6 billion light-years away. Weighing only 1/100 as much as our Milky Way Galaxy, the dwarf is much smaller than anything studied before in any detail at this distance. They report in the Dec. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal that the galaxy looks very similar to one of the dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster, which is located only 60 million light-years away. "We believe we may have identified the progenitors of local dwarf galaxies," says Tommaso Treu. "We see them as clearly as we would see dwarfs in the Virgo cluster using ground-based telescopes. The sharp view of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and the laser guide stars adaptive optics system on the W.M. Keck Telescope, were aimed at a natural lens in space, called a gravitational lens, to study the dwarf. The researchers took advantage of the fact that the distant dwarf galaxy lies behind a massive foreground galaxy that bends light rays much as a glass lens does. This gravitational lensing amplifies the image of the much farther dwarf galaxy, making it appear 10 times brighter and 10 times larger than it would normally be seen by either Hubble or Keck. |
|
Eris: The Largest Known Dwar
…
| Title |
Eris: The Largest Known Dwarf Planet |
| Explanation |
Is Pluto the largest dwarf planet? No! Currently, the largest known dwarf planet is (136199) Eris [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/136199_Eris ], renamed last week from 2003 UB313 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060207.html ]. Eris is just slightly larger than Pluto, but orbits as far as twice Pluto [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060903.html ]'s distance from the Sun. Eris is shown above [ http://www.keckobservatory.org/view_album.php?album_id=4 ] in an image taken by a 10-meter Keck Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971227.html ] from Hawaii [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951216.html ], USA [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ]. Like Pluto, Eris has a moon, which has been officially named [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/special/08747.pdf ] by the International Astronomical Union [ http://www.iau.org/ ] as (136199) Eris I (Dysnomia). Dysnomia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysnomia_%28moon%29 ] is visible above just to the right of Eris. Dwarf planets [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_planet ] Pluto and Eris are trans-Neptunian objects [ http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/trans_neptunian_objects/ ] that orbit in the Kuiper belt [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/kb.html ] of objects past Neptune. Eris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050801.html ] was discovered in 2003, and is likely composed of frozen water-ice and methane [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane ]. Since Pluto's recent demotion by the IAU [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Astronomical_Union ] from planet to dwarf planet status, Pluto [ http://voyagesolarsystem.org/gallery/gallery_10.html ] has recently also been given a new numeric designation: (134340) Pluto. Currently, the only other officially designated "dwarf planet" is (1) Ceres [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060821.html ]. |
|
Double Asteroid 90 Antiope
| Title |
Double Asteroid 90 Antiope |
| Explanation |
This eight-frame animation is based on the first ever images [ http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~merline/press/ ] of a double asteroid [ http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~merline/press/release.txt ]! Formerly thought to be a single enormous chunk of rock, asteroid 90 Antiope [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/ NumberedMPs00001.html ] resides in the solar system's [ http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] main asteroid belt [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ asteroids.html ] between Mars and Jupiter. Now, these premier images reveal Antiope to actually consist of two 50 mile wide asteroids separated by about 100 miles. Like weights on each end of an elastic string, the pair mutually orbit [ http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/ orbv.html#bo ] their center of mass, or balance point in the space between them, once every 16.5 hours. Binary asteroids and asteroids with moons [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991014.html ] are believed to be rare, but observations of their orbits allow a direct determination of asteroid masses and densities. Surprisingly, Antiope and known [ http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/News/PR_001026/ ] asteroid-moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990807.html ] systems are found to have densities closer to ice than rock, despite their relatively dark and unreflective surfaces. These sharp images were made at the Keck Observatory atop the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea using newly developed adaptive optics [ http://www.mtwilson.edu/Science/ AdapOpt/Overview/ ] technology to overcome the blurring effect [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000725.html ] of Earth's atmosphere. |
|
LkHa101: The Hole in the Dou
…
| Title |
LkHa101: The Hole in the Doughnut |
| Explanation |
