NOAO News & Reports
December 23, 2008
Frank Kelley Edmondson • August 1, 1912—December 8, 2008 | Indiana University Emeritus Professor Frank Kelley Edmondson passed away on Monday, December 8. He was 96. Professor Edmondson was one of the major players in the creation of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Observatory. Dr. Edmondson's Obituary
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October 7, 2008
Big Galaxy Collisions Can Stunt Star Formation | A deep new image of the Virgo cluster has revealed monumental tendrils of ionized hydrogen gas 400,000 light-years long connecting the elliptical galaxy M86 and the disturbed spiral galaxy NGC 4438.
Taken with the wide-field Mosaic imager on the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, this Hydrogen-alpha image and related spectroscopic measurements of the filament provide striking evidence of a previously unsuspected high-speed collision between the two galaxies. NOAO Press Release 08-07
Press Mentions:
- New Scientist: Galactic hit-and-run leaves trail of destruction
- Discovery News: High-Speed Crash Makes Hot, 'Sterile' Galaxies
- Discover Blogs/Bad Astronomy: Galactic tentacles of DOOM
- Spaceflight Now: Stars stop forming when big galaxies collide
- Science Daily: Stars Stop Forming When Big Galaxies Collide
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September 10, 2008
Probing a New Type of Stellar Explosion | Astronomers have been puzzling over the engine behind the historical 1843 outburst of Eta Carinae since it happened, but new observations with the Gemini South and the Blanco telescopes in Chile add a startling new clue. The new observations reveal faint but extremely fast material indicative of a powerful shock wave produced by the 1843 event, suggesting that its driving mechanism was an explosion rather than a steady wind. The research, led by Nathan Smith of the University of California, Berkeley, shows that the famous nebulosity around the star Eta Carinae contains extremely fast-moving filaments of material that had not been seen before, and are not explained by current theories. The result is featured in the September 11, 2008 issue of the journal Nature. Gemini Press Release | Berkeley Press Release
Press Mentions:
- Sky & Telescope: Eta Carinae: A Supermassive Showoff
- National Geographic: Mysterious Explosion Caused Massive Star to Brighten
- Discover: Mysterious Stellar Blast in the 1840s Was a “Supernova Imposter”
- Top News: Historic 1843 stellar outburst was a new type of star explosion
- Science Centric: Eta Carinae's historic 1843 outburst exemplifies
- Science News: Blast from the Past Poses Puzzle
- Space.com: Secret of Nearby Explosive Star Revealed
- Science Daily: 1843 Stellar Eruption May Be New Type Of Star Explosion
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