APOD
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.
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. |