You'd need a really big cup of coffee with this doughnut [ http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/ doughnut.html ] ... because the hole in the middle is about a billion kilometers across. Centered on the Sun, a circle that size would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In fact, this doughnut is known to surround a massive newborn star cataloged as LkHa 101 which lies in the constellation Perseus [ http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/perseus/ constell.html ]. Imaged in infrared light [ http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/newtop/whatsnew.html ], the tantalizing torus-shaped cloud of gas and dust [ http://stardust.wustl.edu/IDPIntro.html ] is slightly tilted to our view. The cloud's material may well be the ingredients for the formation of a distant solar system [ http://www.spaceart.org/lcook/extrasol.html ]. A bright source of ultraviolet light [ http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/ multiwavelength.html ], the hot young star itself is much fainter in the infrared and so not visible in this picture. Still, the star's presence is indicated as its intense stellar wind and radiation has apparently carved out the doughnut's hole. This premier close-up of a stellar system in formation was accomplished by adapting a powerful observational technique called interferometry [ http://www.sciam.com/2001/0301issue/0301armstrong.html ] to planet Earth's largest single mirror telescope, the 10 meter Keck [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/ ]. |
|
A Year of Dark Cosmology
| Title |
A Year of Dark Cosmology |
| Explanation |
We live in the exciting time when humanity discovers the nature [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/debate/debate98.html ] of our entire universe. During this year, in particular, however, the quest for cosmological understanding appears to have astronomers groping in the dark. Dark matter [ http://www.sciam.com/specialissues/0398cosmos/0398rubin.html ] and dark energy [ http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/dark-energy.html ] are becoming accepted invisible components of our universe, much like oxygen [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/8.html ] and nitrogen [ http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/7.html ] have become established invisible components of Earth-bound air [ http://www.dep.state.pa.us/earthdaycentral/97/air_teachers/naturally.htm ]. In comprehending [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/bitsff.html ] the nature and origin of the formerly invisible, however, we are only just exiting the cosmological dark age [ http://library.thinkquest.org/2834/gather/darkage/darkage.htm ]. Relatively unexplored concepts such as higher spatial dimensions [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010418.html ], string theories [ http://superstringtheory.com/ ] of fundamental particles [ http://particleadventure.org/ ], quintessence [ http://physicsweb.org/article/world/13/11/8/1 ], and new forms of inflation [ http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmo_04.htm ] all vie for cornerstone roles in a more complete theory [ http://www.sciam.com/2001/0101issue/0101peebles.html ]. As understanding invisible air has led to such useful inventions as the airplane [ http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/taleplane.html ] and the oxygen mask [ http://www.avweb.com/articles/howoxy.html ], perhaps understanding dark matter [ http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_astro/dark_matter.html ] and dark energy [ http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/9811454 ] can lead to even more spectacular and useful inventions. Pictured above [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen_info/kiosk/gallery.html ], three of the largest optical telescopes [ http://www.seds.org/billa/bigeyes.html ] (Keck I, Keck II [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu:3636/realpublic/gen_info/kiosk/index.html ], and Subaru [ http://www.naoj.org/ ]) prepare to peer into the dark and distant universe. |
|
GRB 980703: A Reassuring Red
…
| Title |
GRB 980703: A Reassuring Redshift |
| Explanation |
In the old days, just over a year ago, astronomers had little idea of the true distance to gamma-ray bursts [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap961123.html ]. Did these enigmatic explosions [ http://www.sciam.com/0797issue/0797fishman.html ] occur in our outer Galaxy [ http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1995PASP%2E%2E107%2E1152L ], or in the outer Universe [ http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1995PASP%2E%2E107%2E1167P ]? Last May, a first telling distance measure was made - GRB 970508 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970513.html ] showed an absorption line [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980713.html http://www.bc.kern.cc.ca.us/programs/sea/Astronomy/light/lightb.htm#A2.2 ] with a redshift [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html#redshift ] of about 0.8 - indicating that this gamma-ray burst [ http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast19sep97_2.htm ] (GRB) was an enormous distance away. Skeptics [ http://www.sff.net/people/MBourne/W-Skeptic.htp ], however, are not always convinced by an unrepeated measurement. Since then, though, other tantalizing coincidences have occurred: GRB 971214 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980507.html ] occurred unusually near a galaxy with the enormous redshift of 3.4, and GRB 