About: Shari


Recent Posts by Shari

Feb 24

NSO: Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope Begins Science Operations Commissioning Phase

On Wednesday, February 23, 2022, the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (Inouye Solar Telescope) commenced its first science observations, signaling the start of its year-long operations commissioning phase and a new era of solar science. Over 25 years in the making, the world’s most powerful solar telescope is now poised to revolutionize our understanding of the Sun and its impacts on Earth.

Feb 22

NOIRLab: Spanish Dancer Galaxy Twirls into View

This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, captures the galaxy NGC 1566 as it twirls, flinging its arms through the vastness of space. Colloquially nicknamed the Spanish Dancer, this spiral galaxy is often studied by astronomers learning about galaxy groups, stars of different ages, and galactic black holes.

Jan 24

Day 30: Last Deployment Box Checked Off!

Today Webb concluded a month of incredible achievements, and we checked off the last box on our deployment “To Do List.” Webb’s last deployment activity, insertion into L2 orbit, is now complete. Although there are many more achievements to look forward to, let’s take a moment to review what the Webb teams accomplished so far.

Jan 20

NOIRLab: Sidewinding Young Stellar Jets Spied by Gemini South

Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The gently curving stellar jets are the outflow from young stars, and astronomers suspect their sidewinding appearances are caused by the gravitational attraction of companion stars.

Jan 19

STScI: Hubble Finds a Black Hole Igniting Star Formation in a Dwarf Galaxy

Often portrayed as destructive monsters that hold light captive, black holes take on a less villainous role in the latest research from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. A black hole at the heart of the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 is creating stars rather than gobbling them up. The black hole is apparently contributing to the firestorm of new star formation taking place in the galaxy. The dwarf galaxy lies 30 million light-years away, in the southern constellation Pyxis.

Jan 13

Day 19: Moving Mirrors

Now that the telescope is fully deployed, engineers started to unlock and move the mirror segments this week in preparation for focusing. This is a slow and deliberate process, and the full release of the mirrors will continue over the next 10 days.

Jan 13

NOIRLab: DESI at Kitt Peak Has Mapped More Galaxies Than All Previous 3D Surveys Combined

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has cataloged more galaxies than all other previous three-dimensional redshift surveys combined, measuring 7.5 million galaxies in only seven months since beginning science operations. The US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads DESI, which is installed at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab, on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope.


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