The fund is connected to the upcoming start of operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and will be administered by the Fund Management Office of the Department of Astronomy of the University of Chile. Distribution will run from May 30 to July 29, 2024.
About: Shari
Recent Posts by Shari
Over the last two years, scientists have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (also called Webb or JWST) to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in the first few hundred million years after the big bang where the first galaxies were born. These galaxies provide vital insight into the ways in which the gas, stars, and black holes were changing when the universe was very young. In October 2023 and January 2024, an international team of astronomers used Webb to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program. Using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), they obtained a spectrum of a record-breaking galaxy observed only two hundred and ninety million years after the big bang.
The largest camera ever built for astrophysics has completed the long journey from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California to the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, where it will soon help unlock the Universe’s mysteries.
On a bright April morning in Tucson, Arizona, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy’s (AURA) Annual Meeting kicked off. Held annually, the meeting brings together representatives from AURA’s 52 member institutions to interact with AURA leadership, Center Directors, and staff. The Member Representatives hear updates from each Center and AURA Corporate, vote on slates for governance positions, and discuss current issues in astronomy.
The first stars to form in the universe were very different from our Sun. Known to astronomers (somewhat paradoxically) as Population III, or Pop III, stars, they were made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. They are believed to have been much larger, hotter, and more massive than our Sun. As a result, Pop III stars use their fuel more quickly and have shorter lifespans.
The dark, dusty cometary globule known as CG 4 is spotlighted in this image from the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. How these hard-to-detect clouds get their distinctive structure is still unclear, but astronomers speculate that it’s a consequence of the hot, massive stars that surround them.
Director, NSF National Solar Observatory Prior to his appointment as NSO Director, Dr. Keller was Director of Science at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He started at NSO as a postdoc and then was hired as an Associate Astronomer. During his tenure, Keller led efforts at the McMath-Pierce solar telescope; designed, developed, built, and commissioned SOLIS […]
Project Manager for Rubin Construction Victor Krabbendam has been Project Manager for Rubin Construction since 2012, after eight years as Project Manager for the Rubin Observatory Telescope & Site subsystem. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Victor has worked in industry, government, and with major astronomical research facilities including the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory and […]
Using the Gemini South telescope a team of astronomers have confirmed for the first time that differences in binary stars’ composition can originate from chemical variations in the cloud of stellar material from which they formed. The results help explain why stars born from the same molecular cloud can possess different chemical composition and host different planetary systems, as well as pose challenges to current stellar and planet formation models.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of a zoomed-in portion of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. These observations show the top of the “horse’s mane” or edge of this iconic nebula in a whole new light, capturing the region’s complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution.
Deputy Director, NSF NOIRLab and AURA Mission Scientist in Chile Stuartt Corder has a strong history of leadership in astronomy with more than 15 years of experience in building, operating, and further developing groundbreaking, large-scale, advanced scientific and technical programs and facilities. Since receiving his PhD from Caltech, he has been in Chile, holding a number […]
Deputy Director and Telescope and Site Scientist, Rubin Observatory Construction Dr. Sandrine J. Thomas focuses on optimizing Rubin Observatory’s image quality and on a smooth transition to operation among other topics. Dr Thomas’ main expertise is in physical optics, active/adaptive optics and coronagraphy as well as fostering a healthy workplace culture. In addition to Rubin, […]
In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s legendary Hubble Space Telescopeon April 24, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651) located 3,400 light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Perseus.
Lori Allen, Mid-Scale Observatories (MSO) Director at NSF NOIRLab, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. MSO encompasses both Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile and Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
On March 11, 2024, researchers gathered in Tucson, Arizona for a workshop to discuss something new for astronomy: quantum-enabled optical interferometry. Being explored as the possible next step after building giant telescopes, this new capability could make it possible to combine the light from very widely separated telescopes so that they would function as one large collecting area. While radio telescopes like the VLA have exploited interferometry for decades, the challenges at optical wavelengths have been daunting.
Recent Comments by Shari
No comments by Shari yet.