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Gemini's Twin Lights Up in Chile

Posted by michael on from the eye-on-the-sky dept.

pyrrho writes: "The southern twin Gemini Observatory in Chile, Gemini South, was dedicated today. This is an exact duplicate of the Gemini North Observatory which recently directly imaged a brown dwarf. These Observatories not only bring in a new era of amazing astronomy, including the possibility of direct imaging of planets, but also represent a step forward in the automation of observatories, being highly remote controllable from around the world if desired, and also highly automated, supporting observation queuing that helps to match particular observations to the best fit seeing conditions. Gemini is an international project, bringing together an unprecidented number of nations for joint research in astronomy. By supplying identical observatories in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Gemini Observatory truly ushers in an era of big telescopes."

9 comments

  1. Phirst Poast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ghey ghey poast yo holmes.

  2. frist prost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with the faggots
    with the faggots of slashdot

  3. What an Excellent Idea by alfredw · · Score: 3, Informative

    Putting identical telescopes in both hemispheres is an excellent step for science - this will allow quality observations to be made over the entire sky.

    The next logical step would be to build 3 or 4 identical scopes in each hemisphere. This would let you observe an object 24hrs a day (with a redundant observatory, perhaps, in case of clouds).

    Anyway, all in all, it's very exciting work!

    --
    In Soviet Russia, sig types you!
    1. Re:What an Excellent Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyway, all in all, it's very exciting work!

      This is hardly exciting. Why did michael post this article anyway? But it does remind me of a scene in Deep Space Homer.

      The channel Homer happened to flick to shows two men talking about the
      impending launch of the space shuttle.

      Tom: It's a lovely day for a launch, here, live at Cape Canaveral, at
      the lower end of the Florida Peninsula, and the purpose of
      today's mission is truly, really electrifying.
      Man 2: That's correct, Tom. The lion's share of this flight will be
      devoted to the study of the effects of weightlessness on tiny
      screws.
      Tom: Unbelievable, and just imagine the logistics of weightlessness.
      And of course, this could have literally millions of applications
      here on Earth -- everything from watchmaking to watch repair.
      Homer: Boring.
      [tries to switch channels, but the batteries fall from the
      remote control]
      No! The batteries!
      Tom: Now let's look at the crew a little.
      Man 2: They're a colorful bunch. They've been dubbed "the Three
      Musketeers". Heh heh heh --
      Tom: And we laugh legitimately. There's a mathematician, a different
      _kind_ of mathematician, and a statistician.
      Homer: Make it stop! [panics]
      Bart: Oh no, not another boring space launch. Change the channel.
      Change the channel!
      Homer: I can't! I can't!
      [Bart dives for the plug and tears it from the wall]
      [He and Homer both sigh]

      -Metrollica

    2. Re:What an Excellent Idea by pepik_knize · · Score: 3, Informative

      The next logical step would be to build 3 or 4 identical scopes in each hemisphere. This would let you observe an object 24hrs a day (with a redundant observatory, perhaps, in case of clouds). The Whole Earth Telescope (WET) does just this to study asteroseismology with ~10 telescopes. Read about it here. (They also use a pretty cool metacomputing Linux system for data analysis. The other really cool thing about this group is that all their data is "open-sourced", i.e., publicly available to anyone that wants it, immediately.

  4. More links by Metrollica · · Score: 1

    There are also stories here and here. It is my first post and already I am a karma whore.

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    --Metrollica