Meteor & Milky Way over Gemini South Telescope

Meteor & Milky Way over Gemini South Telescope

To spot a meteor, you have to act fast. Sometimes a meteor is only visible in the sky for a few seconds. Many astronomical objects change quickly with time. The study of these fleeting changes is called time-domain astronomy. Luckily, Gemini South in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), knows all about acting fast.

Often, Gemini is one of the observatories following up on quickly changing astronomical events, including supernovae, asteroids, variable stars, active galactic nuclei, and, of course, meteors. These observations help astronomers track how these objects change over time. Just this year, follow-up observations using Gemini South helped astronomers characterize the closest supernova linked to a fast X-ray transient and near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4.

However, pointing to these targets is sometimes a matter of speed. Behind Gemini South in this image, perched atop Cerro Pachón, you can see the newly operational NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Rubin is a survey telescope that will scan the southern sky and detect up to 10 million changes every night. Each change in the night sky will trigger an alert to astronomers within minutes, initiating potential follow-up observations.

Gemini South Telescope:
https://noirlab.edu/public/programs/gemini-observatory/gemini-south/

Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Petr Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)
Release Date: Sept. 10, 2025

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