Gemini South telescope – Astronomy Now

Superluminous supernova marks the death of a star at cosmic high noon

22 July 2017 Astronomy Now

The death of a massive star in a distant galaxy 10 billion years ago created a rare superluminous supernova that astronomers say is one of the most distant ever discovered.

Galaxy quakes could improve hunt for dark matter

7 January 2016 Astronomy Now

Ripples in gas at the outer disc of our galaxy have puzzled astronomers since they were first revealed by radio observations a decade ago. Now, astronomers believe they have found the culprit — a dwarf galaxy, containing dark, unseen material, which skimmed the outskirts of the Milky Way a few hundred million years ago. This method to characterise dark matter marks first real application of galactoseismology.

Watching an exoplanet in motion around a distant star

17 September 2015 Astronomy Now

A team of astronomers, using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) on the Gemini South telescope in Chile, has given us our best view yet of an exoplanet moving in its orbit around a distant star. A series of images captured between November 2013 and April 2015 shows the exoplanet β Pictoris b as it moves through 1½ years of its 22-year orbital period.

Young solar system discovered around a nearby star

2 June 2015 Astronomy Now

An international team using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at the Gemini South telescope in Chile has discovered a young, emerging planetary system around star HD 115600 that has remarkable similarities to our own Solar System in its infancy.