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Posts Tagged ‘University of Arizona’

Astronomy: Science of Looking into the Past?

Posted by feww on April 23, 2010

submitted by a reader

‘LUCIFER allows astronomers to watch stars being born’

That’s the title of a news release by the university of Arizona.  With all the technology shared  between them, they had to play hard with words to come up with an acronym that has a negative image. It’s like “Challenger” versus “Explorer,” but cockier and more distasteful.

10 to 1 the person who thought of this name was a victim of Catholic Church abuse!


Original Caption:
Technicians install the LUCIFER instruments on the Large Binocular Telescope in the fall of 2008.

What’s ‘LUCIFER’

It’s described as “a new instrument for the world’s largest optical telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham, allows astronomers to observe the faintest and most distant objects in the universe.”

Is an image from taken from object 8,000 light years away (7.8 x 10^16km), looking into the past, tell you anything about the future?

To understand the implication of the above question, you must first answer the following question:

What happens when 50 percent of the world population are dentists?

Because that’s exactly what has happened to astronomy, among other sciences. It has reached the ridiculous stage when science has no longer a utility value, but an economic-aesthetic value. That’s unless you come up with something no one has done before, regardless of its usefulness to human or any other animal race, you go out of business.

Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S, Germany and Italy announced April 21 that the first of two new innovative near-infrared cameras/spectrographs for the LBT is now available to astronomers for scientific observations at the telescope on Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona.After more than a decade of design, manufacturing and testing, the new instrument – dubbed LUCIFER 1 – provides a powerful tool to gain spectacular insights into the universe – from the Milky Way to extremely distant galaxies. LUCIFER, built by a consortium of German institutes, will be followed by an identical twin instrument that will be delivered to the telescope in early 2011.

“With the large light-gathering power of the LBT, astronomers are now able to collect the spectral fingerprints of the faintest and most distant objects in the universe,” said LBT director Richard Green, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.

LUCIFER 1 and its twin are mounted at the focus points of the LBT’s two giant 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) diameter telescope mirrors. Each instrument is cooled to -213 degrees Celsius in order to observe in the near-infrared wavelength range. Near-infrared observations are essential for understanding the formation of stars and planets in our galaxy as well as revealing the secrets of the most distant and very young galaxies.

Stellar Nursery

Original Caption:
Where stars are born: The first LUCIFER observations of star-forming regions are giving scientists an idea of the new instrument’s enormous potential. This image depicts a stellar nursery in the Milky Way about 8,000 light years from Earth. Such clouds are typically opaque to visible light. However, infrared light detected by LUCIFER can penetrate the dust. Photo: Arjan Bik

LUCIFER’s innovative design allows astronomers to observe in unprecedented detail, for example star forming regions, which are commonly hidden by dust clouds.

The instrument is remarkably flexible, combining a large field of view with a high resolution. It provides three exchangeable cameras for imaging and spectroscopy in different resolutions according to observational requirements.

Astronomers use spectroscopy to analyze incoming light and answer questions such as how stars and galaxies formed and what they are made of.

The instruments were built by a consortium of five German institutes led by the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University, together with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, the Astronomical Institute of the Ruhr-University in Bochum, and the University of Applied Sciences in Mannheim.

The LBT is a collaboration among the Italian astronomical community (National Institute of Astrophysics), the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, the LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft in Germany (Max-Planck-Institut fϋr Astronomie in Heidelberg, Zentrum fur Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Astrophysikalisches Institut in Potsdam, Max-Planck-Institut fϋr Extraterrestrische Physik in Munich, and Max-Planck-Institut fϋr Radioastronomie in Bonn), and the Ohio State University and Research Corporation (Ohio State University, University of Notre Dame, University of Minnesota and University of Virginia).

Galaxy NGC1569

Original Caption:
These two images show the starburst galaxy NGC 1569, which is forming stars at a rate that is 100 times faster than what is typically observed in the Milky Way. LUCIFER’s sensitive infrared vision reveals glowing red clouds of dust enshrouding newly formed stars. Photo: Anna Pasquali

Additional Technical Background:

  • LUCIFER is an acronym for: Large Binocular Telescope Near-infrared Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research
  • LUCIFER’s three exchangeable cameras are available for direct imaging, long-slit-spectroscopy and multi-object-spectroscopy. Two of them are optimized for seeing-limited conditions, a third camera for diffraction-limited cases will be used after completion of the LBT adaptive secondary mirror system.
  • Using a four Mega-pixel Hawaii2-camera the instrument covers a comparatively large field of view of 4×4 arc minutes (about 1/50th of the full moon on sky).
  • According to observational requirements, presently a set of five broad-band filters (z, J, H, K, Ks), 12 medium and narrow-band filters and three different high-resolution spectroscopic gratings are available.
  • A special feature of the LUCIFER is 10 fixed and up to 22 exchangeable masks which can be used for longslit and multi-object spectroscopy (MOS). This multiplex-technology developed at MPE allows the spectroscopy of about two dozen objects simultaneously and reduces the costs per photon and observing time at the telescope dramatically. All laser-cut MOS-masks are stored in a separate magazine which can be replaced with new masks at fully cryogenic temperatures using an external cryostat and a vacuum interlock to the main instrument. This work can be done within a few hours during a normal service-interval in day-time and avoids a several days lasting warming-up and cooling-down cycle of the complete LUCIFER-instrument preserving valuable observing time.
  • Contact: Daniel Stolte
    stolte@email.arizona.edu
    University of Arizona

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A Few Extreme Events Away

Posted by feww on June 22, 2008

Our world is a few extreme events away from total catastrophe

India

Widespread flooding caused by extreme monsoon rains has claimed about 100 lives in east and northeast India and left up to a million people homeless. As many as five million people are affected.

Philippines

As Typhoon Fengshen with gusts of of about 200kph lashed across the Philippines, flash floods and landslides killed about 155 people in south of the country. Dozens of people drowned, some of them buried alive after a landslide at a municipal garbage dump.

Meanwhile a 24,000-ton passenger and cargo ferry capsized off central Sibuyan island, with 626 passengers and 121 crew. Only 4 bodies have so far been found.

Guatemala

Large landslides caused by torrential rains have killed up to 10 people and injured others scavenging at a garbage dump near the Guatemalan capital.

California

An “unprecedented” lightening storm sparked about 840 fires in Northern Calif destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee the area. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the Calif National Guard to assist the firefighters.

Mars

Meanwhile, as climate change melts the arctic ice mush faster than most scientist had anticipated, NASA reported that the Phoenix Lander has discovered ice on the surface of Mars, near its arctic circle [where else !] The discovery of ice/water on Mars is a key step in establishing whether life has ever existed on the red planet.

It really makes a whole lot of sense worrying about life on Mars as life becomes extinct on Earth! Right?

Related Links:

mars

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