File:Maunakea observatories Hanging by a Thread.jpg
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![File:Maunakea observatories Hanging by a Thread.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Maunakea_observatories_Hanging_by_a_Thread.jpg/800px-Maunakea_observatories_Hanging_by_a_Thread.jpg?20210617200706)
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[edit]DescriptionMaunakea observatories Hanging by a Thread.jpg |
English: In this image, one of the Maunakea observatories appears to be hanging by a golden thread. In reality, the thread is a beam of light, and it is not descending from the sky, but is pointing upwards from the telescope itself. It originates from Gemini North, part of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The light beam is a laser guide star , and its purpose is to form an artificial constellation of stars in the atmosphere, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the Earth’s surface.
Intuitively it seems that the laser beam must be extraordinarily powerful. Remarkably, however, the laser guide star produces about as much energy as a bedside lamp. The reason why light with so little energy can beam so far into the atmosphere is because laser beams are incredibly focused, with all the energy concentrated in a single direction. The laser beam is actually not very visible to human eyes from a distance and is captured here through clever photography techniques. However, it would be very dangerous to look directly into it! |
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Source | https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2120a/ |
Author | International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ J. Chu |
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This media was created by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab).
Their website states: "Unless specifically noted, the images, videos, and music distributed on the public NOIRLab website, along with the texts of press releases, announcements, images of the week and captions; are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee provided the credit is clear and visible." To the uploader: You must provide a link (URL) to the original file and the authorship information if available. |
![]() ![]() This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
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current | 20:07, 17 June 2021 | ![]() | 5,906 × 3,745 (7.58 MB) | Pandreve (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ J. Chu from https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2120a/ with UploadWizard |
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Author | Jason K. Chu |
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Copyright holder |
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Credit/Provider | International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ J. Chu |
Source | NSF's NOIRLab |
Online copyright statement | http://www.jason-chu.artistwebsites.com/ |
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Date and time of data generation | 12:00, 19 May 2021 |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (Macintosh) |
File change date and time | 01:30, 18 January 2021 |
Date metadata was last modified | 02:30, 18 January 2021 |
Date and time of digitizing | 15:14, 1 July 2020 |
Unique ID of original document | 241B256D92E9366C018FDE18902F495A |
Copyright status | Copyrighted |
Keywords | Gemini North |
Contact information | jasonchuphotography@gmail.com
950 North Cherry Ave. Tucson, AZ, 85719 USA |
IIM version | 4 |
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