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Astronomers see double

January 17, 2002

A giant telescope with a whopping 8-metre diameter light collecting mirror opened its Cyclops eye on the Universe today [18 January]. Perched on the desolate summit of Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes at a height of 2737 metres [8,895 feet] the Gemini South telescope is an identical twin of Gemini North in Hawaii. The two telescopes, located each side of the equator, will enable UK astronomers to see double - and view the entire sky in both northern and southern hemispheres.

The Gemini telescopes, in which the UK has almost a quarter share through the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council [PPARC], have been designed to produce extremely sharp images of the Universe in the infrared waveband. Viewing in the infrared enables astronomers to see through the cosmic dust that obscures star forming regions and violent galaxies to reveal the inner secrets of stellar birth and the deep mysteries of the Universe. Each telescope also has an optical capability with 10 times the light gathering power of the Hubble Space Telescope. Coupled with high technology `adaptive optics` instruments which will `take the twinkling out of stars` the Gemini telescopes will produce images as sharp as those from space.

Commenting on the dedication of Gemini South, Prof. Ian Halliday, PPARC Chief Executive, said," This is a significant day for the Gemini telescopes and for the entire UK astronomy community. Britain is the second largest partner in the 7-country Gemini consortium. By taking a leading role in such international projects PPARC ensures that UK scientists have access to world-class facilities, enabling them to participate at the frontier of global astronomy research and discovery".

The UK has played a leading role in the design and construction of both telescopes and many of the scientific instruments on them, and several key individuals in the international consortium are British including the overall Gemini Project Director, Dr. Matt Mountain, formerly of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.

`About a month ago we reached a milestone when both Gemini North and Gemini South made observations at the same time but in different parts of the sky invisible to each other,` said Dr Mountain. `Today`s dedication celebrates a decade of work by hundreds of people to build these two telescopes that have now become one observatory`.

UK astronomers have already begun to sample the new capabilities. Dr. Patrick Roche, [ UK Gemini Project Scientist at Oxford University], commented,` My colleague Dr Philip Lucas [University of Hertfordshire] and I have been fortunate to receive some of the early infrared images of star fields in Orion, which reach deeper than any other previous observations of the region and reveal many new and interesting structures in unprecedented detail. These and other data demonstrate that both Gemini telescopes meet their design requirements, delivering high sensitivity and exquisite image quality. We now look forward to a long and productive phase of scientific exploration`.

A further taster of discoveries to come from Gemini South was recently seen from its twin on Hawaii when it achieved a spectacular image dubbed `the perfect spiral galaxy` using an instrument called GMOS [Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph]. The dramatic image clearly demonstrated the power of Gemini`s massive 8-metre light gathering mirror coupled with the 24 million ultra-sensitive pixel array of GMOS to capture beautiful astronomical phenomena. The UK`s Astronomy Technology Centre [ATC], Durham University, and Canadian colleagues built the GMOS instrument.

`GMOS is one of the most significant scientific instruments ever built by the ATC,` said Dr Adrian Russell, ATC Director, ` and we are well advanced in building a twin for Gemini South, where we can expect similar exciting discoveries to come from the southern skies`.

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)