VISIT STARS WITHOUT LEAVING THE GROUND
Telescopes help us to see our universe. While Galileo is often thought of as the inventor of this instrument, the first known telescope, recorded in 1608, predated him by about a year.
They’ve come a long way since. Now, sophisticated instruments, including optical, x-ray, infrared, radio, gamma ray, neutrino, high-energy particle, and gravitational wave telescopes are expanding our knowledge and giving us truly mind-blowing views.
They can be mammoth, with mirrors weighing dozens of tons. And while they give us beautiful visions, the instruments themselves are spectacular to behold.
As we celebrate the beauty of science this week, we are sharing a list of some of the coolest telescopes on the planet. You can visit them virtually or in real life -- and who knows, you might get to see evidence of life on some other planets out there! Check them out below.
Kitt Peak Mountain, which rises up about 50 miles west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona, is home to a large collection of telescopes maintained and operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO), including theMcMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, the largest solar telescope in the world.
The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on two prime peaks, in Hawaii, in the northern hemisphere, and in Chile, in the southern hemisphere. That means Gemini Observatory's telescopes can collectively access the entire sky.
Gemini is operated by a partnership of five countries including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Any astronomer in these countries can apply for time on Gemini, which is allocated in proportion to each partner's financial stake.
Gemini South Telescope is perched in the Andes Mountains, in Cerro Pachón, Chile. Check out the southern skies, with a beautiful view of the constellation Orion that appears to hang just above the snow-capped peaks.
It’s an awesome sight just to watch the shutters open on the telescope domes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile, open their shutters in preparation for a night of observing.
It is part of the GLORIA Project, which provides open access to astronomers from around the world to a network of remotely operated robotic telescopes. The robotic telescopes here aided in the discovery of a new supernova in the galaxy ESO 365-G16, located 370 million light years from Earth. It has a mass eight times that of our Sun. And Gomez's Hamburger, a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk, was discovered here.
The National Solar Observatory (NSO), in Sunspot, New Mexico, scans the sun’s corona to produce maps used in predicting upcoming solar activity.
If you would like to visit the New Mexico facilities, check out the Sacramento Peak Visitor's Information site. Different tours of the summit are available.
If you would like to visit the Arizona facilities, check out the Kitt Peak Visitor Center and Museum site.
The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is the world's largest, fully steerable radio telescope. It is located in Green Bank, West Virginia, a quiet, radio-free zone.
Take a telescope tour, an astronomy workshop and enjoy the beautiful grounds. Check out Visitor Info.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer, or array of radio telescopes that work together in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Consisting of 66 12-metre (39 ft) and 7-metre (23 ft) diameter radio telescopes observing at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths, ALMA is expected to provide insight on star birth during the early universe and detailed imaging of local star and planet formation.
ALMA is an international partnership among Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Chile.
It’s a thrill to visit. Check it out here.
TheVery Large Array (VLA), one of the world's premier astronomical radio observatories, consists of 27 radio antennas, arranged in a Y-shaped configuration, on the Plains of San Agustin, 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico.
Here’s a photo of a shell of hot gas -- the remains of a star that exploded around 30,000 years ago, most likely the remnant of a core-collapsed supernova. When a star runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion, it collapses under its own weight, and then rebounds, producing a shock wave. The shock front is shown in blue-green radio waves, visible from the Galactic Plane Survey (captured by the Very Large Array radio telescope). Infrared data from the MSX satellite is shown in red.
The Mayall Telescope, at Kitt Peak National Observatory, in Kitt Peak, Arizona, is equipped with a 15-ton primary mirror, polished to one millionth of an inch, with a reflective aluminum coating one thousandth the thickness of a human hair.
The telescope is used primarily for infrared and faint visible light observations and has played an important role in many fields of research. The rotation curves of distant galaxies have been observed in order to determine the role of dark matter in the universe.
Take a virtual tour here. For an IRL visit, check here.
Read more about Beautiful Science all this week on BeautifulNow.
And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.
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