The observations spanned a period of 29 months and revealed patterns in the volcanic activity over time and location on the satellite ( Figure 4 ), but also resulted in new questions .
According to University of California Berkeley ( UCB ) Graduate Student Katherine de Kleer , some of the eruptions appeared to progress across the surface over time , as
Figure 3 . Gemini Observatory
GeMS image of globular cluster NGC 6624 revealing individual stars clear to its core . The inset shows the color-magnitude diagram with the mainsequence knee visible . The extreme sharpness of this adaptive optics image allows researchers to perform very precise photometry on individual stars — a task requiring exquisite imaging across the entire field , which would be a challenge for most adaptive optics systems . Composite color image by Travis Rector ,
University of Alaska Anchorage .
Image credit : Gemini Observatory / AURA
According to first author Sara Saracino of the University of Bologna , this is the most accurate , and deepest , near-infrared color-magnitude diagram ever produced of NGC 6624 and perhaps the best ever made for any bulge cluster . The results of this research are accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal , and a preprint can be found here .
Monitoring Io ’ s Volcanoes with Adaptive Optics
The longest frequent , high-resolution imaging of Io ’ s thermal emission is providing insights on the Jovian moon ’ s volcanoes , thanks to a joint program between the Gemini North telescope ( with the Near InfraRed Imager and spectrometer [+ Altair adaptive optics instrument pairing ) and the W . M . Keck Observatory . Gemini ’ s queue scheduling provided the additional flexibility necessary to assure adequate coverage in the time domain . if one eruption somehow triggered another 500 kilometers away . “ While it stretches the imagination to devise a mechanism that could operate over distances of 500 kilometers , Io ’ s volcanism is far more extreme than anything we have on Earth and continues to amaze and baffle us .” De Kleer led the analysis of the data for this study with her advisor at UCB , Imke de Pater .
The results were presented at the American Astronomical Society ’ s Division of Planetary Sciences and the European Planetary Sciences Congress in Pasadena , California , in October . De Kleer and de Pater presented the results jointly based on a pair of papers in the journal Icarus , which are available here and here .
22 GeminiFocus January 2017 | 2016 Year in Review