980425 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980508.html ] occurred unusually near a peculiar low-redshift supernova [ http://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html ]. Skeptics [ http://www.athenet.net/~jlindsay/SkepticQuotes.html ] were intrigued. Now, the potentially definitive implications of the above-pictured [ http://astro.caltech.edu/%7Egeorge/grb/grb980703.html ] optical transient might impress even the cautious. GRB 980703 [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/139.gcn3 ]'s optical transient shows a well-measured redshift from both an absorption line " and " an emission line [ http://astro.gmu.edu/classes/a10695/notes/l03/l03s028.html ]: 0.97. The above negative highlights the uncommon transient source with the label "OT", while letters designate common comparison stars [ http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/gcn3/144.gcn3 ]. |
|
A Sharper View of a Tilted P
…
| Title |
A Sharper View of a Tilted Planet |
| Explanation |
These sharp views [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/news/science/uranus/ index.html ] of tilted gas giant Uranus [ http://www.nineplanets.org/uranus.html ] show dramatic details of the planet's atmosphere and ring system [ http://ringmaster.arc.nasa.gov/uranus/uranus.html ]. The remarkable ground-based images [ http://www.news.wisc.edu/10402.html ] were made using a near-infrared camera and the Keck Adaptive Optics system to reduce the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere. Recorded in July, the pictures show [ http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/ uranus2.html ] two sides of Uranus (careful how you pronounce [ http://www.nineplanets.org/say/uranus.au ] that ...). In both, high, white cloud features are seen mostly in the northern (right hand) hemisphere, with medium level cloud bands in green and lower level clouds in blue. The artificial color scheme lends a deep reddish tint to the otherwise faint rings [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030115.html ]. Because of the severe tilt of its rotational axis, seasons on Uranus [ http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/hp/vo/ava/avapages/ P0418uranseas.html ] are extreme and last nearly 21 Earth years on the distant planet [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ planetary/factsheet/uranusfact.html ]. Uranus is now slowly approaching its southern autumnal equinox - the beginning of fall in the southern hemisphere - in 2007. |
|
Red Saturn
| Title |
Red Saturn |
| Explanation |
This strange, false-color image [ http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/news/science/ saturn/ ] of otherwise familiar planet Saturn [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ saturnfact.html ] shows temperature changes based on thermal infrared [ http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ ] emission in the gas giant's atmosphere [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/saturn/ lower_atmosphere.html&edu=high ] and rings. Recorded from the Keck I telescope on Mauna Kea [ http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/mko/ ], the sharp, ground-based picture of Saturn's southern hemisphere is a mosaic of 35 images. Based on the effects [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040626.html ] of sunlight during the southern summer season [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030405.html ], general warming trends were anticipated. But a surprising result of the infrared image data is the a clear indication of an abruptly warmer polar cap and bright hot spot at Saturn's south pole. The warm south pole and hot spot may be unique in the solar system [ http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/index.cfm ] and a further exploration of the region is planned using instruments [ http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Cassini spacecraft. So how hot is Saturn's hot spot? The upper tropospheric temperature is a sweltering 91 Kelvin [ http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/staff/blynds/ tmp.html ] (-296 degrees Fahrenheit) at the pole. |
|
WR 104: Pinwheel Star
| Title |
WR 104: Pinwheel Star |
| Explanation |
Like a cosmic lawn sprinkler, dust streaming from a rotating star system creates a pinwheel pattern in this false color infrared image [ http://isi.ssl.berkeley.edu/wr104.html ]. Astronomers discovered the surprising star dust scenario using a sophisticated interferometer [ http://isi.ssl.berkeley.edu/isi.html ] and the 10 meter Keck I telescope to observe the bright Wolf-Rayet star WR 104. Wolf-Rayet stars [ http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~hsn/ ] are thought to be massive objects on the brink of a cataclysmic supernova explosion - having grown so hot [ http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~idh/home.html ] and bright that their intense light begins [ http://www.limber.org/sts98/rad.html ] to drive material away in a stellar wind. The problem is, their starlight would also be so intense that any dust flakes [ http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~danforth/superfit/superfit.html ] should be destroyed! A possible solution to this [ http://isi.ssl.berkeley.edu/nature.ps ] dusty dilemma is that a companion star exists hidden in the bright central region, generating wind interactions which shield a relatively narrow dust forming region from the light of WR 104. As the binary system rotates [ http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/courses/astro201/kepler_binary.htm ], the spray of surviving dust particles appears to spiral outward. |
