Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[TomK]

Apologies for not posting in this thread recently, but the discoveries are continuing. Just briefly, here are the latest from MK:

"New extended ionized gas clouds detected in Abell 1367 cluster"

Probably not too exciting for the layperson, but these clouds indicate how gas is lost by early galaxies, which influences star and planet formation, so helps us understand how early galaxies evolve.

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-ionized-ga...uster.html

"The monster galaxy that died too quickly "

A surprise for astronomers - a distant galaxy that "died" much earlier than expected.

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-monster-ga...ickly.html
http://www.keckobservatory.org/recent/en...ead_galaxy

"Primordial Galaxy Discovered, First of Its Kind"

The surprise here is that the galaxy appears to be ordinary, whereas galaxies seen at that distance (13.1 billion light years - the universe is 13.8 billion years old). The only way it was found was through gravitational lensing, which can focus light and make something faint look much brighter.

http://www.keckobservatory.org/recent/en...f_its_kind
https://phys.org/news/2017-04-average-ga...epoch.html

"Astronomers discover new substellar companion using microlensing"

Another way to use gravitational lensing, in this case microlensing, in which a small planet orbiting a star temporarily brightens the star from our perspective.

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-astronomer...nsing.html