Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF

NOAO Astronomer Helmut Abt turns 90

The recipient in 1952 of the first doctoral degree in astrophysics awarded by Caltech for his work on the nature of W Virginis stars, Abt has studied many topics involving stellar spectroscopy. His work established the basic properties of B-G main sequence stars and guided subsequent developments in theories of binary star formation and the dynamics of stellar atmospheres. In the 1950’s Abt helped to select the site for a national astronomical observatory by conducting an aerial site survey and exploring potential sites by Jeep, pack horse, and on foot. From 1971-1999, Abt served as Managing Editor for the Astrophysical Journal. From 1980 onward, his interest in publication practices in astronomy led to a series of papers on topics such as the relative value of smaller aperture telescopes, the productivity of astronomers as a function of age, and the half-life of astronomical publications. Read more about Abt's scientific discoveries.

• NASA’s New Horizons spots signs of polar caps on Pluto. Image processing, by NOAO astronomer Tod Lauer and the New Horizons Science Team, revealed these surface features.

• The US National Gemini office is pleased to inaugurate its website. All Gemini Users are invited to explore, experiment, and give us feedback on these pages.

• The application process is open for the 2015 La Serena School for Data Science, taking place August 15-22, 2015.

• In work just reported in SCIENCE, including data taken at the Kitt Peak 2.1m telescope, a team at JPL/Berkeley has upgraded the use of Type Ia supernovae as standard candles for determining distances.

• A "growth spurt" from a very young protostar, reported by a team including NOAO scientist Lori Allen. The observations in this study involve both NASA satellites and Kitt Peak telescopes.

• Rare dwarf galaxy “neighbors” that orbit the Milky Way discovered in data from the Dark Energy Survey. The survey is being carried out on the 4-m Blanco telescope at CTIO.

• NASA Solicits Proposals for a World-class Precision Doppler Spectrometer at Kitt Peak National Observatory
  
  NOAO Press Release 15-02

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