Project News

Planning for the Next Generation of TMT Science Instruments is Already Underway

TMT • March 8th, 2018

Pasadena, CA - March 8, 2018 - Future users of the Thirty Meter Telescope are now preparing studies of the science instruments that will be deployed after the telescope's...

NASA Finds a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet's Atmosphere

Spitzer • March 1st, 2018

Much like detectives who study fingerprints to identify the culprit, scientists used NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to find the “fingerprints” of water in the...

IRTF Archive at IRSA

IRSA • February 27th, 2018

The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) Archive is now operational at IRSA. It is currently serving SpeX spectrograph data from the 2016B semester. IRTF is a 3.0m telescope...

China's Contribution to TMT's Primary Mirror

TMT • February 22nd, 2018

Until recently, eyeglass lenses were actually made of glass-remember the "Coke-bottle-bottoms" some people had to wear? Given the fragility and other quirky qualities of...

TMT Observatory Software Infrastructure Progress

TMT • February 15th, 2018

The year started at full speed for the TMT Observatory Software (OSW) team, who met in Pune, India with their colleagues from the India TMT Coordination Center (ITCC) and...

Stressed Mirror Polishing

TMT • February 12th, 2018

“Wax on, wax off,” said Mr. Miyagi to "The Karate Kid" (1984), to help the kid develop efficiency of movement, attention to detail, and grace—while also polishing Mr. Miyagi’s...

New Clues to TRAPPIST-1 Planet Compositions, Atmospheres

Spitzer • February 5th, 2018

In the year since NASA announced the seven Earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system, scientists have been working hard to better understand these enticing worlds just 40...

Segment Support Assembly Production in the USA

TMT • February 1st, 2018

As I’ve explained elsewhere in this blog, segment support assemblies are what hold in place each of TMT’s primary mirror segments. They also let each segment be positioned in...

ESA releases new artist views of Euclid

Euclid • January 25th, 2018

ESA has released new artist views of Euclid, the space mission to probe the dark Universe. These new images contain details that reflect the progress in the mission implementation.

A ‘hot Jupiter’ with unusual winds

Spitzer • January 22nd, 2018

The hottest point on a gaseous planet near a distant star isn’t where astrophysicists expected it to be – a discovery that challenges scientists’ understanding of the many...