Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[TomK]

I'm not so sure nobody hears about that part, rather it gets ignored. I've certainly brought it up in PW several times and have seen it in the media, just not very often. I believe it was also mentioned in the recent contested case hearing.

[kalakoa]

not so sure nobody hears about that part, rather it gets ignored

Selective attention span. Facts that don't support the narrative (telescopes create money, jobs, justify programs at UH) aren't relevant, while any rumor that supports the opposition (alien laser beacon that contaminates the groundwater and kills endangered species) is obviously a fact.

[TomK]

Gemini North on Mauna Kea detects our nearest black hole

There may be closer black holes but this is by far the closest we've detected thanks to the Gemini telescope on Mauna Kea. Don't worry, it's still far away and there's no threat to our solar system, but it does mean some new theories about binary systems of stars form. Most black holes are detected by X-rays from the material being stripped off a companion star by the black hole. In this case, the black hole is "dormant", there is no transfer of mass, but the orbit of its companion star gives away the fact it's a black hole.


https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2022/...-to-earth/

"“Take the Solar System, put a black hole where the Sun is, and the Sun where the Earth is, and you get this system,” explained Kareem El-Badry, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the lead author of the paper describing this discovery. “While there have been many claimed detections of systems like this, almost all these discoveries have subsequently been refuted. This is the first unambiguous detection of a Sun-like star in a wide orbit around a stellar-mass black hole in our Galaxy.”"

[TomK]

First light for Keck exoplanet hunter; search for habitable planets

Keck has announced a successful first-light test of the Keck Planet Finder (KPF). This is an instrument designed to look at exoplanet atmospheres in an attempt to find which may support life. As is normal, the first test was carried out on a bright and well-known object so the instruments team can confirm the instrument works as expected. In this case, the target was Jupiter and after the spectrum it took was verified, they looked at an actual exoplanet.

https://www.keckobservatory.org/kpf/

"Last night, on Wednesday, November 9, the KPF team successfully captured a first light spectrum of Jupiter with the next-generation instrument, followed by a spectrum of KPF’s first star, 51 Pegasi, which hosts 51 Pegasi b – the first planet orbiting a Sun-like star that was discovered using the Doppler method. It is now poised to begin observing distant worlds with great precision in an effort to answer one of the most compelling questions in astronomy: are we alone?"

Big Island Now also has a story about it - https://bigislandnow.com/2022/11/10/keck...astronomy/

[dan_c]

Astrophysicists from Northwestern University put together a 12-year time-lapse video of planets orbiting their star.  The data came from their time using Keck.  I haven't seen something like this before and it seemed pretty cool.

https://www.space.com/exoplanets-orbit-1...apse-video

[TomK]

Astrophysicists from Northwestern University put together a 12-year time-lapse video of planets orbiting their star.  The data came from their time using Keck.  I haven't seen something like this before and it seemed pretty cool.

https://www.space.com/exoplanets-orbit-1...apse-video

Thanks, I missed that news completely. There are some other time-lapse videos of exoplanets, but this is the best I've seen. Thank you again!

[TomK]

Red sprites were observed from Mauna Kea. This happened three weeks ago when there was thunderstorm activity around the island. It's worth slowing down the video as it's not very long in the first place.

https://youtu.be/-zX0klwsCNk

[kalianna]

Hereʻs a slowed down version.

https://bigislandnow.com/2023/02/27/watc...ig-island/

[TomK]

The Keck Observatory on MK has been observing a cloud of gas and dust very close to and orbiting our Galaxy's central black hole for the last 20 years - they've called in X7. In that time, they have seen the cloud change its shape and elongate thanks to the tidal forces caused by Sagittarius A*, the name of the central black hole. They estimate that within the next twenty years, we'll be able to observe the demise of the cloud as it is torn apart and captured by the black hole. The fragmentation of the cloud has already begun.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.38...357/acb344

It's very rare that we get to predict and witness an event like this in astronomy, which is both observable in detail as it's relatively close and comes along with a prediction of what will happen in the relatively near future.

['elepaio]

Daham Tom, you got me all hot and bothered...now im on the edge of my seat for the next 20 for that cloud.

Lets sum up Astronomy Announcements shall we with one sentence from them all:
"its very rare ____"

Yah bra we get it. Something new every day. Gods creation is awesome.

Keep up the good work and making it relatable to us. Salamat.