|
Keck Interferometer
| Title |
Keck Interferometer |
| Description |
At the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, NASA astronomers have linked the two 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory. The linked telescopes, which together are called the Keck Interferometer, make up the world's most powerful optical telescope system. The Keck Interferometer will search for planets around nearby stars and study dust clouds around those stars that may hamper future space-based searches for habitable, Earthlike planets. The Keck Interferometer is part of NASA's Origins program, which seeks to answer two fundamental questions: How did we get here? Are we alone? |
| Date |
05.09.2003 |
|
Keck Interferometer
PIA04493
Keck Interferometer
| Title |
Keck Interferometer |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
At the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, NASA astronomers have linked the two 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory. The linked telescopes, which together are called the Keck Interferometer, make up the world's most powerful optical telescope system. The Keck Interferometer will search for planets around nearby stars and study dust clouds around those stars that may hamper future space-based searches for habitable, Earthlike planets. The Keck Interferometer is part of NASA's Origins program, which seeks to answer two fundamental questions: How did we get here? Are we alone? |
|
Keck Interferometer
PIA04494
Keck Interferometer
| Title |
Keck Interferometer |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
At the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, NASA astronomers have linked the two 10-meter (33-foot) telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory. The linked telescopes, which together are called the Keck Interferometer, make up the world's most powerful optical telescope system. The Keck Interferometer will search for planets around nearby stars and study dust clouds around those stars that may hamper future space-based searches for habitable, Earthlike planets. The Keck Interferometer is part of NASA's Origins program, which seeks to answer two fundamental questions: How did we get here? Are we alone? |
|
Land of Three Suns (Artist's
…
PIA03520
Keck I Telescope
| Title |
Land of Three Suns (Artist's Concept Animation) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Sifting the Light of Three Suns This artist's animation shows the view from a hypothetical moon in orbit around the first known planet to reside in a tight-knit triple-star system. HD 188553 Ab is a gas giant planet, about 1.14 times the mass of Jupiter, with an orbital period of 3.3 days discovered using the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and zips around a single star that is orbited by a nearby pair of pirouetting stars. Because the stars in this triple system are bunched together, sunsets on the planet -- or on any moons that might exist around the planet -- would be spectacular. This rambunctious stellar family is called HD188753 and is located 149 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. In this movie, sunset is seen through the tenuous atmosphere of a hot, baked hypothetical moon. As the suns dip below the horizon, the gas giant comes into view. The moon's landscape remains illuminated by sunlight reflected off the planet. Both the planet and moon would be so hot that even in shadow their surfaces would glow. The suns' colors and sizes reflect their masses, temperatures and distances to the planet. For example, the first star shown setting over the horizon is the closest, most massive and hottest of the trio, so it is depicted as large and white. The second star is farther away, less massive and cooler than the first, appearing smaller and yellow. The final star is at the same distance as the second, but it is still less massive and cooler, appearing even smaller and orange-red in color. Our Sun is a bit cooler than the hottest star of the system. The graph in figure 1 shows the "wobble" of a star being tugged on by the planet called HD 188753 Ab. The planet was discovered via the radial velocity technique, in which a planet's presence is inferred by the motion, or wobble, it causes in its parent star. Stellar motion is plotted here as changes in velocity (y-axis) versus time (x-axis). Unlike most planetary wobbles, this one comes from a star that is circled by a nearby pair of stars. In other words, the planet orbits a single star that is part of a close-knit triple-star system. Because the starlight from this cramped bunch blends together, the task of sifting through the light to find the planet's signature was more difficult. This challenge was overcome with the help of detailed models of the triple-star system's light. Data from those models resulted in precise velocity measurements of the star circled by HD 188753 Ab. Note: The size of the Full-Res TIFF for the still image is 3200 samples x 2400 lines. |
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Land of Three Suns (Artist's
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PIA03520
Keck I Telescope
| Title |
