Author: Andrew

An electrical engineer, amateur astronomer, and diver, living and working on the island of Hawaiʻi.

Earliest Spiral Galaxy Surprises Astronomers

W. M. Keck press release…

In the beginning, galaxies were hot and clumpy – too hot to settle down and form grand spirals like the Milky Way and other galaxies seen in the nearby universe today. But astronomers have now been surprised by the discovery of a solitary grand design spiral galaxy in the early universe which could hold clues to how spirals start to take shape. The find was announced in a report in the July 19 edition of the journal Nature.

The ancient spiral, called BX442, was found by astronomers who first surveyed 300 distant galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope, then followed up and confirmed using detailed observations and analyses from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

BX442 HST/Keck false colour composite image of galaxy BX442. Credit: David Law; Dunlap Insitute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

“As you go back in time to the early universe — about three billion years after the Big Bang; the light from this galaxy has been travelling to us for about 10.7 billion years —galaxies look really strange, clumpy and irregular, not symmetric” said astronomer Alice Shapley of UCLA. “The vast majority of old galaxies look like train wrecks. Our first thought was, why is this one so different, and so beautiful?”

Not only was the spiral shape clearly visible, but by using Keck’s OSIRIS instrument (OH-Suppressing Infrared Imaging Spectrograph), astronomers were able to study different parts of BX442 and determine that it is, in fact, rotating and not just two unrelated disk galaxies along the same line of sight that give the appearance of being a single spiral galaxy.

“We first thought this could just be an illusion and that perhaps we were being led astray by the picture,” said Shapley, a coauthor on the Nature paper. “What we found when we took spectra of this galaxy is that the spiral arms do belong to this galaxy; it wasn’t an illusion. Not only does it look like a rotating spiral disk galaxy; it really is. We were blown away.”

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Employment at Keck – Senior Electronics Engineer

W. M. Keck position announcement…

The W. M. Keck Observatory seeks a Senior Electronics Engineer to provide electronics engineering and project management support to develop new observatory capabilities and upgrades to our existing observatory infrastructure. Desired competencies include: sound electronics engineering and design skills, and demonstrated ability to plan and manage electronics and electro-mechanical systems projects. Ideal candidate should have excellent electronics engineering, design and project management skills, and should be a motivated self-starter who can manage multiple projects and priorities within a fast paced environment.

AO Bench Work
Working on the Keck 1 AO bench
The observatory operates two of the largest and most scientifically productive optical/infrared telescopes in the world. The twin 10-meter telescopes are located amidst several other world class observatories on the summit of Mauna Kea, at 13,796 feet above sea level on the Big Island of Hawaii, one of the premier sites for astronomy. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to join a skilled and deeply committed team of technical professionals who enable exciting and important astronomical discoveries.

Qualifications for this position include a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering or equivalent and eight years of work experience performing design and documentation, analysis, fabrication, test, and troubleshooting of electronic and electromechanical systems.

Additional information about WMKO and this position may be found on our website at www.keckobservatory.org under Employment. This position requires you to submit your resume on-line at http://keckobservatory.iapplicants.com.

A Very Thin Moon and Mercury

This one will be a challenge. This evening a very thin Moon may be visible just below Mercury as the Sun sets. The Moon will be a mere 1.3% illuminated and only 7° above the horizon at sunset. Mercury may provide a bit of a signpost that can be used to find the Moon. It will be located 2.5° directly above the Moon, shining at 2.8 magnitude. As Mercury is heading for inferior conjunction, it too is a thin crescent. The pair will be 10° south from the point at which the Sun slips below the horizon.

A Case Study Tourist Trap

It hits you as soon as you step through the front door. There is only one thought that describes it… tourist trap.

Dole Plantation
The Dole Plantation in Wahiawa, Oahu
The signs are classic, you enter and exit through the gift shop. It isn’t a little gift shop either, but a large operation with every type of tacky tourist wares. This is a place where the tour buses stop. A place designed to extract as much money as possible in the short time available before the bus moves on to the next stop around the island.

