Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[Guest]

Meanwhile, some bird in the hand info.

Breaking news:

NASA to Announce 'Surprising' Europa Discovery Monday curtesy of Hubble.

http://www.space.com/34131-jupiter-moon-...ement.html

[TomK]

This is a discovery made by a telescope in Hawaii, but this time on Haleakala; Pan-STARRS. The Mauna Kea observatories will undoubtedly follow-up to measure the brightness of the objects at various wavelengths (i.e., measuring their colors) to determine their surface composition and help determine their age and whether they are relics of the original solar system or newcomers.

http://phys.org/news/2016-09-astronomers...ojans.html

The four older trojans are in a stable orbit in one of Neptune's Lagrangian points, which is where gravity from a planet and the sun balance out and objects feel few effects from gravity. The James Webb Space Telescope (Hubble's successor, for want of a better phrase), will be occupying such a point in the Earth-sun system.

Since the fifth trojan librates (an oscillation around a point), it suggests its orbit is still settling and therefore was captured more recently, so a comparison of its colors and those of the others will tell us much more. The expectation is it will show more processing by solar radiation, but if it was captured after orbiting at a much greater distance than Neptune, it might even be a more primordial part of the solar system.

[Guest]

TomK
Punatic
USA
4601 Posts
Posted - 09/20/2016 :  22:42:55        

This is a discovery made by a telescope in Hawaii, but this time on Haleakala; Pan-STARRS. The Mauna Kea observatories will undoubtedly follow-up to measure the brightness of the objects at various wavelengths (i.e., measuring their colors) to determine their surface composition and help determine their age and whether they are relics of the original solar system or newcomers.

http://phys.org/news/2016-09-astronomers...ojans.html

The four older trojans are in a stable orbit in one of Neptune's Lagrangian points, which is where gravity from a planet and the sun balance out and objects feel few effects from gravity. The James Webb Space Telescope (Hubble's successor, for want of a better phrase), will be occupying such a point in the Earth-sun system.

Since the fifth trojan librates (an oscillation around a point), it suggests its orbit is still settling and therefore was captured more recently, so a comparison of its colors and those of the others will tell us much more. The expectation is it will show more processing by solar radiation, but if it was captured after orbiting at a much greater distance than Neptune, it might even be a more primordial part of the solar system.


WOW and LOL I don't see a single mention of water, let alone OCEANS !

Sounds more like the bird. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbA1fVAiNXo

[PaulW]

Thanks Tom, never knew the word trojan was used for that. Do most planets have them? I'd forgotten that Haleakala had a telescope.

[Guest]

That's Right PaulW, Haleakala does have a telescope or two.

http://www.bikemaui.com/haleakala-observatory/

http://mauinow.com/2015/08/19/live-image...struction/

Do you see any similarities between Haleakala and Mauna Kea?

[pahoated]

quote:

---

Originally posted by PaulW

They're all Roman gods except for Uranus (Greek). Since it could be Hawaiian telescopes making the discovery, I hope we get a local goddess this time.

---

The Roman gods are essentially the same as the Greek gods, just the names changed.

Roman Greek

Sol - Helios (Sun)
Mercury - Hermes
Venus - Aphrodite
Terra - Gaea (Earth)
Luna - Selene (Moon)
Mars - Ares
Jupiter - Zeus
Saturn - Kronos

Neptune, Uranus and Pluto were named after the early 1800's after telescopes were powerful enough to see them. The astronomers that found them chose the name and continued with the Greek and Roman gods.

Interesting correlation, to bring it back to Hawaii. The Greek gods, and the Roman adoption of them, and the naming of the visible solar system bodies was because they wer thought to be the homes of the individual gods. It is almost exactly the same with the Hawaiian kupua ohana, they occupy the solar system as a home.

*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*

[TomK]

The monster hydrogen blob.

A multi-telescope study of an extremely distant and bright blob of hydrogen gas shows how large elliptical galaxies may have formed in the early universe. The observational campaign, which included the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, suggests that these blobs are areas where stars formed from infalling material from faint companion galaxies.

The study is a fine example of modern astronomy. Several telescopes are often required to observe phenomena at different wavelengths and each telescope's unique capabilities help understand the physics.

https://astronomynow.com/2016/09/21/gala...ogen-blob/

[leilanidude]

Speaking of "blobs"... Keck gets a mention in this article about a "giant green blob mystery" which has now been solved.

http://www.space.com/34130-giant-green-s...olved.html

"...Further observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii revealed the swarm of small, faint galaxies surrounding the bigger two in the heart of the blob. Here, galaxies are forming stars at 100 times the rate of the Milky Way..."

[TomK]

Leilanidude - it's the same study, just a different perspective with more details. I preferred the article you posted other than the accompanying music!

[leilanidude]

I was going to say, "What music?" but realized that I was using Firefox and have Adobe Flash turned off by default. I didn't watch the video, just read the article.