Land of Three Suns (Artist's Concept Animation) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Sifting the Light of Three Suns This artist's animation shows the view from a hypothetical moon in orbit around the first known planet to reside in a tight-knit triple-star system. HD 188553 Ab is a gas giant planet, about 1.14 times the mass of Jupiter, with an orbital period of 3.3 days discovered using the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii, and zips around a single star that is orbited by a nearby pair of pirouetting stars. Because the stars in this triple system are bunched together, sunsets on the planet -- or on any moons that might exist around the planet -- would be spectacular. This rambunctious stellar family is called HD188753 and is located 149 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. In this movie, sunset is seen through the tenuous atmosphere of a hot, baked hypothetical moon. As the suns dip below the horizon, the gas giant comes into view. The moon's landscape remains illuminated by sunlight reflected off the planet. Both the planet and moon would be so hot that even in shadow their surfaces would glow. The suns' colors and sizes reflect their masses, temperatures and distances to the planet. For example, the first star shown setting over the horizon is the closest, most massive and hottest of the trio, so it is depicted as large and white. The second star is farther away, less massive and cooler than the first, appearing smaller and yellow. The final star is at the same distance as the second, but it is still less massive and cooler, appearing even smaller and orange-red in color. Our Sun is a bit cooler than the hottest star of the system. The graph in figure 1 shows the "wobble" of a star being tugged on by the planet called HD 188753 Ab. The planet was discovered via the radial velocity technique, in which a planet's presence is inferred by the motion, or wobble, it causes in its parent star. Stellar motion is plotted here as changes in velocity (y-axis) versus time (x-axis). Unlike most planetary wobbles, this one comes from a star that is circled by a nearby pair of stars. In other words, the planet orbits a single star that is part of a close-knit triple-star system. Because the starlight from this cramped bunch blends together, the task of sifting through the light to find the planet's signature was more difficult. This challenge was overcome with the help of detailed models of the triple-star system's light. Data from those models resulted in precise velocity measurements of the star circled by HD 188753 Ab. Note: The size of the Full-Res TIFF for the still image is 3200 samples x 2400 lines. |
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Circus Family of Stars (Arti
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PIA03521
Keck I Telescope
| Title |
Circus Family of Stars (Artist's Concept) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"" Quick Time Movie for PIA03521 Circus Family of Stars This artist's animation shows the clockwork-like orbits of a triple-star system called HD 188753, which was discovered to harbor a gas giant, or "hot Jupiter," planet. The planet zips around the system's main star (yellow, center) every 3.3 days, while the main star is circled every 25.7 years by a dancing duo of stars (yellow and orange, outer orbit). The star pair is locked in a 156-day orbit. This eccentric star family is a cramped bunch, the distance between the main star and the outer pair of stars is about the same as that between the Sun and Saturn. Though multiple-star systems like this one are common in the universe, astronomers were surprised to find a planet living in such tight quarters. One reason for the surprise has to do with theories of hot Jupiter formation. Astronomers believe that these planets begin life at the outer fringes of their stars, in thick dusty disks called protoplanetary disks, before migrating inward. The discovery of a world under three suns throws this theory into question. As seen in this animation, there is not much room at this system's outer edges for a hot Jupiter to grow. The discovery was made using the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii. The triple-star system is located 149 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The sizes and orbital periods in the animation are not shown to scale. The relative motions are shown with respect to the main star. |
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Circle of Ashes
PIA08041
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
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| Title |
Circle of Ashes |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Circle of Ashes This plot tells astronomers that a pulsar, the remnant of a stellar explosion, is surrounded by a disk of its own ashes. The disk, revealed by the two data points at the far right from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is the first ever found around a pulsar. Astronomers believe planets might rise up out of these stellar ashes. The data in this plot, or spectrum, were taken by ground-based telescopes and Spitzer. They show that light from around the pulsar can be divided into two categories: direct light from the pulsar, and light from the dusty disk swirling around the pulsar. This excess light was detected by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Dust gives off more infrared light than the pulsar because it's cooler. The pulsar, called 4U 0142+61, was once a massive star, until about 100,000 years ago, when it blew up in a supernova explosion and scattered dusty debris into space. Some of that debris was captured into what astronomers refer to as a "fallback disk," now circling the leftover stellar core, or pulsar. The disk resembles protoplanetary disks around young stars, out of which planets are thought to be born. The data have been corrected to remove the effects of light scattering from dust that lies between Earth and the pulsar. The ground-based data is from the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. |
