#gemininorth — Public Fediverse posts

Gemini North tracks changing glow of interstellar Comet 3IATLAS
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=gemini-north-tracks-changing-glow-of-interstellar-comet-3iatlas
"Unveiling the Cosmic Dance: Gemini North's Colorful Encounter with Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS"
#space #astronomy #interstellar #comet3iatlas #gemininorth

Finally an RGB image of comet #3IATLAS from images taken by #GeminiNorth during the 26 November #shadowTheScientists session: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2532/ - the coma has become bluer due to more gas emission. Also published today: an X-ray image by XMM-Newton at https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/12/XMM-Newton_sees_comet_3I_ATLAS_in_X-ray_light with explanations in http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005600/CBET005646.txt which also contains more 3I news.

Meanwhile the paper https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ae2915 claims an upper limit for 3I's nucleus diameter of only some 750 meters from the measured non-gravitational acceleration (NGA) parameters: that would be waaay more stringent than the 5.6 km upper limit from early Hubble observations reported in https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adf8d8 (where also a lower limit of 440 meters is stated).

And here is a recording of the #ShadowTheScientists live observation of interstellar comet #3IATLAS with #GeminiNorth a few hours ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0chiPZyYM

And here is what comet #3IATLAS looks like for the #geminiNorth Integral Field Unit (IFU) taking numerous spectra from points across the coma - from #ShadowTheScientists

What a #GeminiNorth #3IATLAS spectrum looks like - as raw as it gets, from the #shadowTheScientists session. See https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=17503 for a pre-perihelion spectrum.

The #GeminiNorth telescopes is observing the interstellar comet #3IATLAS right now: here is the acquisition image from moments ago, spectra to be taken now - from the #ShadowTheScientists session.

Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i reveals never-before-seen companion to Betelgeuse, solving millennia-old mystery

https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2523/

Credit image :International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Image Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)

#Betelgeuse #Orion #Astronomy #Gemini #telescope #GeminiNorth #NOIRLab #Astrodon #science #news #star #stars

Once the sun has set on #MaunaKea we get ”lilac hour”. Here are the Canada–France–Hawaii and Gemini North telescopes ethereal as night falls.

#CFHT #gemininorth #hawaii