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"science sometimes can be slow."
Correct and most if not all major instruments used by the MK observatories require about a decade of development from inception to being operational. The downside of that is other things get developed more quickly, computing and detectors for instance, but you have to design an instrument that uses the best technology available at the time. The best option is to design an instrument that can be upgraded, but if you don't know what those upgrades might be, it's a tough thing to achieve.
At UKIRT we're looking at a major upgrade to our wide-field camera using new 4K infrared arrays. It'll be expensive and will likely require half a year of not having the instrument available, but it'll be much cheaper than designing a new instrument and will result in significantly more efficient and sensitive observations.
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quote:
Originally posted by TomK
"science sometimes can be slow."
At UKIRT we're looking at a major upgrade to our wide-field camera using new 4K infrared arrays. It'll be expensive and will likely require half a year of not having the instrument available, but it'll be much cheaper than designing a new instrument and will result in significantly more efficient and sensitive observations.
And slower still if done in Hawaii...
or not at all if our pandering politicians force the shutdown of UKIRT and other productive observatories...
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or not at all if our pandering politicians force the shutdown
Anyone else notice the deafening silence on these issues?
How long does it take to make a decision? (I know, I know, they're still counting the piles of money "for" and "against" ...)
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How long does it take to make a decision?
Construction moves quickly if you build an illegal structure on the side of Mauna Kea Access Road. In fact, some of the same people who want ever i dotted and t crossed for all construction on Mauna Kea, are looking into
whether an illegal structure can legally be removed:
State Senator Kahele said he was surprised to see the structure was taken down a few days ago, it's since been rebuilt.
Senator Kahele wants to find out whether the law allows for the structure's removal.
http://www.kitv.com/story/39118392/hawai...kicked-out
"No one is such a LIAR as the indignant man." Beyond Good & Evil, 1886 - Friedrich Nietzsche
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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everybody making money off Mauna Kea except Hawaiians
Didn't realize we were supposed to support them in perpetuity.
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Sen Kahele,
Isnt he the one that did a gut and past on a bill to kill the TMT? Yep I voted him in before he did that. Stupid me,not again
Dan D
HPP
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Thanks, everyone, especially for the support of UKIRT, but this is going a little off-topic so will try and start bringing it back. Not with a discovery, but since we've discussed adaptive optics recently, news of NFS funding for a revolutionary new way of using adaptive optics.
https://www.gemini.edu/node/21105
"
The award carries Gemini forward in two ways. One element funds major software and operational upgrades to improve capabilities at both Gemini telescopes for extremely rapid follow-up studies of transient sources. The other key aspect is a state-of-the-art multi-conjugate adaptive optics (AO) system for wide-field, high-resolution imaging at the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Maunakea in Hawai’i."
Lasers have been used by telescopes to excite atoms in the upper atmosphere that can be used as an "artificial guide star", so no matter where the telescope points it can use that virtual star to correct for the effects of the atmosphere. This new technology allows a laser to produce several guide stars from one laser over a much wider field so even wide-field images can be corrected and you end up with several objects, perhaps hundreds or even thousands, that will be seen in detail that can't be seen at milli-arcsecond resolution today - all in one exposure.
It'll take a few years of development, but could be a game-changer for ground-based astronomy. The grant also comes with money for public outreach and education, much of which will happen in Hawaii.
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Sorry tom ,i will try to keep politics out of a science thread.
Aloha
Dan D
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No need for an apology, Dan, things went off-topic for a good reason. In the meantime:
"Optical illusion" fooled us for a while
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-high-scand...black.html
"
Now another group of astronomers from Lund University among others, in collaboration with UCLA in California, have found an explanation for the high levels of scandium, vanadium and yttrium. They argue that the so-called spectral lines presented last spring were actually an optical illusion. Spectral lines are used to find out which elements a star contains—by using its own light."
The latest results and analysis come from observations by the Keck Observatory on MK. Previous observations had suggested that there was an extraordinary abundance of elements in old stars near our Galactic Center which was difficult to explain, but it turns out that the most likely explanation is that the stars are cooler than expected and the hydrogen emission lines they produced mimicked emission from other elements.
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So when and where is the protest?
Cheers,
Kirt
