National Optical Astronomy Observatory

SSRO/PROMPT/CTIO

Thor’s Helmet: an interstellar bubble

The central star is HD 56925, a massive Wolf-Rayet star nearing the end of its lifetime, which is responsible for the wind sweeping through the surrounding molecular cloud. Also listed as NGC 2359, this image was obtained at CTIO by the PROMPT consortium. When not chasing gamma-ray bursts, PROMPT serves a wide variety of users, including Star Shadows Remote Observatory (SSRO), a group of astrophotographers. This image was captured using broadband and narrowband filters: the blue-green color is oxygen emission.

Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/AURA/NSF/Univ. of Toledo

NEWFIRM, Herschel Find Hole in Space

NEWFIRM, an infrared camera now installed on the CTIO Blanco 4- meter, imaged NGC 1999 at the KPNO Mayall 4-m before going to the southern hemisphere. Here a combination of infrared filters from NEWFIRM (blue) and from the ESO Herschel Space Observatory (green and red) show the region around the triple star known as V380 Orionis, near the top of the image. Previously thought to be an opaque cloud, the dark region now appears to be a cavity in the dense gas and dust — a hole in space carved out by a jet from one of the young stars in the V380 Ori system.

More information is available from Caltech, NASA and ESA.

NEWFIRM arrives at CTIO!

Counterclockwise from top; Leaving KPNO, Arriving at CTIO, NEWFIRM camera hoisted to Blanco main floor, NEWFIRM undergoing a major filter change and thorough internal inspection in the new CTIO clean room, Guider assembled into the truss

March NOAO/NSO Newsletter is now on line!

With Issue 101 we will begin producing only two issues a year, in March and September. Additionally, we are changing the section organization to make the Newsletter more useful and informative to our readers.