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‘Time Machine’ Will Study the Early Universe

By Guest PostApril 14, 2012Scienceastronomer, big bang, black hole, brown dwarfs, caltech, charles steidel, cosmic dust, dark matter, david clarke, electromagnetic spectrum, era, families of galaxies, formation, Galaxy, gamma ray, gregory mace, harland epps, hawaii, ian s mclean, infrared camera, infrared wavelength, jupiter, keck i telescope, keith matthews, kristin kulas, lee a dubridge, mauna kea, milky way galaxy, missing link, mosfire, nirspec, radio wave, redshifted, sean adkins, spectrometer, time machine, ucla, universe, w m keck observatory

UCLA’s Ian McLean, colleagues build most advanced instrument of its kind

A new scientific instrument, a “time machine” of sorts, built by UCLA astronomers and colleagues, will allow scientists to study the earliest galaxies in the universe, which could never be studied before.

The five-ton instrument, the most advanced and sophisticated of its kind in the world, goes by the name MOSFIRE (Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infra-Red Exploration) and has been installed in the Keck I Telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. (more…)

In Glowing, Swirling Dust, New Stars are Born

An image taken by UA astrophotographer Adam Block, chosen by NASA as Astronomy Picture of the Day, brings us the best yet glimpse into a stellar nursery about 450 light years away from Earth.

An image of a stellar nursery about 450 light years away featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on Dec. 8 reveals the beauty and violent story of Sh2-239, a region where stars are being born and ignite the cosmic dust with their new-found energy.

According to University of Arizona astrophotographer Adam Block, who captured the image, it is one of the most detailed and visually appealing pictures obtained of the object, which astronomers have observed and studied for decades. (more…)

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‘Time Machine’ Will Study the Early Universe

In Glowing, Swirling Dust, New Stars are Born