Browsing All posts tagged under »Telescopes«

At the End of the Earth, Seeking Clues to the Universe

April 8, 2012

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For More Photos Press here Trucks stall on the road to this plateau 16,597 feet up in the Atacama Desert, where scientists are installing one of the world’s largest ground-based astronomical projects. Heads ache. Noses bleed. Dizziness overcomes the researchers toiling in the shadow of the Licancabur volcano. “Then there’s what we call ‘jelly legs,’ ”… [Read more…]

Inside Euler’s Head Or how to see a telescope through the walls of its dome

December 26, 2011

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As night was falling over ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile on 20 December 2009, the sky was not yet dark enough for the telescopes to start observations. But conditions were perfect to perform a clever trick with the dome of the Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Telescope: allowing us to peer inside with this photograph… [Read more…]

Highlights of the MAGIC Telescopes

October 24, 2011

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Juan Cortina for the MAGIC Collaboration The MAGIC two 17 meter diameter Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray telescopes have now operated for two years in stereoscopic mode. The performance of the instrument has been evaluated: the integral sensitivity for an energy above 300 GeV is 0.76% crab units (10% Crab units differential sensitivity below 100… [Read more…]

Telescope to spot aliens

October 3, 2011

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World’s largest eye on the sky to join quest for signs of ET The device will be built in the Chilean desert in a dome the size of a stadium Housed in a dome almost the size of Big Ben and containing a mirror nearly half the length of a football pitch, it wasn’t exactly… [Read more…]

Laser Meets Lightning

September 5, 2011

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On Thursday 18 August, the sky above the Allgäu Public Observatory in southwestern Bavaria was an amazing sight, with the night lit up by two very different phenomena: one an example of advanced technology, and the other of nature’s dramatic power. As ESO tested the new Wendelstein laser guide star unit by shooting a powerful laser beam… [Read more…]

Fermi catalogue update shows ‘violent Universe’ changes

July 12, 2011

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The catalogue that lists the most violent neighbourhoods in the Universe has been updated. The Fermi space telescope captures gamma rays – the highest-energy light in nature, which hints at the cosmos’ most extreme conditions and processes. The second Fermi catalogue represents a full two years of data, improving on the first edition’s 11 months. It… [Read more…]

NASA’s Hubble Makes One Millionth Science Observation

July 6, 2011

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope crossed another milestone in its space odyssey of exploration and discovery. On Monday, July 4, the Earth-orbiting observatory logged its one millionth science observation during a search for water in an exoplanet’s atmosphere 1,000 light-years away. “For 21 years Hubble has been the premier space science observatory, astounding us with deeply… [Read more…]

Chromoscope

June 21, 2011

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Chromoscope - View the Universe in the different wavelengths: Click here Chromoscope is an accessible, easy tool that anyone can use to explore and understand the sky at multiple wavelengths…..