Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[TomK]

Thanks for the link, Paul. As to what I think, well, the theoretical evidence based on the orbits of some Kuiper Belt objects is pretty convincing that there is something relatively large out there. As Brown says in the 60 Minutes video, it's unusual for a scientist to say something is certain and if I were in his position I would be a little more cautious, but I think it's very likely the planet exists.

[TomK]

'Imiloa’s Maunakea Skies talk on Friday, Jan. 20, at 7 pm:

"Cracking the Code of Existence"

http://bigislandnow.com/2017/01/11/jan-2...-maunakea/

http://blog.imiloahawaii.org/general-inf...-maunakea/

"Real progress is being made in the remarkable yet notoriously difficult task of cracking the code of existence itself through advanced mathematics, physics and astronomy. New knowledge streaming from Maunakea’s summit is an essential part of this epic quest. Learn more about Cracking the Code of Existence: Universal Questions and Answers from Maunakea at ‘Imiloa’s Maunakea Skies talk on Friday, January 20 at 7:00 p.m. with Dr. Doug Simons, Executive Director of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)."

[PaulW]

Not really a discovery but MK is involved:
http://beforeitsnews.com/space/2017/01/e...04694.html
Should be a cracking show come 2022.

[TomK]

I've marked my calendar for 2022!

This is very interesting, and a great scientific experiment as the hypothesis can be tested. KIC 9832227 is a contact binary, which means two stars are orbiting so closely that they actually share their atmospheres. The small amount of drag both stars experience means their orbital energy is slowly lost and they move closer to each other.

At some point, the more massive star will have gained so much of the other star's atmosphere that its own outer layers will be dense and hot enough to create a nuclear reaction and explode. That's the theory, anyway, and this is a great test of it.

I've seen various news reports about the prediction, one or two saying it will be a supernova, most saying it'll be a nova - if it happens. I've not had time to read the relevant research yet, but suspect it'll be a nova. The main difference is that 1) a nova doesn't destroy the star, it's the outer layers the explode and the star may go nova again in the future, 2) a supernova destroys the originating star and leaves behind a neutron star or a black hole (depending on its original mass).

Both will result in a very bright "star". Novae happen quite often (every few years), involve the brightness of the star increasing by several magnitudes, but are generally too far away to be seen with the naked eye, supernovae are super-bright, but we haven't seen one in our Galaxy for over a hundred years, and we're overdue.

[TomK]

A couple of recent news items regarding the MK observatories (in this case, both involving Keck):

"W. M. Keck Observatory Will Peer Deep into the Cosmic Web"

https://goo.gl/c0Sbjy

Basically, it's known that early galaxies and their evolution (including galaxies such as our own) were fueled by gas surrounding them, but the gas is so faint it's difficult to study, but that may now change.

"Astronomers measure universe expansion, get hints of 'new physics'"

https://phys.org/news/2017-01-cosmic-len...nsion.html

Possibly a huge discovery, but a lot of work needs to be done to really understand this, but the universe may be expanding much faster than we thought, which opens up the possibility of new physics we know nothing about at this point.

Cosmology always makes my head hurt, so won't expand on this too much!

[TomK]

Four planets orbiting a star about 130 light years away have been shown to have their orbits in resonance. The discovery was made over a number of years using the Keck observatory on Mauna Kea to image the planets directly:

http://www.universetoday.com/133087/four...ed-motion/

[TomK]

Another couple of science discoveries recently announced that come from the observatories on Mauna Kea:

"Tracing the cosmic web with star-forming galaxies in the distant universe"

https://phys.org/news/2017-01-cosmic-web...stant.html

When you observe the universe and see objects several billions of light years away, you can actually see a "web". There are regions that are "voids", they have relatively little matter in them and then what looks to be an interconnected "web" of galactic clusters. It's an area of cosmology which is not yet fully understood but several teams are using the telescopes on Mauna Kea to try and figure out exactly what's going on (or, more accurately, what went on).

A little closer to home:

"Keck Observatory planet imager delivers first science"

https://phys.org/news/2017-01-keck-obser...ience.html

I think this is really neat. Coronagraphs have been used for decades, both to block the sun when trying to observe apparently nearby stars to test general relativity, to much smaller devices to block starlight to help detect exoplanets. This instrument actually uses the physics of light itself to block light from a star and detect exoplanets much closer to other stars than before.

[TomK]

More news about detecting and imaging exoplanets, a field in which observatories on Mauna Kea are now taking a leading role:

"The race to image exoplanets heats up!"

http://www.universetoday.com/133220/race...ets-heats/

"However, as Dr. Thayne Currie – a research associate at the NOAJ – indicated, the Observatories on Mauna Kea are particularly well suited to the technology. “Mauna Kea is the best place on this planet to see planets in other stellar systems,” he said. “Now, we finally have an instrument designed to utilize this mountain’s special gifts and the results are breathtaking.”"

[PaulW]

It's just amazing.

[leilanidude]

"However, as Dr. Thayne Currie – a research associate at the NOAJ – indicated, the Observatories on Mauna Kea are particularly well suited to the technology. “Mauna Kea is the best place on this planet to see planets in other stellar systems,” he said. “Now, we finally have an instrument designed to utilize this mountain’s special gifts and the results are breathtaking.”"
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And a small group of fools want to stop this work. How sad.