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+--- Thread: Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea (/showthread.php?tid=17412)
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RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - TomK - 12-04-2017
Some of you may find this of interest. For three years we (UKIRT) worked with the University of Arizona and NASA on a project called "Planetary Protection" or Planetary Defense as this article mentions. The idea is to not only track asteroids that might threaten Earth but also understand their composition. i.e., if we have to deal with a threat, we need to know if it's one massive lump of heavy rock or just a loose aggregate of rock. That'll determine what we can do to protect our planet.
This article refers to work being done at MK's IRTF by students in Arizona:
https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/ua-students-participate-first-global-planetary-defense-exercise
"Finding out what TC4 is made of turned out to be more challenging. Is the asteroid rich in carbon, or does it consist of bright rocky materials? Infrared observations made with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, or IRTF, at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii would allow scientists to identify the asteroid's composition. On a trip funded by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's external advisory board, graduate students from the UA traveled to Hawaii to perform the necessary observations."
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - TomK - 12-06-2017
"Putting on a little weight is not just for the middle-aged"
This galaxy is a youngster, it formed in the very early universe but somehow the black hole at its center grew to 800 million times more massive than our sun This is a few years before McDonald's was created, so it can't be blamed on them this time.
From Gemini-North on MK:
"The discovery of an extremely distant supermassive black hole, with a mass some 800 million times that of our Sun is causing astronomers to re-think our understanding of the early cosmos. Researchers report that this is the most distant giant black hole ever detected, and at this distance, our Universe was only about 5% of its current age, or about 690 million years after the Big Bang."
http://gemini.edu/node/12740
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - PaulW - 12-06-2017
Always appreciated, Tom, to see the great work they're doing up there.
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - TomK - 12-07-2017
That last discovery I mentioned made it to the front page of the Trib on Thursday. I should also add that the original discovery came from the infrared survey UKIRT has been doing for several years. Gemini confirmed the distance of the quasar.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/unexpected-discovery-supermassive-black-hole-most-distant-ever-detected
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - Old Croc - 12-10-2017
An asteroid--discovered by Mauna Kea--missed the earth by 73,000 miles in November.
https://www.inquisitr.com/4675171/nasa-reportedly-failed-to-notice-whale-sized-asteroid-as-it-skimmed-past-earth/
We don't need to know about incoming asteroids. Sweep those telescopes off these sacred grounds and return the mountain to its natural, pristine condition.
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - TomK - 12-10-2017
Old croc - I'm assuming there's a little sarcasm there!
For those interested, the asteroid old croc refers to is too small to have impacted the surface of the Earth. The link he provided is fairly accurate when it comes to the amount of energy would be released, but that would have happened high up in the atmosphere. At worst, if it had hit our planet, it would have been similar to the Chelyabinsk meteor (and that's on the tiny chance it would have exploded over an inhabited area):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor
Due to funding issues, astronomers concentrate on finding asteroids that would actually impact the Earth's surface. If a bit more money was available, then smaller asteroids would also be detected, but right now the effort is spent on detecting and understanding asteroids that have a much larger potential for affecting life on Earth because they will actually impact the surface.
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 12-11-2017
TomK,
I read this headline this morning:
NASA to Unveil Exoplanet Discovery Thursday
https://www.space.com/39032-nasa-alien-planet-kepler-discovery-announcement.html
I know this type of announcement is embargoed, so even if you might have some inside information on the discovery you wouldn't be able to say anything until after the public announcement. But for those of us on the edge of our seats, do you know, or can you say, whether any of the observatories on Mauna Kea are involved with this latest discovery?
With so many exoplanets already discovered, this one must be unique in some way.
"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -James Madison, The Federalist Papers, 1787
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - TomK - 12-11-2017
Sorry, can't help with this one, I have no idea what the discovery is.
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - Old Croc - 12-11-2017
Another one for Mauna Kea: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/techandscience/huge-object-passing-earth-could-be-alien-spacecraft-from-another-part-of-galaxy-say-scientists/ar-BBGCXPe?li=AA4Zor&OCID=ansmsnnews11
We must get those telescopes off the mountain. The sacredness of the place is far more important than objects entering our solar system or heading toward Earth.
RE: Discoveries by the telescopes on Mauna Kea - PaulW - 12-11-2017
Huh! Someone wanted a bit of publicity for their project, what a non-story. Thanks for posting though.