Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[dan d]

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/ast...-universe/

Wow!!!! 13 billion lt yrs back. Interesting.
Aloha


HPP

[TomK]

Unfortunately, some fairly serious health issues have prevented me from keeping this thread updated. I'm hoping things are looking up now and will try to update everyone on research results I've missed over the last couple of months or so. In the meantime, there's this recent one:

Primordial black holes may not be as abundant as thought.

The late Stephen Hawking had an hypothesis that the early universe was full of tiny black holes and that they make a significant contribution to the dark matter in the universe. Years ago I remember reading a paper that suggested that the Tunguska event (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event) was caused by a mini black hole.

Latest observations from the Subaru Telescope on MK suggest that these tiny and primordial black holes are extremely rare and are an insignificant contributor to dark matter.

https://phys.org/news/2019-04-subaru-tel...rdial.html

[TomK]

Talking about dark matter...

Unusual galaxies defy dark matter theory

"In the first study, the team confirmed their initial observations of NGC 1052-DF2, or DF2 for short, which show dark matter is practically absent in the galaxy. Using W. M. Keck Observatory's Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), they gathered more precise measurements and found that the globular clusters inside the galaxy are indeed moving at a speed consistent with the mass of the galaxy's normal matter. If there were dark matter in DF2, the clusters would be moving much faster."

The MK observatories are actively researching dark matter in the universe. What it is or isn't is still a mystery. It might take a few more years to figure it out but as ever, the observatories on Mauna Kea are doing their best to unravel the universe's mysteries.

[Guest]

ur health matters are dark matter to this " puna " forum tom / paul.

im wondering if its related to ukirk shutting down soon

[TomK]

quote:

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Originally posted by RWR

ur health matters are dark matter to this " puna " forum tom / paul.

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It's strange how "pog" and "airportparking" also tried to derange this thread. All I will say that despite some serious health matters, I'm capable of posting stuff that makes sense and is coherent, even when it includes some complicated science.

On the other hand, you don't make any sense and are invariably incoherent. So what exactly to you have to add about the discoveries made on this island and by many that live in Puna? Please reply in English.

[Guest]

as usual, try harder paul/tom kerr on your anger and health management cough cough.

eta: tom kerr anger and heatlh management

[TomK]

RWR further edited:

"im wondering if its related to ukirk shutting down soon"

I don't know what "ukirk" is, but UKIRT will be operating for a number of years from now. As ever, there's a small minority of idiots on the island who like to make stuff up. I don't know, maybe we should call it "fake news"?

[Guest]

tom kerr ukirt astronomer, since you are stalking my every post here. i am enjoying collecting these posts for Court.

what is fake news about ukirk shutting down ?

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...ntroversy/

[TomK]

quote:

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Originally posted by RWR

tom kerr ukirt astronomer, since you are stalking my every post here. i am enjoying collecting these posts for Court.

---

Fine, go ahead.

In the meantime, despite the heckling, there's a self-destructing asteroid that's been studied by the CFHT and several other Hawaii telescopes:

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-rel...t_Mar2019/

"Once the new tail was discovered, Denneau and IfA colleague Robert Weryk looked back into archival data from ATLAS and the University of Hawai#699;i (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) telescopes. The tail also turned up in data taken as far back as December 2018. In mid January, a second shorter tail was spied by Jan Kleyna using the Canada France Hawai#699;i Telescope (CFHT), as well as by other observers. An analysis of both tails suggests the two dust releases occurred around Oct. 28 and Dec. 30, 2018.

Tantalized by this new discovery, IfA astronomers Jan Kleyna and Karen Meech, along with colleagues from around the world, began to observe Gault with telescopes around the world and in space. Spectacular images of asteroid 6478 Gault from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show two narrow, comet-like tails of debris streaming from the diminutive 2.5-mile-wide asteroid. The tails are telltale evidence that Gault is beginning to come apart by gently puffing off material in two separate episodes over the past several months."

Although there haven't been Hawaii-based papers on this yet, this is a real strange one:

https://phys.org/news/2019-03-osiris-rex...avity.html

It's an asteroid captured in a rotational Roche lobe which means all sorts of weird stuff happens:

"In practice, that feature gets weird. If you were standing inside the boundaries of Bennu's Roche lobe and slipped on a banana peel, for example, not much would happen—you'd be captured by the lobe and fall back to the surface.

"But if you were outside of the Roche lobe and slipped on a banana peel, you would roll toward the equator," Scheeres said. "And you could gain enough energy so that you'd roll off the equator and maybe up into orbit and then out into space.""

[PaulW]

Great stuff, TomK. Lots of crazy stuff out there (and down here). Look after yourself!