This image brings into focus a remarkably detailed view of supersonic “bullets” of gas and the wakes created as they pierce through clouds of molecular hydrogen in the famous Orion Nebula. The image was made possible with laser guide star adaptive optics technology that corrects in real-time for image distortions caused by the Earth’s atmosphere. The Orion bullets were first seen in a visible-light image in 1983.

Gemini’s twin 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes are located on two of the best sites on our planet for observing the universe. Together these telescopes can access the entire sky. The Gemini South telescope (at right on image) is located at an elevation of 2,737 meters on a mountain in the Chilean Andes named Cerro Pachón. Cerro Pachón shares resources with the adjacent SOAR Telescope and the nearby telescopes of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. It is expected that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will join Gemini on Cerro Pachón during the second half of this decade.

Gemini North infrared image of Saturn and Titan (at about 6 o’clock position). Image obtained on May 7, 2009 using the Altair adaptive optics system with the Near-infrared imager (NIRI). At the perimeter of Saturn’s ring the F-ring is faintly visible. The F-ring was discovered in images from the Pioneer 11 spacecraft in 1979 and is normally not apparent in images taken with ground-based telescopes. Print downloadable as:

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El telescopio de Gemini Sur (en el reverso de esta hoja) se ubica sobre los 2,737 metros en Cerro Pachón ubicado en Los Andes chilenos. Cerro Pachón comparte recursos con el telescopio adyacente de SOAR y con los telescopios cercanos del observatorio Interamericano de Cerro Tololo. Ambos telescopios de Gemini han sido diseñados para trabajar en una amplia variedad de capacidades ópticas y en el infrarrojo.

This long-duration fish-eye view of the Gemini North telescope facility shows the propagation of the laser guide star (LGS) laser on the night of May 21, 2010. Featuring the sky over Mauna Kea (looking north), the glow of both dusk and dawn, as well as star trails, fill the sky and provide a backdrop for the orange glow of the Gemini LGS laser as it tracks through the sky. The LGS laser from the W.M. Keck Observatory and the peak of Haleakalā on Maui can be seen on close examination of the image. The bright streak on the left is the setting moon.

Conocido como el complejo super burbuja N44, esta nubosa tempestad es dominada por una inmensa burbuja de alrededor de 325 por 250 años luz de tamaño. Un cúmulo de estrellas masivas dentro de la caverna ha removido el gas para formar una cavidad hueca con forma de boca. Si bien los astrónomos no concuerdan en cómo exactamente esta burbuja ha evolucionado durante los últimos 10 millones de años, ellos sí saben que el cúmulo central de las estrellas masivas es el responsable de la apariencia inusual de la nube.

Known as the N44 superbubble complex, this cloudy tempest is dominated by a vast bubble about 325 by 250 light-years across. A cluster of massive stars inside the cavern has cleared away gas to form a distinctive mouth-shaped hollow shell. While astronomers do not agree on exactly how this bubble has evolved, for as long as 10 million years, they do know that the central cluster of massive stars is responsible for the cloud’s unusual appearance.

La galaxia de formación estelar violenta NGC 1313 es una incubadora estelar que produce estrellas a una escala muy raramente vistas en una galaxia de este tamaño. Ahora una nueva impactante imagen del Observatorio Gemini revela múltiples nubes de gas brillante en los brazos de esta galaxia. Estas nubes coloridas son la señal obvia de formación estelar en esta prolífica fábrica de estrellas.Ubicada a unos 15 millones de años luz de distancia, NGC 1313 es una galaxia espiral barrada de tipo tardío. Es una galaxia vecina relativamente cercana a la Vía Láctea y tiene un pasado misterioso.

This frame from a time-lapse image sequence clearly shows a bright meteor (or Bolide) streaking across the frame in addition to the Big Dipper asterism above the Gemini North dome. To the left, the Pleiades star cluster sets over the Subaru and Keck observatories (Subaru is the name for the Pleiades in Japan, in Hawai‘i it is known as Makali‘i or ‘little eyes’). This scene appears bright due to illumination from the nearly full moon. The Frederick C.

- Out of Print A K-band (2.2microns) AO image of the HR 8799 planetary system made using Gemini/Altair/NIRI and acquired on September 5, 2008 (North is up and East is left). The three planets are designated with red circles. The stellar flux has been subtracted using ADI (<a href="node/11151#adi" title="ADI">see text for details</a>) and the central saturated region is masked out. Multiepoch observations have shown counterclockwise Keplerian orbital motion for all three planets.