October 2017
Peter Michaud
October 2017
Astronomers Feast on First Light From Gravitational Wave Event
Gemini Observatory “ pulled out all the stops ” to bring a gravitational wave source into focus and capture early optical and infrared light from the merger of two neutron stars . The critical ground-based observations spanned almost a month during the summer of 2017 and allowed astronomers to dissect the first electromagnetic light emissions ever associated with a gravitational wave event .
Note : The following story is adapted from the Gemini Observatory press release issued on October 16 , 2017 . The original release ( with videos and additional images ) is available online .
Figure 1 . Astronomers Mansi Kasliwal of Caltech ( above ) and Edo Berger of Harvard ( below ) spoke with much excitement about gravitational waves , and the role Gemini played in understanding them , in their videos describing the 2017 summer observation event and its significance . The videos can be found here .
Credits : Caltech and Harvard University
The first-ever detection of optical and infrared light linked to a gravitational wave event initiated a time-critical sequence of observations at the Gemini South telescope in Chile . “ Gemini pulled out all the stops to get these data ,” said Ryan Chornock of Ohio University who analyzed the resulting flood of data in his team ’ s study of the event . The Gemini data allowed multiple research teams to form a complete picture of the aftermath from the gravitational wave event ( GW170817 ) localized by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory ( LIGO ), Virgo interferometer , and Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on August 17 , 2017 . The Gemini imaging and spectroscopy spanned a period of 25 nights — while the object ’ s light gradually faded from view .
Researchers from around the world announced their results on October 16th at press conferences in Washington D . C ., Caltech , and one hosted by the European Southern Observatory in Europe . Well over a dozen papers have also been accepted for publication in the journals Nature , Science , and The Astrophysical Journal Letters .
January 2018 / 2017 Year in Review GeminiFocus
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