EXposition of photos from the GMT

1. ny
astrophysics
musuem
gmt Expo

2. Introduction
Strategically located at the seaside of
New York, the The New York Astrophys- The Museum has two thematic
ics Musuem commenced its construction exhibition halls: the Hall of
in 2008 and was commissioned in Octo- Space Science and the Hall of
ber 2010. It is the first local planetar- Astronomy on the ground and
ium for the popularisation of astronomy first floors respectively. The
and space science. The unique egg-shaped exhibits, predominately inter-
dome renders the 8000-square-metre active, enable visitors to learn
museum to be one of the most famous through a series of entertain-
landmarks in New York City. ing and educational experi-
ences.
The Museum comprises two wings - east
and west. The former, the planetarium's Last but not the least, the
nucleus, has an egg-shaped dome struc- Museum organises plenty of
ture. Beneath it are the Galileo Galilei extension activities each year,
Space Theatre, the Hall of Space Sci- including monthly introduction
ence, workshops and offices. The west of night sky in the Space Thea-
wing houses the Hall of Astronomy, the tre, Astronomy Happy Hours,
Lecture Hall, the Gift Shop and offices. fun science lab sessions, as-
tronomy competitions, lectures
Inside the Galileo Galilei Space Theatre, and astronomy film shows, etc.
there is a hemispherical projection dome You can also find a lot of in-
with a diameter of 23 metres. Boasting formation related to stargaz-
the first OMNIMAX film projector in the ing, basic astronomy, astro-
eastern hemisphere, the Museum is also nomicalnews and educational
the first planetarium in the world to resources in the Museum's
possess a fully automatic control sys- homepage.
tem at its Galileo Galilei Space Theatre.
Each year, the Museum produces two
multi-media planetarium shows and in-
troduces the best foreign OMNIMAX
films to USA.

3. Principal Exposition
Live broadcasting 24/7 from The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) at Chile. The Giant
Magellan Telescope (GMT)—the product of more than a century of astronomical re-
search and telescope-building by some of the world’s leading research institu-
tions—will open a new window on the universe for the 21st century. Scheduled for
completion around 2011, the GMT will have the resolving power of a 24.5-meter (80
foot) primary mirror—far larger than any other telescope ever built. It will answer
many of the questions at the forefront of astrophysics today and will pose new and
unanticipated riddles for future generations of astronomers.
The GMT will produce images up to 10 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope.
With the (GMT), now we can see any kind of spectacular interestelar event like:
SUPERNOVA
A supernova (plural: super-
novae or supernovas) is a
stellar explosion. They are
extremely luminous and
cause a burst of radiation
that often briefly outshines
an entire galaxy before fad-
ing from view over several
weeks or months. During this
short interval, a supernova
can radiate as much energy
as the Sun could emit over
its life span.[1] The explo-
sion expels much or all of a
star's material[2] at a veloc-
ity of up to a tenth the
speed of light, driving a
shock wave[3] into the sur-
rounding interstellar me-
dium. This shock wave sweeps
up an expanding shell of gas
and dust called a supernova
remnant.

4. Quasar
A quasar (contraction of QUASi-stellAR radio source) is an extremely powerful and dis-
tant active galactic nucleus. They were first identified as being high redshift sources of
electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light that were point-like, simi-
lar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies. While there was initially
some controversy over the nature of these objects, there is now a scientific consensus
that a quasar is a compact region 10-10000 Schwarzschild radii across surrounding the
central supermassive black hole of a galaxy.
Pulsar
Pulsars are highly magnetized rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of electromag-
netic radiation in the form of radio waves. Their observed periods range from 1.4 ms to
8.5 s.[1] The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing to-
wards the Earth. This is called the lighthouse effect and gives rise to the pulsed na-
ture that gives pulsars their name. Because neutron stars are very dense objects, the
rotation period and thus the interval between observed pulses are very regular. For
some pulsars, the regularity of pulsation is as precise as an atomic clock.[2] Pulsars
are known to have planets orbiting them, as in the case of PSR B1257+12. Werner
Becker of the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik said in 2006, quot;The
theory of how pulsars emit their radiation is still in its infancy, even after nearly
forty years of work.quot;[3]

5. BLACK HOLES
A black hole is a theoretical region of space in which the gravitational field is so
powerful that nothing, not even electromagnetic radiation (e.g. visible light), can es-
cape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon. The term derives from the fact
that the absorption of visible light renders the hole's interior invisible, and indistin-
guishable from the black space around it.
Despite its interior being invisible, a black hole may reveal its presence through an in-
teraction with matter that lies in orbit outside its event horizon. For example, a black
hole may be perceived by tracking the movement of a group of stars that orbit its cen-
ter. Alternatively, one may observe gas (from a nearby star, for instance) that has
been drawn into the black hole. The gas spirals inward, heating up to very high tem-
peratures and emitting large amounts of radiation that can be detected from earth-
bound and earth-orbiting telescopes.[1][2] Such observations have resulted in the
general scientific consensus that—barring a breakdown in our understanding of na-
ture—black holes do exist in our universe.[3]
The idea of an object with gravity strong enough to prevent light from escaping was
proposed in 1783 by the Reverend John Michell[4], an amateur British astronomer. In
1795, Pierre-Simon Laplace, a French physicist independently came to the same
conclusion.[5][6] Black holes, as currently understood, are described by the general
theory of relativity. This theory predicts that when a large enough amount of mass is
present in a sufficiently small region of space, all paths through space are warped
inwards towards the center of the volume, preventing all matter and radiation within
it from escaping.
While general relativity describes a black hole as a region of empty space with a point-
like singularity at the center and an event horizon at the outer edge, the description
changes when the effects of quantum mechanics are taken into account. Research on
this subject indicates that, rather than holding captured matter forever, black holes
may slowly leak a form of thermal energy called Hawking radiation and may well have
a finite life.[7][8][9] However, the final, correct description of black holes, requiring a
theory of quantum gravity, is unknown.
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