Press Releases 1998

23 December 1998: Over the past two weeks, the Gemini North telescope near the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea has succeeded in accomplishing several key steps in the completion of this state-of-the-art 8-meter telescope facility.

17 December 1998: The discovery of the acceleration of the universe by two teams of astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) was named by the journal Science as the top scientific research advance of 1998.

18 November 1998: On November 18, 1998, the Gemini Observatory Northern Operations Center at the University of Hawaii's University Park will be officially dedicated and blessed. This new 17,000+ square foot facility is the first permanent home for the Gemini Observatory's scientific, technical and administrative staff. The building will also contain the Observatory's remote access control center, instrument labs, meeting & conference facilities and will serve as a hub for Gemini's world-wide communication network that connects the seven countries participating in the Gemini Project. The building's lobby has been designed to greet visitors with exhibits that will interpret Gemini research for the public and display current scientific research done at the observatory.

24 September 1998: October of 1998 marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), the first astronomy observatory in the U.S. available to all qualified astronomers regardless of institutional affiliation. Kitt Peak today is home to the world's largest collection of optical telescopes, under skies which continue to be some of the finest in the world for astronomical observations. Historical images and information on the excellence of scientific research at Kitt Peak can be found through a link on the KPNO Home Page at http://www.noao.edu/kpno/40th/.

22 September 1998: The National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak announces the 19th Annual International Workshop to take place in Sunspot, New Mexico, from September 28 to October 2, 1998. Titled "High Resolution Solar Physics: Theory, Observations, and Techniques", this year's workshop features the most recent high spatial and temporal resolution observations of the solar atmosphere. About 75 scientists are expected to attend, nearly half from outside the US. Contact information is listed below for media representatives interested in attending the workshop.

21 September 1998: The National Science Foundation will honor Dr. Richard B. Dunn on September 30, 1998, by renaming the Vacuum Tower Telescope of the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, as the Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, after its creator. This recognizes Dunns long and distinguished career and his contributions to the world's most advanced solar instrumentation, which have greatly increased our understanding of the physics of the Sun. The rededication ceremony to mark this important event will be held at the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, and will be the centerpiece of a workshop on High Resolution Solar Physics, also dedicated to Dr. Dunn in recognition of his lifetime contributions to solar research. Scientists from all corners of the world, including Austria, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Siberia, Spain, and Sweden will attend the festivities.

3 August 1998: "Gemini Observatory Update", to appear in Hilo's Tribune Herald, Friday August 7th.

29 June 1998: Measuring over 26 feet across, the largest single-piece telescope mirror ever to travel to Mauna Kea arrived safely at its final destination, 13,780 feet above sea level, on Sunday, June 28th. Weighing in at over 25 US tons and encased in a 20-ton steel crate, the mirror took three days to travel from Kawaihae Harbor to the Gemini Observatory site. As one of the widest loads ever transported to the summit, the 28 foot-wide crate required road improvements and even temporary removal of road signs before the mirror could make the final 65-mile journey to its home on the top of Hawai'i.

17 June 1998: Samuel Barden, National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) , has been awarded the 1998 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific . The Muhlmann Award is given for innovative advances in astronomical instrumentation, software, or observational infrastructure that enable significant astronomical discoveries. The award to Dr. Barden recognizes his pioneering use of optical fibers with astronomical spectrometers.

21 April 1998: Two teams of astronomers searching for signs of other solar systems with telescopes in Chile and Hawaii have independently discovered a disk around a nearby star that may be forming--or may have already formed--planets.

13 April 1998: The Sunspot Astronomy and Visitor Center was formally dedicated on April 13, 1998. The Visitor Center is located at the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. The list of 150 attendees ranged from Rudy Cook, the first observer at the location in 1947, to U.S. Representative Joseph Skeen and included most of the persons responsible for the successful completion of the Visitor Center.

26 February 1998: The National Solar Observatory (NSO) announces the start of SOLIS, a state-of-the-art project to investigate space weather and further our understanding of how changes in the Sun affect the Earth's climate and atmosphere. Can we learn to predict when giant explosions will occur on the Sun? Prediction is important because these explosions, which are called "flares" and "coronal mass ejections", propel high-speed particles toward Earth, disrupting radio communication and causing spectacular auroral displays. Understanding and predicting solar activity such as flares is a major goal of SOLIS. The six-million dollar SOLIS project is funded by the National Science Foundation.

18 February 1998: AURA announced today that final polishing of the primary mirror for the northern hemisphere Gemini 8-Meter Telescope has achieved remarkable results. According to Larry Stepp, Gemini Optics Manager, "This mirror is the best mirror of its size ever polished." The Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes Project is an international partnership among the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil to build two state-of-the-art 8-meter telescopes--one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the other on Cerro Pachon, Chile.

18 February 1998: The Australian Academy of Science today welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Education, Dr. David Kemp, that Australia is to join the International Gemini Project now building two astronomical telescopes for optical and infrared wavelengths in Hawaii and Chile.

13 February 1998: PPARC announced today that the first Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh will be Dr Adrian Russell.

4 February 1998: REOSC Optique has just completed acceptance testing of the first Gemini primary mirror, with excellent results. Larry Stepp witnessed the tests at REOSC from January 12-23, and was impressed by their thoroughness. The Gemini Project has benefited from REOSC's experience with the first three ESO VLT primary mirrors, but the Gemini specifications required additional tests beyond those required by ESO.

7 January 1998: Astronomers are announcing today the discovery of an extraordinary number of the most massive stars yet known, all concentrated within a single cloud of gas in a nearby galaxy. A conservative estimate by astronomers Dr. Phil Massey of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) in Tucson, AZ, and Dr. Deidre Hunter from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, places over a dozen stars more massive than 100 times the mass of the Sun within this one cluster. The most massive star may be 150 times the mass of the Sun, making it the most massive star yet found. In addition, the processes that control starbirth in this young, dense star cluster seem to be identical to star formation processes ongoing in more common, less dense star forming regions. The discovery leads astronomers to postulate we haven't yet encountered a physical limit to how massive a star can form in nature.

6 January 1998: Dr. Richard Dunn, astronomer at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico, has been awarded the prestigious George Ellery Hale Prize in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the field of solar astronomy over an extended period of time". The Hale Prize will be awarded to Dr. Dunn at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Washington, D.C. on the morning of January 10, 1998. Dr. Dunn is being recognized for "his bold and imaginative innovation of instrumentation for solar physics, his discovery of important new phenomena on the Sun, and the impact of his contributions on solar physicists world wide".