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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Gemini North Telescope Inaugurated

Explanation: A new mammoth telescope has begun to inspect the northern sky. The 8-meter Gemini North telescope, pictured above , was dedicated last week in Hawaii, with images documenting its unprecedented abilities being released. Within two years , sister telescope Gemini South will begin similar observations of the southern sky from Chile. The Gemini telescopes will collect an enormous amount of visible and infrared light . In the infrared, a Gemini can resolve objects that even appear blurred to the Hubble Space Telescope . To achieve such high resolution, the Gemini's use adaptive optics , a technique that continually flexes Gemini's main mirrors to counteract the defocusing effects of Earth's turbulent atmosphere . A seven-nation collaboration is completing the Geminis under the direction of the US National Science Foundation .

Date June 29, 1999
Credit Credit: (c)1999 By Neelon Crawford www.PolarFineArts.com
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.