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Circle of Ashes
PIA08041
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
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| Title |
Circle of Ashes |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Circle of Ashes This plot tells astronomers that a pulsar, the remnant of a stellar explosion, is surrounded by a disk of its own ashes. The disk, revealed by the two data points at the far right from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is the first ever found around a pulsar. Astronomers believe planets might rise up out of these stellar ashes. The data in this plot, or spectrum, were taken by ground-based telescopes and Spitzer. They show that light from around the pulsar can be divided into two categories: direct light from the pulsar, and light from the dusty disk swirling around the pulsar. This excess light was detected by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Dust gives off more infrared light than the pulsar because it's cooler. The pulsar, called 4U 0142+61, was once a massive star, until about 100,000 years ago, when it blew up in a supernova explosion and scattered dusty debris into space. Some of that debris was captured into what astronomers refer to as a "fallback disk," now circling the leftover stellar core, or pulsar. The disk resembles protoplanetary disks around young stars, out of which planets are thought to be born. The data have been corrected to remove the effects of light scattering from dust that lies between Earth and the pulsar. The ground-based data is from the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. |
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Red-Hot Saturn
PIA07007
Sol (our sun)
Infrared Radiometer
| Title |
Red-Hot Saturn |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
These side-by-side false-color images show Saturn's heat emission. The data were taken on Feb. 4, 2004, from the W. M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Both images were taken with infrared radiation. The image on the left was taken at a wavelength near 17.65 microns and is sensitive to temperatures in Saturn's upper troposphere. The image on the right was taken at a wavelength of 8 microns and is sensitive to temperatures in Saturn's stratosphere. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of each image is at Saturn's south pole. The warming of the southern hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past southern summer solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were not expected. The troposphere temperature increases toward the pole abruptly near 70 degrees latitude from 88 to 89 Kelvin (-301 to -299 degrees Fahrenheit) and then to 91 Kelvin (-296 degrees Fahrenheit) right at the pole. Near 70 degrees latitude, the stratospheric temperature increases even more abruptly from 146 to 150 Kelvin (-197 to -189 degrees Fahrenheit) and then again to 151 Kelvin (-188 degrees Fahrenheit) right at the pole. While the rings are too faint to be detected at 8 microns (right), they show up at 17.65 microns. The ring particles are orbiting Saturn to the left on the bottom and to the right on the top. The lower left ring is colder than the lower right ring, because the particles are just moving out of Saturn's shadow where they have cooled off. As they orbit Saturn, they warm up to a maximum just before passing behind Saturn again in shadow. |
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Saturn's Hot Spot
PIA07008
Sol (our sun)
Infrared Radiometer
| Title |
Saturn's Hot Spot |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This is the sharpest image of Saturn's temperature emissions taken from the ground, it is a mosaic of 35 individual exposures made at the W.M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii on Feb. 4, 2004. The images to create this mosaic were taken with infrared radiation. The mosaic was taken at a wavelength near 17.65 microns and is sensitive to temperatures in Saturn's upper troposphere. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of the image is right at Saturn's south pole. The warming of the southern hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past southern summer solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were not expected. The tropospheric temperature increases toward the pole abruptly near 70 degrees latitude from 88 to 89 Kelvin (-301 to -299 degrees Fahrenheit) and then to 91 Kelvin (-296 degrees Fahrenheit) right at the pole. Ring particles are not at a uniform temperature everywhere in their orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are orbiting clockwise in this image. Particles are coldest just after having cooled down in Saturn's shadow (lower left). As they orbit Saturn, the particles increase in temperature up to a maximum (lower right) just before passing behind Saturn again in shadow. A small section of the ring image is missing because of incomplete mosaic coverage during the observing sequence. |
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