Advanced press release search

6 Enero 2015: 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. The Gemini Planet Imager GPI is an advanced instrument designed to observe the environments close to bright stars to detect and study Jupiter-like exoplanets (planets around other stars) and see protostellar material (disk, rings) that might be lurking next to the star.

5 Agosto 2014: Astronomers have discovered an extremely cool object that could have a particularly diverse history—although it is now as cool as a planet, it may have spent much of its youth as hot as a star.

12 Mayo 2014: An international team led by Université de Montréal researchers has discovered and photographed a new planet 155 light years from our solar system.

6 Enero 2014: After nearly a decade of development, construction, and testing, the world’s most advanced instrument for directly imaging and analyzing planets around other stars is pointing skyward and collecting light from distant worlds.

9 Agosto 2013: “Celestial Pollution” from meteors like this weekend’s Perseid Meteor Shower sprinkle sodium high up in our atmosphere and give astronomers what they need to see the universe in much greater detail.

6 Agosto 2013: Gemini Observatory’s latest instrument, a powerful infrared camera and spectrograph at Gemini South, reveals its potential in a series of striking on-sky commissioning images released today.

2 Julio 2013: A unique new instrument at Gemini South in Chile takes the removal of atmospheric distortions (using adaptive optics technology) to a new level. Today’s release of seven ultrasharp, large-field images from the instrument’s first science observations demonstrate its remarkable discovery potential.

27 Junio 2013: Gemini Observatory’s Planet-Finding Campaign finds that, around many types of stars, distant gas-giant planets are rare and prefer to cling close to their parent stars. The impact on theories of planetary formation could be significant.

8 Marzo 2013: A pair of newly discovered stars is the third-closest star system to the Sun, according to a paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The duo is the closest star system discovered since 1916. The discovery was made by Kevin Luhman, an associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and a researcher in Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds.

8 Enero 2013: A new image released today reveals how Gemini Observatory's most advanced adaptive optics (AO) system will help astronomers study the universe with an unprecedented level of clarity and detail by removing distortions due to the Earth’s atmosphere. The photo, featuring an area on the outskirts of the famous Orion Nebula, illustrates the instrument's significant advancements over previous-generation AO systems.

13 Agosto 2012: Until now, evidence for what astronomers suspect happens at the cores of the largest galaxy clusters has been uncomfortably scarce. Theory predicts that cooling flows of gas should sink toward the cluster’s center, sparking extreme star formation there, but so far – nada, zilch, not-so-much.

29 Junio 2012: That surprise you feel when your favorite store turns off its lights, locks up its doors, and suddenly, for no apparent reason, goes out of business? That's just how astronomers felt recently when a dusty disk of rocky debris around a nearby star abruptly shut down and by all appearances went out of business.

24 Abril 2012: In mid-July 2012, astronomers from around the world will converge in San Francisco, California to discuss recent and future science from the Gemini Observatory. From direct imaging of exoplanets, to the most massive black holes ever measured, the meeting’s program features a wide-range of topics that are summarized on the conference’s webpage (above).

3 Abril 2012: Learn how Gemini is leading the way in developing the next generation of adaptive optics to power the new Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS).

6 Enero 2012: Gemini’s next-generation adaptive optics system produces highest-resolution with largest field-of-view ever captured from the ground using laser guide star technology.

2 Noviembre 2011: Join in the celebration of Gemini Observatory’s one-thousandth scientific paper by becoming a friend of Gemini on Facebook. There, you can follow along, through the end of 2011, as some of the top science results (and dozens of stunning images) from the twin 8-meter telescopes are featured each week in “Gemini Gems.”

4 Mayo 2011: An all-time favorite of skywatchers on both hemispheres, the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, or M8) is among the most striking examples of a stellar nursery in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy. Visible in small telescopes and binoculars its fuzzy glow reveals the type of chaotic environment where new stars are born.

29 Marzo 2011: A New Gemini Podcast, In October of 2010, the Gemini South primary mirror received a shiny new coating of protected silver. A new two-part podcast allows you to experience an insider's view of this exciting process, one that few outside of Gemini have ever witnessed. Navigate to the Podcast by clicking on the video clip below.

26 Enero 2011: In the early morning of January 22, 2011 at 4:38am, Chile Summer Time, a new era in high-resolution astronomy began with the successful propagation of a 5-star sodium laser guide star “constellation” in the skies over Cerro Pachón in Chile.

9 Septiembre 2010: Observing a fireball streaking through the atmosphere of another planet is a rare occurrence. However, two amateur astronomers did just that on June 3, 2010. Their images prompted the twin Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawai‘i and Chile to join other telescopes around (and above) the world to see if the object left any trace of its passage into Jupiter’s cloudtops.