Archive for the 'Bill' Category
Dust pathfinding with Galaxy Zoo
Now that spring classes are over, I’m catching up with lots of things. These include making color-composite images from our latest observations at the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope in Arizona done to follow up overlapping-galaxy pairs from the Forum. Here are three samples, showing how much more detail we can see with long exposures one the objects have been found from the SDSS data. In SDSS J215311.30-073533.5, the WIYN images show just the kind of thing we’re looking for - dust in spiral arms silhouetted against the light of the background galaxy. First here is the SDSS image, then the WIYN picture below it.
SDSS 2153-07 WIYN image
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New from the Zoo - gas clouds around active galactic nuclei
With the excitement about new observations of Hanny’s Voorwerp, this might be a good time to point out that Zoo participants are finding new examples of a related (albeit less spectacular) class of objects. (That was evidently my roundabout way of saying “hey, everyone, you can look for these too!”). What do these four galaxies have in common?
9 commentsWe have liftoff!
Cape Canaveral, Florida - The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off today after a nearly flawless countdown, beginning an 11-day mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope for the final time. That’s how a news story would report it. But there’s a lot missing there, even from the viewpoint of spectators watching the launch. Read more
11 commentsHubble refurbishment - the countdown continues
Galaxy Zoo participants usually have a keen interest in the Hubble Space Telescope. Not only has it delivered unparalleled views of galaxies, and advanced our understanding of cosmic distances, the relation between galaxies and black holes, and their coupled evolution - but we have a project scheduled for the coming year to observe Hanny’s Voorwerp with three of its instruments. Of these three, one is currently sitting in the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis, and the other two are out of commission awaiting a service call by the crew of Atlantis. These views (taken from the coast about 10 km from the site) show the shuttle at dusk on May 10, about 16 hours before scheduled launch (May 11, 1401 local EDT time or 1801 UT). The rotating service structure has been pulled around to keep it clear of the launch blast, and floodlights illuminate the entire pad area for continuing work. The safety measures enacted following the loss of Columbia and its crew have led to the unprecedented situation of the shuttle Endeavour sitting on the other launch pad, ready to be prepared for a rescue mission at short notice. This is needed because, unlike missions to the International Space Station, Hubble missions do not offer a safe haven in case of damage to the thermal protection system, or from impacts with space debris. This is the final scheduled visit to Hubble, so the crew has a full schedule of replacements and repairs. Stand by for updates…
A visit to Apache Point
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Apache Point Observatory, where the photons providing data for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are gathered safely to Earth and their final digital form. The observatory is situated at the edge of a ridge in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, near the solar observatory complex at Sunspot. (Back when that was built, the astronomers obviously had a hand in picking the route number of the highway leading from the town of Cloudcroft - spectrum aficionados will recognize the New Mexico highway number). At its elevation of 2800 meters (9200 feet), there were still patches of snow despite being able to look out across desert below. The steep western face of the mountains looks out across the White Sands, both the gypsum-rich dune field and the historic rocket test range of the same name (and the landing strip once used by a space shuttle when the weather was terrible on both coasts of the US). Read more
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