Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[dan_c]

I just read a good article regarding a new study testing Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Still standing, now more than 100 years out, but showing signs of strain (physics inside black holes, etc...)

They gathered data through the Gemini, Keck and Subaru Observatories.

Here is the link: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-einstein-r...heory.html

[TomK]

Thank you, dan_c, very interesting article!

[EightFingers]

I’m going to remember all this next time I vote.

Puna: Our roosters crow first

[TomK]

Thank you, 8F.

[dan d]

And simce now there is no science to speak of being done

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/planet-...iscovered/

Only 31 lyears away


HPP

[dan d]

Dan c, dan d, now we need a dan e or,b?


HPP

[TomK]

A news release from the Maunakea Observatories:

The East Asian Observatory Receives New Instrument: Namakanui
Namakanui will aide search for black holes

HILO, HI - In the midst of protests, the East Asian Observatory received delivery of its newest instrument, Namakanui. Named by renowned Hawaiian language expert Dr. Larry Kimura, Namakanui or "big-eyed fish" will allow astronomers to seek out the coldest gas and dust in the universe, opening a new window into the universe from Maunakea.

The instrument is comprised of three cameras, each studying the universe at a different wavelength or color of light. The three detectors all have their own species names, U'u (1.2mm detector), Aweoweo (0.8mm) and Ala'ihi (3.5mm). Dr. Kimura visited the East Asian Observatories' base facility in Hilo to see the instrument in person for the first time upon its arrival.

"We love the names Dr. Kimura chose -- how they describe the species of fish in Hawaiian waters that come out in the darkness of night to hunt with their large sensitive eyes, " says Dr. Jessica Dempsey, deputy director of the East Asian Observatory. "Namakanui will peer into the darkest and coldest regions of space to help astronomers hunt for objects we currently are unable to see."

When operational, the instrument will be cooled to just a few degrees above absolute zero, in order to be sensitive to faint radiation emitted from cold, star-forming gases such as carbon monoxide, and other complex molecules which coalesce in our galaxy and beyond.

The EAO team plans to use Namakanui next year for the next experiment with the Event Horizon Telescope as the world-wide collection of telescopes hunt for the next image of a black hole. EAO and its neighbor on the summit of Maunakea the Submillimeter Array participated in the last Event Horizon Telescope experiment, which lead to the immense achievement of imaging P#333;wehi, the black hole at the center of the massive M87 galaxy, announced earlier this year.

In the next hunt, Namakanui's detectors will bring 4 times more sensitive measurements to the experiment, giving us an even greater chance of imaging these mysterious monsters at the centers of our galaxy and beyond.

Namakanui arrived in Hilo three weeks ago, intended for delivery and installation at the summit immediately after. The ongoing protests and access challenges meant this was not possible. Instead, the creative staff at EAO and ASIAA cooled the instrument down in the EAO labs, to start testing and learning about the instrument. Namakanui is too sensitive to travel to the summit until access is possible by the main Maunakea Access Road. The challenge will remain in getting the instrument installed and commissioned in time for the Event Horizon Telescope tests later this year and early next year.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

After 30 years of work, the largest map of galaxies in the universe to date:

At the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, the veteran cosmologist (Brent Tully) has been meticulously charting the large-scale structure of the universe. In July, after more than three decades of work, he and his collaborators released the latest fruits of this labor: the most complete view ever created of our place in space.

In these vivid 3D maps, which Tully call “Cosmicflows,” the universe takes on a startlingly new appearance.
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/mas...cna1040936

3D Map:
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-rel...ocal_void/

[TomK]

"Critical observation made on Maunakea during first night of return to operations"

"The existing astronomical observatories on Maunakea returned to operations this weekend, and it didn’t take long for a significant result to be achieved, not only for science, but for assuring the safety of the Earth.

Observations of the near-Earth asteroid 2006 QV89 made on August 11 with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) have ruled out any potential future impact threat to the Earth by this asteroid for the next century."

http://manoa.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=10135

[TomK]

"Unpresidented" bright flashes from the Galaxy's black hole

Shortly before the MK observatories were forced to shut down, observations using the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea showed bright flashes from the black hole at the center of the Galaxy. The cause of the flashes is not yet understood but is likely due to infalling matter as it approaches the Schwarzschild radius, the point where light can no longer escape from a black hole.

Article on CNN:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/world/mil...index.html

And the video and some explanations available via twitter:

https://twitter.com/quantumpenguin/statu...7590727680

Note that the field of view of the video is one by one arcsecond. This roughly how large a star appears to the naked eye at a good seeing site. The resolution of the images is about 60-milliarcseconds, which is far better than any space telescope can deliver due to the use of adaptive optics at Keck.