Science in Public’s Post

Breakthrough in Daytime Astronomy with the Huntsman Telescope 🌞🔭 Astronomers at Macquarie University have achieved a significant breakthrough: observing stars, satellites, and more during daylight hours! Using innovative light filters on the Huntsman Telescope, they’ve overcome the challenge of sunlight washing out celestial objects. Why It's Cool: 🌟 24/7 Observation: No more waiting for nightfall to study the stars. 🛰️ Satellite Tracking: Helps prevent space collisions with continuous monitoring. Why It Matters: 🌌 Continuous Monitoring: Enables long-term studies of stars like Betelgeuse, which is nearing a supernova. 📡 Satellite Tracking: Essential for tracking 10,000+ active satellites and preventing collisions. This breakthrough opens new doors for uninterrupted, 24/7 observation of the cosmos. 🌠✨ The action happening at Siding Springs Observatory in Coonabarabran, Australia is changing the game for astronomy! Are you excited about the future of astronomy? Reshare ♻️ if you think this is awesome! #Astronomy #Innovation #HuntsmanTelescope #DaytimeObservation #SpaceExploration #Astrophotography

NSF panel says proposed giant telescopes would swamp agency’s budget NSF faces a pivotal decision as funding challenges and site disputes threaten U.S.-led giant telescope projects in Hawaii and Chile, crucial for advancing ground-based astronomy. https://lnkd.in/dzH2886A #Astronomy #NSF #Telescopes #GiantTelescopes #US_ELT #GroundBasedAstronomy #NSFBudget #TMT #GMT #AstronomyLeadership #MaunaKea

#Astronomy #Telescope Daytime astronomy—amateur nighttime stargazers might wonder, what’s the point? But astronomers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, have developed a new technique that makes possible daylight observation of structures in the Milky Way galaxy, potentially doubling available observation time and increasing our knowledge of the cosmos. This advance also promises to improve space safety by tracking orbiting satellites during the day, a vital addition to satellite tracking as the total number of satellites in orbit—and the risk of cascading collisions—grows. The technique employs a custom-built telescope assembled from commercially available components. In a salute to the Dragonfly Telephoto Array telescope at the New Mexico Skies observatory in New Mexico that inspired the project, the Macquarie astronomers have named the telescope Huntsman, after the speedy spider of the same name. Huntsman boasts rapid exposure times and frame rates The Huntsman features an array of ten Chinese ZWO-brand ASI183 Pro series cameras, each equipped with a CMOS sensor and paired with a Canon 400 mm f/2.8 lens. Each lens is fitted with a Chroma Technology Sloan red filter to block out the blue light from the sun while allowing the light from faint astronomical sources to pass through. The lens array is configured to cover the same field of view to enhance image sensitivity and enable efficient data collection. Huntsman consists of an array of 10 lenses, each with individual cameras that were originally designed for low surface brightness imaging.Sarah Caddy “It’s like a Lego telescope in that most of the components can be bought off the shelf,” says Sarah Caddy, a PhD candidate at Macquarie University. Caddy helped design and build the system and co-authored a paper published on the project in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia in May. “We can add and remove parts to suit new projects or take advantage of new technology advancements.” Case in point is the researchers’ choice of CMOS detectors in place of the traditional charged couple devices (CCDs) for image sensors in the cameras. While CCDs are favored by astronomers because of their high sensitivity, Caddy says CMOS detectors are closing the gap in image quality and have the added advantage of significantly higher frame rates. The Huntsman sports an exposure time as short as 32 microseconds, and frame rates up to 271 per second. “High frame rates are usually not needed in astronomy, because things in the sky can take years or centuries or longer to change or move,” says Lee Spitler, an associate professor of space-related projects at Macquarie University. “We’ve been homing in on exciting aspects of astronomy where you do need such high data rates, like the work Sarah is leading.” The telescope is… https://lnkd.in/gCxYfpRE via @IEEESpectrum

