Condor telescope reveals a new world for astrophysicists

A brand new telescope referred to as the “Condor Array Telescope” might open up a brand new world of the very-low-brightness universe for astrophysicists. 4 new papers, revealed again to again within the Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) this month, current the primary scientific findings primarily based on observations acquired by Condor. The mission is a collaborative led by scientists within the Division of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook College and the American Museum of Pure Historical past (AMNH).

In accordance with lead researchers Kenneth M. Lanzetta, Ph.D., a Professor within the Division of Physics and Astronomy and Stefan Gromoll of Stony Brook, and Michael M. Shara, Ph.D., Curator within the Division of Astrophysics on the AMNH, Condor is now in full operation. The brand new “array telescope” makes use of computer systems to mix mild from a number of smaller telescopes into the equal of 1 bigger telescope and is ready to detect and research astronomical options which can be too faint to be seen with standard telescopes.

Within the first paper, Lanzetta and colleagues used Condor to review extraordinarily faint “stellar streams” surrounding the close by galaxy NGC 5907, a widely known spiral galaxy positioned some 50 million mild years from Earth.

Such streams are produced when dwarf companion galaxies are disrupted by the tidal gravitational drive of the first galaxy. A earlier picture obtained by a distinct telescope in 2010 appeared to point out a exceptional stellar stream forming two full loops of a helix surrounding the galaxy. However one other picture obtained by the “Dragonfly Telephoto Array” in 2019 confirmed no hint of this helix.

The Condor workforce determined to check the brand new array telescope and to weigh in on the discrepancy. They obtained a deep picture of NGC 5907 in 2022. Just like the Dragonfly picture, the Condor picture confirmed no hint of the helix, main the workforce to conclude that the helix of the 2010 picture was possible an artifact associated to the image processing. The Condor picture additionally revealed faint options that weren’t picked up by the earlier pictures.

Within the second paper, Shara and colleagues used Condor to reassess a picture of the dwarf nova Z Camelopardalis or “Z Cam” obtained by the Kitt Peak Nationwide Observatory 4-meter telescope again in January 2007. The picture confirmed a partial shell of gasoline surrounding Z Cam, which Shara speculated was emitted by a “new star” recorded by Chinese language Imperial astrologers within the yr 77 BCE.

To check this hypothesis, the Condor workforce obtained a brand new picture of Z Cam in November 2021. Then by evaluating the positions of the shell within the earlier and later pictures, they measured the growth price of the shell, discovering a price that’s certainly in step with an explosion greater than 2000 years in the past.

However to their astonishment, the workforce discovered that the brand new Condor picture revealed the whole shell of gasoline surrounding Z Cam, moderately than the partial shell proven by the 4-meter telescope. Additional, the Condor picture revealed one more, bigger shell surrounding the primary shell.

“These new pictures reveal simply how delicate Condor is. The brand new shells are just too faint to be seen by standard telescopes,” says Lanzetta.

“That is the primary instance ever discovered of two concentric shells surrounding a dwarf nova, and it confirms a long-standing speculation that concentric shells should encompass continuously erupting novae of comparatively huge white dwarfs,” says Shara, lead writer of the Z Cam paper.

Two other papers describe one other extraordinarily faint shell of gasoline surrounding one other nova. That shell was predicted to exist however was too faint for standard telescopes to detect. It’s 50 instances bigger than beforehand identified nova shells and is the product of a number of nova shells crashing into one another over tens of hundreds of years.

Lanzetta’s previous analysis has centered on extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, together with problems with galaxy formation and evolution of the intergalactic medium. Gromoll is an professional on large-scale scientific computing. Shara’s previous analysis has centered on novae and the late phases of stellar evolution.

Lanzetta and Gromoll started engaged on Condor in 2019. Shara joined the mission in 2020. In 2021, the Condor workforce deployed the instrument to a really darkish astronomical website on the Darkish Sky New Mexico observatory within the southwest nook of New Mexico, close to the city of Animas.