Kitt Peak Observatory Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory NOAO System Science Center
Observers: D. Gerdes and S. Jouvel; Inset Image Credit: T. Abbott and NOAO/AURA/NSF
Superluminous supernova proclaims the death of a star at cosmic high noon
Ten billion years ago, a massive star ended its life in a brilliant explosion three times as bright as all of the stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, combined. News of its death, which recently reached Earth, was detected in the Dark Energy Survey being carried out with DECam at the CTIO Blanco telescope (pictured, above right). The supernova is one of the most distant ever discovered and confirmed.
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Distant Galaxies ‘Lift the Veil’ on the End of the Cosmic Dark Ages:
NOAO Press Release 17-03. -
A New Jovian Mini-Moon
Discovered with DECam on the CTIO Blanco telescope, the diminutive moon S/2017 J1, only a mile across, takes 2 years to complete an orbit around Jupiter. -
Blowing the Cover of a Hidden Black Hole
A close look at the center of a nearby galaxy has revealed a surprising connection between the galaxy and the supermassive black hole at its center. -
Punching Above Its Weight, a Brown Dwarf Launches a Parsec-Scale Jet: Astronomers using the SOAR telescope at CTIO have discovered a spectacular extended jet from a young brown dwarf. -
Meet “DeeDee”, a Distant Dwarf in the Outer Solar System. Located 92 AU from the Sun, DeeDee is the second most distant trans-Neptunian object known. Read more in the NRAO Press Release.
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Dusk to Dawn time-lapse at CTIO. Watch the Milky Way rise as the Magellanic Clouds set behind the Blanco 4m. Taken by Rongpu Zhou while observing for DECaLS on 4 March 2017. -
The March 2017 NOAO Newsletter contains sections on Science Highlights, Community Science & Data, System Observing: Telescopes and Instruments, and NOAO Operations & Staff.
NOAO is the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. If you would like information about solar astronomy, visit the National Solar Observatory. If you would like information about radio astronomy, visit the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.