Today Mercury passes through superior conjunction, passing behind the Sun as seen from the Earth. The planet will appear in the sunset early next month, reaching maximum elongation on February 16th.
Category: Astronomy
Exploring the cosmos
First Quarter
Black Holes and the Fate of the Universe
This is a recoding of a Keck Observatory Astronomy Talk given by Dr. Günter Hasinger, Astronomer and Director of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. His talk, ‘Black Holes ad the Fate of the Universe’, was given on November 20, 2012 at the Gates Performing Arts Center at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, part of the W. M. Keck Observatory public lecture series.
It’s a little bit of the story of the Universe from beginning to end,” said Dr. Hasinger. “What role do black holes have on the fate of the universe, what are they, and how we can understand them better?”
Günter Hasinger from Keck Observatory on Vimeo.
Surprise: Earth-sized Planets Are Common
W. M. Keck Observatory press release…
A team of astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Hawaii at Manoa has found that 17 percent of all sun-like stars have planets one to two times the diameter of Earth in close orbits. The finding, based on an analysis of the first three years of data from NASA’s Kepler mission and the W. W. Keck Observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, was announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, California this week.
While other studies had shown that planets around stars are common in our galaxy, until this study, it remained unclear if this is true for Earth-size planets.
To find planets, the Kepler space telescope repeatedly images 150,000 stars in a small region of the sky. It looks for a tiny dip in each star’s brightness that indicates a planet is passing in front of it, much like Venus passed between Earth and the sun last summer.
We took a census of the planets detected by the Kepler Space Telescope,” said Howard. “Erik Petigura wrote a new pipeline to detect the shallow dimmings of Earth-size planets in Kepler photometry. With his efficient and well-calibrated pipeline we could confidently report the size distribution of close-in planets down to Earth-size. The result is that Earth-size planets are just a common as planets twice Earth size. Remarkable.”
New Moon
The Moon and Venus
Tomorrow morning will find a razor thin crescent Moon about 5° from a brilliant Venus just above the rising Sun. The Moon will rise about 05:50HST, with Venus already in the sky. With sunrise at 06:59HST the pair should rise about 13° above the sunrise. This is enough to allow the the Moon, only 1.9% illuminated to be spotted fairly easily given a clear eastern horizon.
Control
Employment at Keck – Adaptive Optics Specialist
The W. M. Keck Observatory operates the world’s two largest optical/infrared telescopes located on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. Both telescopes are equipped with AO systems which are routinely used in both Natural and Laser Guide Star (LGS) AO modes. These systems have been extremely productive scientifically. New, more capable, systems are currently in design and development including the implementation of a new laser, new laser launch telescope, near-infrared tip-tilt sensor and a facility to provide simultaneous AO-corrected point spread function estimates to support science data reduction.
The AO Scientist will also participate in improvements to the existing AO facilities including performance optimization and characterization.
Minimum requirements for this position include: Ph.D. level degree in adaptive optics or high angular resolution astronomy or equivalent experience; three years of relevant experience in the development and/or use of AO for astronomical research; two years of work experience in instrumentation development or operations; a broad understanding of the multiple engineering disciplines needed to develop AO systems; and experience in data visualization and analysis. Desirable qualifications include: a proven track record in the development or optimization of AO systems for astronomy; demonstrated leadership skills; optical, mechanical and controls design and engineering expertise; expertise in the development of the high level software needed to operate and optimize AO systems; and previous Observatory experience.
The following skills are required: Excellent written and oral English communication skills, ability to work independently and as part of a team, strong project and time management skills; ability to set priorities and meet deadlines with flexibility.
This position requires you to submit your resume on-line at: http://keckobservatory.iapplicants.com/ViewJob-324991.html with your cover letter that states why you are uniquely qualified for the position.
Additional information about WMKO and this position may be found on our web site at www.keckobservatory.org
Postcard from the Summit – Tools
Kepler Gets a Little Help From Its Friends
Kepler’s follow-up observers confirm new discoveries
More than 2,300 exoplanet candidate discoveries have made it the most prolific planet hunter in history. But even NASA’s Kepler mission needs a little help from its friends.
A single Kepler observation alone is often not enough to prove that the telescope has found an exoplanet, said Nick Gautier, the mission’s deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., who coordinated and continues to help run Kepler’s robust follow-up program.
Kepler finds exoplanets by watching for worlds that move directly between the telescope and their host stars. As they do this, they block a tiny fraction of the star’s light, an event astronomers call a “transit.”
Continue reading “Kepler Gets a Little Help From Its Friends”