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IMAGE: This illustration imagines what the distant object nicknamed Farfarout might look like in the outer reaches of our Solar System. The most distant object yet discovered in our Solar System,. view more
Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva
With the help of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF s NOIRLab, and other ground-based telescopes, astronomers have confirmed that a faint object discovered in 2018 and nicknamed Farfarout is indeed the most distant object yet found in our Solar System. The object has just received its designation from the International Astronomical Union.
Farfarout was first spotted in January 2018 by the Subaru Telescope, located on Maunakea in Hawai i. Its discoverers could tell it was very far away, but they weren t sure exactly how far. They needed more observations.
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VIDEO: This is CosmoView Episode 18 for press release noirlab2103: Giant Map of the Sky Sets Stage for Ambitious DESI Survey view more
Credit: Images and Videos:
KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Legacy Imaging Survey, P. Marenfeld, D. Munizaga, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.
Music: Stellardrone - Airglow.
Astronomers using images from Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have created the largest ever map of the sky, comprising over a billion galaxies. The ninth and final data release from the ambitious DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys sets the stage for a ground-breaking 5-year survey with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which aims to provide new insights into the nature of dark energy. The map was released today at the January 2021 meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
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VIDEO: CosmoView Episode 20 for press release noirlab2015: Mapping Our Sun s Backyard
Music: zero-project - The Lower Dungeons (zero-project.gr) view more
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld, International Gemini Observatory/Jacqueline Faherty (American Museum of Natural History)/OpenSpace/Lynette Cook
Astronomers have curated the most complete list of nearby brown dwarfs to date thanks to discoveries made by thousands of volunteers participating in the Backyard Worlds citizen science project. The list and 3D map of 525 brown dwarfs including 38 reported for the first time incorporate observations from a host of astronomical instruments including several NOIRLab facilities. The results confirm that the Sun s neighborhood appears surprisingly diverse relative to other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy.
IMAGE:
Elliptical galaxies are generally characterized by their relatively smooth appearance when compared with spiral galaxies (one of which is to the left) which have more flocculent structure interwoven with dust. view more
Credit: DES/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/DOE/AURA
Acknowledgments: Image processing: DES, Jen Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF s NOIRLab), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin
The Dark Energy Survey has released a massive, public collection of astronomical data and calibrated images from six years of work. Containing data on nearly 700 million astronomical objects, this second data release in the Survey s seven-year history is the topic of sessions today and tomorrow at the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.[1]