Category: Observing

Observing

July 6, 2011

Observing Saturn

Amazing experience! With my student Jorge Lillo, I have been observing Saturn with the 2.2m telescope and Astralux, a lucky imaging camara capable of delivering images with resolution almost similar to those of the Hubble Space Telescope. If you do not beleive, ...

January 9, 2011

A tour in Paranal, including an earthquake

Alien, as I said before. As a token, a couple of videos, with the landscape and the residence. The first time I visited, it looked like a research station in Mars. I still have the same feeling. I cannot avoid ...

November 28, 2009

The best proto-brown dwarf candidate so far: PR from Spitzer

SPITZER TELESCOPE OBSERVES BABY BROWN DWARF PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has contributed to the discovery of the youngest brown dwarf ever observed -- a finding that, if confirmed, may solve an astronomical mystery about how these cosmic misfits ...

November 26, 2009

The best proto-brown dwarf candidate so far: PR from Calar Alto

Brown dwarfs are sometimes called "failed stars". They are born from interstellar clouds following processes closely related to the formation of normal stars. But brown dwarfs lack mass enough to light up nuclear reactions in their interiors. Thus, they cannot ...

September 1, 2009

The results of the effort…

If months ago (sorry for not being able to write more often: work, trips, vacations...) I wrote about writing proposals and the efort it implied, now I am collecting the benefits: the observing time. I applied and obtained a fair ...

June 4, 2009

Submitting proposals: is it worth the effort?

Astronomy, like any other science, works under the system of peer-review. It means that nothing is published in a prestigious journal without having the external examination of at least one specialist in the field, a person who is not connected ...

February 6, 2009

A new cycle begins

February 6th ... in few hours the possibility of requesting observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope will end. Like my team, a lot of groups have been working very hard during the last day to be able to submit proposal ...