I have been to tourist traps so kitschy they actually become fun. Between Benson and Wilcox, Arizona, along I-10 is The Thing. The place make no pretense about being a pure tourist trap. Admission to the museum that includes the namesake mummy/artifact/side-show-exhibit is actually quite cheap, $1 per person last time I was there. They obviously make the money in the gift shop. Beside The Thing itself, the little museum is surprisingly decent, with western memorabilia, wagons and old cars. If you take the place for what it is you can simply enjoy the experience, with some ice cream on the way out.

Pineapples
Pineapples in the demonstration garden at the Dole Plantation
The Dole Plantation is simply a tourist trap, without many redeeming features. They charge for most everything, the maze is $6/person, the train is $8, the garden tour is $5. Visit a couple spots and it quickly adds up. The prices in the gift shop are not much better. I had to laugh when I saw the prices for the small packages of macadamia nuts. You could buy twice as much of the same brand in any local supermarket.

There were a few simple signs in the garden that explained the history of the Dole pineapple empire and it’s founder, James Dole. The story is a fascinating example of a determined businessman who took a quiet local market and turned it into a global industry. It is a classic example of the plantation history of Hawai’i, with all of the good and ugly bits mixed in. Likely you will not learn much visiting the place. There was supposed to be something more of a museum here, if it still existed I could not find it behind all the tasteless merchandise. A bit of history, something real, anything would have created a more worthwhile stop. I guess it would just take up space that could be used for another rack of hula skirts.

I must admit it was not all bad… Walking through the garden Deb and I discovered the best part. There were cute little Carolina anoles all through the bromeliads. We must have spent half an hour chasing anoles trying to get good photos, with some success. The pineapple ice-cream float wasn’t so bad either.

Astrophoto Interference on Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea is simply a great place to shoot astrophotos from. Dark, clear skies with typically good seeing. Unlike some mainland locations there is a distinct lack of aircraft overhead. I am not sure how many shots I have had ruined by the bright anti-collision strobes crossing through the frame when shooting from locations in Arizona.

There are hazards to shooting photos here that do not commonly exist elsewhere. I was unpleasantly surprised when reviewing the take the next morning to find brilliant yellow lines through a hour and a half of exposures taken of the Cygnus region. The material is otherwise great, the makings of a nice shot, except for this one little issue. There are ways of suppressing artifacts like this when processing, but the beam is so bright I am not certain they will work all that well.

Worse, I checked the schedule, the offending laser is coming from Keck 2 AO, a system I work on.

The observatories have a system in place to deal with this issue. There are four operational lasers on the mountain, Keck 1 and Keck 2, Subaru and Gemini. Each optical observatory using a laser maintains a server that posts their laser location, status, and calculates the position of each beam in the sky. This can be queried by the other observatories to check if the beam crosses the field of view. A set of rules has been negotiated to determine who has right of way, usually who is on target first.

Obviously this computer system does not take into account my little telescope shooting photos from Hale Pohaku. If I had known I could have called Heather and asked her to shutter her laser, I was on target first. Being the kind soul she is, she would probably laugh with me.

Cygnus and Laser
Rough processing of a single frame, Cygnus region, with the Keck 2 Adaptive Optics laser crossing through the frame

Postcard from the Reef – Sphinx Nudibranch

From a distance it looked like another common P. varicosa, a nudibranch I see all the time on the reef. Getting closer something was different. No protuberances, no yellow, what was it? Simply a juvenile that has not developed the full colors and pattern? Not knowing what it was I proceed to take a few photos of the critter.

Hitting the books it quickly becomes apparent, it was a P. sphingus I found and photographed. A new species for me! I carefully read through the descriptions of the various dorid nudibranch found in Hawai’i again. I need to look closer, there are some lookalikes to be aware of.

Sphinx Nudibranch
Sphinx Nudibranch (Phyllidiopsis sphingis) at 25′ depth, Puako