Discoveries using the telescopes on Mauna Kea

[kalianna]

terracore - it was a tease but I expected the discovery to be announced by now! I've asked for the date the announcement will be made, no reply yet. When I learn about the announcement of the announcement, I will announce it.

Incidentally, it's not an asteroid or comet heading this way to destroy the planet. That is certainly not something I would tease about.

ALIENS??!!

[randomq]

He's basically telling us it's aliens. I'm heading down to the Kalapana spaceport while there's still time to get a good spot!

[kander]

Is it paradigm shifting discovery something so exotic that its a matter of national security? Or is it more mundane like some self important scientist is arguing over the findings?

[randomq]

Apparently TomK said too much. I thought I saw a black helicopter down by HPP the other day...

[TomK]

I was only allowed one phone call where I was taken so couldn't post for a while...

Seriously, the reason I've not been able to say any more is that when I heard the news it appeared it was going to be published in a few day's time, but now it seems it's not going to happen for a couple of months. So, I'm afraid, everyone will have to be patient, including myself.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Does "source of life in the universe" mean we’ve discovered proto-aliens in our galaxy?  That headline leads off a news release describing the origin of carbon in the Milky Way:
Astronomers have found the source of life in the universe


Another more, shall we say, down to earth (and florid) article puts it this way:

As dying stars take their final few breaths of life, they gently sprinkle their ashes into the cosmos through the magnificent planetary nebulae. These ashes, spread via stellar winds, are enriched with many different chemical elements, including carbon. "The findings pose new, stringent constraints on how and when carbon was produced by stars of our galaxy, ending up within the raw material from which the Sun and its planetary system were formed 4.6 billion years ago...

Using data from the Keck Observatory near the summit of Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii collected between August and September 2018, the researchers analyzed white dwarfs belonging to the Milky Way's open star clusters. 
... stars born roughly 1 billion years ago in the Milky Way didn't produce white dwarfs of about 0.60-0.65 solar masses, as it was commonly thought, but they died leaving behind more massive remnants of about 0.7 - 0.75 solar masses.
... new carbon atoms in their hot interiors, transported them to the surface and finally spread them into the surrounding interstellar environment...

Astrobiology.com


Even if it's not exactly aliens, consider this.  Remnants of dying stars containing carbon, one of the building blocks of life, spread by solar wind - - probably didn't reach planet Earth without landing elsewhere throughout the Milky Way.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

July 31st 
1 PM

Mauna Kea Observatories live event
Moderator for this event:
Steve Mairs (Spaceman Steve) –  Senior Scientist at the East Asian Observatory

Panel presenters include:
John Kuroda - Software Engineer at the East Asian Observatory
Callie Crowder - Remote Observer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
Mari-Ela Chock - Communications Officer at W. M. Keck Observatory

Under The Dome

[TomK]

‘Hawaiian Nights: A Personal Journey from Vancouver Island to Mauna Kea’

For anyone interested, Cam Wipper, an MK CFHT telescope operator, will be giving a seminar via Zoom today at 7 pm Eastern time, I think that's 1 pm Hawaii time. You have to sign up because I think numbers are limited by Zoom, but in any case, the details are available from here:

https://www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/haw...astronomy/

[TomK]

"Maui teens track space satellite plummeting to Earth"

https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/08/28/m...satellite/

Give kids a good educational opportunity and this is what they can achieve.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Maui teens...

Thanks for posting TomK.  Some island kids certainly are our future.
I’m glad to see that AEOS, which I believe was formerly designed AMOS now shares their tracking information with the public.  In the early ‘90’s it was a high security facility, and as an contract worker  any room we passed through had to be “sanitized” so we wouldn’t see computer displays or dot matrix printouts.  

I remember when I was a student, reading about the Geophysical satellite launches which made earth science possible from space. And now students who are about the same age as I was then, can access information from a network of observatories, and track the return of those satellites to earth 60+ years later.  We’ve come a long way.