SARAO's Groundbreaking Digitizer Technology: Advancing Radio Astronomy At the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), we are constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation in radio astronomy. Our cutting-edge Digitizer technology is a key component of the MeerKAT telescope, transforming signals from outer space into digital data for in-depth analysis. #Astronomy #Innovation #MeerKAT #SARAO #Digitizer #RadioAstronomy #ScienceAndTech #SpaceExploration #SARAOCommercialisationOffice

What is the Transit Method? 🤔 It’s a technique used in astronomy to detect exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) and the upcoming #SolarEclipse actually provides a great opportunity to learn more! ☀️🌑 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gR9YM4Dy

Interested in how satellites are affecting ground-based astronomy? The issue is complex and multifaceted. Check out this article in SpaceWatch.Global authored by Dr. Sara Langston and myself to learn about the positive value of dark skies and the significance of protecting astronomy in an era of satellite mega-constellations. #SpaceWatchGL

Stirling Colgate was a trailblazer in astronomy, making significant contributions to automated telescope observations and supernova research. A member of the Colgate family, he helped transform how astronomers explore the night sky. His pioneering work with Type Ia supernovae refined their use as standard candles, enabling precise measurement of vast cosmic distances. This laid the groundwork for understanding the accelerating expansion of the universe and the discovery of dark energy. Colgate also led efforts to automate telescopes at New Mexico Tech, using early computer systems for remote sky monitoring. His innovations in remote observations paved the way for today's robotic telescopes and AI-driven data analysis. At places like the Apache Point Observatory, his legacy continues to shape modern astronomy, making the cosmos more accessible than ever. Read the full story here: #Astronomy #StirlingColgate #Supernova #Astrophysics #AutomatedObservations #RemoteObserving #DarkEnergy #CosmicExploration #ApachePointObservatory #SpaceInnovation

New Coordination System Allows Satellite Internet and Radio Astronomy to Share the Sky, Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 10, 2024 Astronomers rely on clear skies and undisturbed frequencies to explore the universe. But as satellite technology grows, so does the potential for interference with these sensitive observations. A new collaboration between the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) and SpaceX demonstrates how radio astronomers and satellite internet providers

Astronomers Discover Planets Building Each Other in Space By Frederic Eger - Illustration: Radio astronomy has revealed that early-formed planets within a protoplanetary disk can influence the creation of additional planets, acting like a cascade where each planet aids in forming the next - Credit: SciTechDaily.com - Astronomers have published a paper in National Institutes of Natural Sciences as they have discovered that early-formed planets within a protoplanetary disk can influence the creation of additional planets, acting like a cascade where each planet aids in forming the next. This finding, based on high-resolution images from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), supports the domino effect in the sequential formation of planetary systems. So far, astronomers have identified over 5,500 planetary systems, with more than 1,000 confirmed to have multiple planets. Planets form in protoplanetary disks, massive clouds of gas and dust surrounding young stars. The exact process of how multi-planet systems like our Solar System develop remains unclear. A key system for studying planet formation is PDS 70, a young star located 367 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. Earlier radio wave observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) detected a ring of dust grains beyond the orbits of PDS 70’s two known planets. However, these initial observations lacked the resolution needed to explore the ring’s detailed structure. In this research, an international team led by Kiyoaki Doi performed high-resolution observations of the protoplanetary disk around PDS 70 using ALMA at a longer wavelength of radio waves. The new ALMA observations clearly show a concentration of dust grains to the northwest (upper right) in the ring outside the orbits of the two existing planets. The location of this dust clump suggests that the already-formed planets interact with the surrounding disk, concentrating dust grains into a narrow region at the outer edge of their orbits. These clumped dust grains are thought to grow into a new planet. This work observationally shows that the formation of planetary systems, like the Solar System, can be explained by the sequential formation of the planets from inside to outside by the repetition of this process; like a line of falling dominos, each one triggering the next.