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Discovery of Eris
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Eris is a dwarf planet that was discovered by a research team at Mount Palomar Observatory, California. The Samuel Oschin Schmidt telescope was used to take the first images of Eris. Eris's mass is about 1.66±0.02×1022 kg or 27% of Pluto's mass. -
Discovery of 90377 Sedna
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90377 Sedna was discovered with the Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. Sedna is about 100 AU away from Earth. After Sedna's original discovery, further observation was taken with the SMARTS telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. -
The Spitzer Telescope Takes Images of the Eagle Nebula
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The Eagle Nebula is a nebula that contains about 460 stars. The Eagle Nebula is currenting in the process of forming new stars. The photo to the left is the famous "Pillars of Ceation" photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The HST took iamges of the nebula in 1995 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005. -
Discovery of Makemake
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Makemake is a dwarf planet located about 40-50 AU away from Earth. Makemake was discovery at the Palomar Observatory in 2005 and further research was done with the Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Telescope. Makemake's surface temperature is about 32-36 Kº. The picture shown is taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. -
Discovery of Nix
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Nix was discovered by the Hubble Telescope Pluto Companion Search Team in May 2005. The first images were taken on May 15 of 2005 and further imaging was taken on May 18, 2005. This moon follows the same orbit that Charon does. -
Discovery of Hyrda
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Hyrda was discovered along with Nixon May 15, 2005. Images were taken on the 15th and the 18th of the month. Hyrda recieved its name from the mthyoligical serpent with nine-heads that fought Hercules in Greco-Roman Mythology. -
Discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
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OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is about 21,500 light-years away. OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb is classified as a planet, but the planet doesn't seem to have the conditions to support life. A telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile discovered the planet using gravational lensing on August 10, 2005. However, January 25, 2006 is considered its discovery date. The photo to the left is an artist's conception of the planet. -
Discovery of IOK-1
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IOK-1 has a redshift of about 6.96 and was discovered with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. This corresponds to about 750 million years after the Big Bang. IOK-1 was first seen in April of 2006, but its official data was released September 14, 2006, making that the official date of its discovery. -
Discovery of A1689-zD1
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A1689-zD1 was dicovered in February of 2008 using the Hubble and Spitzer Telescopes. Its redshift is approxamately 7.6. The galaxy is estimated to be 700 million years after the Big Bang. -
Discovery of UDFy-38135539
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Galaxy UDFy-38135539 is a galaxy that's approximately 13 billion light-years away! That means that the light emmited from the galaxy took 13 billion years to reach Earth. This galaxy was discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope by using sensitive infared imaging. UDFy-38135539's light is extremely faint, as seen in the picture to the left. -
Discovery of El Gordo (ACT-CL J0102-4915)
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El Gordo is a large, distance galaxy cluster. The official name of El Gordo is ACT-CL J0102-4915, but it is commonly known as El Gordo with means "the Big one" in Spanish. Its about 7 billion light-years away and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Atacama Cosmology Telescope discovered it in 2011. El Gordo is classified as a Bullet Cluster. The image to the left is a great example of El Gordo. -
Discovery of UDFj-39546284
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UDFj-39546284 is located an astounding distance of 13.37 billion light-years away. It was discovered using infrared observation within the Hubble space telescope. The light source that was seen when UDFj-39546284 was first discovered is no longer exists. This object is estimted to be about 390 million years after te Big Bang. -
Discovery of S/2011 (134340) 1
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S/2011 (134340) 1 was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope Research Team on June 28, 2011. However, it was observered in more detail between July 3 and July 18, 2011 and it was verified as a new moon on July 20, 2011. Its brightness is very light with it being about 10% the brightness of Nix. -
Discovery of ULAS J1120+0641
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ULAS J1120+0641 is a qasar, or an active and energetic galactic nucleus. The unofficial discovery date of the quasar is June 29, 2011. ULAS J1120+0641 with the UK Infared Telescope, located in Hawaii. This quasar was the first of its kind to have a redshift over 7. In the picture to the left, ULAS J1120+0641 is marked with a red dot in the middle of the photo (it can be hard to see). -
Discovery of BoRG-58
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BoRG-58 is a cluster of galaxies located about 13.1 billion light-years away. Dated to be about 600 million years after the Big Bang, the cluser of galaxies is an ancient artifact in astronomical terms. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope used infared-light to discover BoRG-58. To the left is an image of BoRG-58. -
Discovery of MACS0647-JD
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The official discovery date of MACS0647-JD is said to be December 20, 2012 because that's the day the papers will be published. MACS0647-JD is a galaxy located about 13.3 billion light-years away from Earth and it is dated to be about 420 million years after the Big Bang. The Spitzer and Hubble Telescopes worked in unison to discover the galaxy. Because of its distance, even the best images of MACS0647-JD are extremely blurry.
