Latest news with #GeminiNorthTelescope
Forbes
2 days ago
- Science
- Forbes
NASA Confirms A ‘Betel-Buddy' Is Orbiting Supergiant Star Betelgeuse
Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse, using ... More the NASA-NSF-funded 'Alopeke instrument on the Gemini North telescope. Betelgeuse, one of the most famous stars in the night sky, has a close companion, and that may explain why it dimmed dramatically in 2019-20. About 640 light-years from the solar system, red supergiant star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion is famous not only for its unmistakable color, but also because it's one of the closest stars that could soon explode as a supernova. Betelguese And Its 'Great Dimming' Approximately 700 times larger than the sun, Betelgeuse has puzzled astronomers for years because it waxes and wanes in brightness every six years, with its recent 'Great Dimming' event ultimately attributed to a dust cloud ejected by the star. Scientists suspected it may have been caused by a companion star, but failed to detect it using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope or the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Now it's been found, after a team of astrophysicists led by Steve Howell, a senior research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, has pointed the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii at Betelgeuse. The team's findings were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The location of Betelgeuse, at the top-left corber of the Orion constellation. How 'Betel-Buddy' Was Found Using the telescope's Alopeke speckle imager — which takes high-resolution short exposures to minimize the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere — the companion star was found. Six magnitudes dimmer than Betelgeuse, the young, blue-white star orbits Betelgeuse from just four times the Earth-sun distance. That's well within the red supergiant star's outer atmosphere. The Alopeke imager was decisive. 'Gemini North's ability to obtain high angular resolutions and sharp contrasts allowed the companion of Betelgeuse to be directly detected,' said Howell. 'Papers that predicted Betelgeuse's companion believed that no one would likely ever be able to image it.' Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, supported in part by the U.S. ... More National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. Why Betelgeuse Is Special Betelgeuse is a special star. It's the archetype of a red supergiant star near the end of its life cycle, during which its outer atmosphere is expanding. This is the first direct observation of a companion star orbiting within the outer atmosphere of a supergiant. It's thought that the companion may spiral inward and be consumed by Betelgeuse within the next 10,000 years. Astronomers are already preparing for November 2027, when the companion will be at its maximum separation from Betelgeuse, offering the best chance yet for further observation and analysis. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Satellites trace a triangle above Gemini North Telescope
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Gemini North Telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, studies the skies above Maunakea, a mountain in Hawaii. Its twin, the Gemini South Telescope, is based in the Chilean Andes at Cerro Pachón. According to NOIRLab, both Gemini Telescopes have four imagers and spectrographs that view in both optical and infrared wavelengths simultaneously, which are mounted on the back of the telescopes. These instruments work in sync with the telescopes' guidance systems in order to be able to look deep into the universe. The Gemini North Telescope is one of several near the summit of Mauna Kea and it and its twin are two of only a select few observatories that can be operated fully remotely. At 13,825 feet (4,214 meters) in altitude on a long-dormant volcano, the Gemini North Telescope is above clouds and light pollution that could interfere with its analysis. While the Gemini North Telescope may be at a high enough elevation to avoid light pollution, it has another issue that might interfere with its readings: satellite streaks. Because there are more satellites in low-Earth orbit than ever before, it can be challenging for astronomers to avoid them when pointing sensors towards the sky. In this image, the long exposure shows three satellites streaking across the sky to form a triangle shape. Researchers are working to find ways to track these satellites in hopes of making it easier for astronomers to peer into our universe and study the many celestial objects that are there. You can read more about the Gemini Observatory and satellite activity as astronomers continue to use powerful telescopes to look at our night skies.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers found a monstrous jet powering through the early universe
Scientists have found a quasar spewing a gigantic radio jet in space at a time in the early universe when such objects are nearly impossible to find. Quasars, a portmanteau for "quasi-stellar objects," are blindingly bright galaxy cores. Through powerful telescopes, these distant objects can look like stars, but they're the resulting light from feasting supermassive black holes. The jet, sprawling at least 200,000 light-years, double the span of the Milky Way, emerges from the J1601+3102 quasar, born less than 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang. Though a billion years later may not seem like the early days, that period occurred when the universe was only nine percent of its current age of 13.8 billion — making it a mere toddler. "It's only because this object is so extreme that we can observe it from Earth, even though it's really far away," said Anniek Gloudemans, a research fellow at the federally funded NOIRLab, in a statement. SEE ALSO: Scientists found a colossal black hole near the dawn of time The J1601+3102 quasar's radio jet was first discovered by the Low Frequency Array Telescope. Credit: LOFAR / DECaLS / DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys / LBNL / DOE / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA Finding this radio jet, first discovered by the European Low Frequency Array Telescope, is an enormous achievement. Follow-up observations ensued in near-infrared light with the Gemini North Telescope and in visible light with Hobby Eberly Telescope. A research team has characterized the object in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. These jets become elusive the farther back in time astronomers try to look because of the so-called cosmic microwave background. The ancient radiation, the earliest fossil of light from 380,000 years after the Big Bang, tends to swamp out more subtle signals. Although quasars are technically difficult to find in the early universe, the nearest quasars to Earth are still several hundred million light-years away. That quasars aren't found closer to home is a clue they are ancient relics. Scientists continue to hunt for them because they provide insight into the evolution of galaxies and the universe as a whole. Black holes in general are some of the most inscrutable things in space. Astronomers believe these invisible giants skulk at the center of virtually all galaxies. Falling into one is an automatic death sentence. Any cosmic stuff that wanders too close reaches a point of no return. But scientists have observed something weird at the edge of black holes' accretion disks, the rings of rapidly spinning material around the holes, like the swirl of water around a bathtub drain: A tiny amount of the material can suddenly get rerouted. When this happens, high-energy particles get flung outward as a pair of jets, blasting in opposite directions, though astronomers haven't quite figured out how they work. It's also still a mystery when exactly in cosmic history the universe started making them. Despite this jet's length, it's a pipsqueak compared to others scientists have discovered in later eras. Porphyrion, observed 6.3 billion years after the Big Bang, has a 23 million light-year-long jet. The J1601+3102 quasar is also of modest size, just 450 million times more massive than the sun. Quasars are sometimes known to tip scales at billions of times heavier than the sun. "Interestingly, the quasar powering this massive radio jet does not have an extreme black hole mass compared to other quasars," Gloudemans said. "This seems to indicate that you don't necessarily need an exceptionally massive black hole or accretion rate to generate such powerful jets in the early universe."
