Science Nice Results
- Weird tail-less comets are coming from the Oort Cloud in the outer
solar system. This project is lead by Karen Meech, and
the observations were
done with Gemini.
- Halley's Comet is still observed! in March 2003, at the distance of
Neptune. This was also the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" on Oct.3.
I had also observed that comet in 1994, as it
passed the halfway mark (January 1994): observation of the
faintest solar system object ever observed. [at that time]. In 1991, I
detected a majour outburst on the comet - which should have been quiet
at that time. This outburst created some waves in the public. For
instance, a lady contacted me to ensure me that this was a direct
cause (or was it a consequence?) of the Gulf war. Also, a journalist
concluded that the comet had completely exploded (which in turned
caused some
additional comments-in
french in this example).
- Comet Hale-Bopp was still very active in 2001, esp. considering the
distance at which it was. We observed it at the 2.2m at ESO in
Mar.2001; here is a nice color
image (and is also available in
Italian, in
Hebrew
elsewhere...). It was also an
"Astronomy
Pic. of the Day".
- The object 2000 OF8 was discovered as an asteroid. We found out
that it is really a comet
-
The Trans-Neptunian Object 1996 TO66 has been extensively
observed; we obtained many interesting resulst on that object,
including its rotation period. This is described in
an ESO
Press Release, and in more details in one of
my papers.
- A strange supernova, sn 1998 bw, which seems to be related
to a Gamma Ray Burst (May
98). An ESO
Press Release has been published on that object. This object turned out to be the key that unlocked the mystery of GRBs
-
Volcanoes on
Io, using the UH adaptive optics instrument on the CFHT.
-
Observations of Comet Hale-Bopp.
The IfA
Hale-Bopp page contains plenty of info and links about that comet;
for nice pictures, check out
the Images
and Spectra page.
-
Rapid Changes in the Inner Coma of
Comet Hyakutake (March 1996):
acrobatic observations of this nice comet with a great telescope and a
great seeing!
- Comet 1992a Helin-Alu, a nice distant comet, on
its discoverer page.
-
The discovery of a Transneptunian Object: 1994
TG2 (October 1994): one more TNO (only about 60 were known at that time), but I
discovered this one :-)
- High Resolution HST Images of Pluto
and Charon (May 1994): the first detailed, direct look at
Pluto and Charon's surface.
On-going Projects
- 67P+Rosetta: ground-based observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission.
- Castalia: a space mission to Main-Belt Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro.
- Recovery and follow-up of potentially threatening Near-Earth Asteroids
- Trans-Neptunian Objects: The MBOSS color database, a compilation and
analysis of published MBOSS photometry
- ESO's Cosmic Gems is a neat project to make good-looking astronomical images.
Papers
ADS custom
query.
Software tools
-
POS1/Astromet:
an ESO/MIDAS package for astrometric calibration of scientific image (plates
and CCD); it can get its USNO/A1 standard stars automatically through the
net.
- TMAG:
an ESO/MIDAS package for photometric calibration of CCD images, with
quasi-automatic identification of Landolt's stars, and interactive
edition of bad points.
- MeteoMonitor,
a web-tool to monitor the conditions at ESO/La Silla. It also exists for ESO/Garching, at
MeteoMonitor - Garching.
-
Astrolabe Generator, a web-tool to
produce "astrolabes" for your site (updated version at eso.org - The
one at IfA is outdated). An on-line
preview of the cardboard version is available for Paranal.
Information
|
