►
Description
Topic: Science and Technology Innovation at Lick Observatory
Speaker: Dr. Elinor Gates
Abstract:
Lick Observatory has a long history of being at the forefront of science and technology. Lick Observatory persevered through the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the SCU Lightning Complex Fire, recovering to full operations and introducing new telescopes and instruments, such as PANOSETI and PEAS. I’ll give an overview of our research telescopes, and the exciting new technologies and research in progress, such as the search for extrasolar planets, extraterrestrial life, and my own research on quasars.
Bio:
Dr. Elinor Gates is a staff astronomer at Lick Observatory specializing in laser guide star adaptive optics and near infrared camera instrumentation and observations. She did her undergraduate studies, majoring in Mathematics and Astrophysics, at Mount Holyoke College. She received her Ph.D. in Physics/Astronomy from the University of New Mexico in 1998.
Before moving to Lick Observatory, she worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, IAU Minor Planet Center, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and the Air Force Phillips Laboratory. Dr. Gates’s current research interests are studying quasars and their host galaxies, discovering dust obscured quasars, and measuring the masses of quasar and AGN central black holes. Asteroid (2650) Elinor is named in Dr. Gates’s honor.
A
59,
it
was
the
second
largest
telescope
in
the
world
and
remained
the
second
largest
telescope
in
the
world
until
1974
and
then
in
the
80s
and
Beyond.
Of
course,
many
giant
telescopes
have
been
constructed.
So
now
it's
about
40th
biggest
tall
scope
in
the
world
somewhere
around
there,
but
even
though
it's
no
longer
one
of
the
largest
telescopes
in
the
world,
you
can
keep
telescopes
older
telescopes
relevant
by
putting
new
technologies
on
that
and
you
and
detecting
the
light
in
new
and
better
ways.
A
So
we
have
a
number
of
different
instruments
that
we
put
on
this
telescope.
We
have
the
cast
spectrograph,
which
I'll
probably
talk
about
later.
When
I
talk
about
my
Quasar
research,
we
have
the
Hamilton
spectrometer,
which
is
a
high
resolution.
Spectrograph
that's
been
used
to
discover
many
planets
around
other
stars,
and
then
we
have
the
Shane
adaptive
optic
system
and
the
Sharks
infrared
camera.
Now
it
was
mentioned
in
the
introduction,
I
work
on
instrumentation
and
infrared
cameras
and
Adaptive
Optics,
so
I'm
going
to
start
talking
about
our
high-tech
Adaptive
Optics
system.
A
Adaptive
Optics
is
a
technology
that
allows
us
to
sharpen
our
images
through
the
telescope.
The
Earth's
atmosphere
is
turbulent
and
it
blurs
your
images
of
the
Stars
we've
all
sort
of
seen
this
effect.
When
you
see
heat
waves
coming
off
of
hot
pavement,
it
makes
everything
Shimmer
and
blur
just
just
happening
with
the
Earth's
atmosphere
for
all
the
light.
B
A
Light
comes
through,
the
telescope
hits
the
primary
mirror
and
goes
back
to
the
back
of
the
telescope
to
the
Adaptive
Optics
instrument.
We'll
see
a
little
cutaway
version
here
of
a
very
simplified
schematic
and
you
have
the
light
comes
in
the
telescope.
We
split
off
with
blue
light,
or
in
this
case
the
optical
light
for
our
system
at
link
Observatory
to
what's
called
a
wavefront
sensor
that
measures
the
turbulence
and
then
the
red
light.
In
our
case
the
infrared
light
at
Lick
Observatory
and
then
we
have
our
aberrated
wave
runs.
A
B
A
And
then
we
put
opposite
turbulence
on
a
small
mirror
that
can
change
its
shape
like
Observatory
up
to
1500
times
a
second
and
then
that
anti-turbilance
flattens
out
the
wave
front
you
know,
gives
you
nice,
Sharp
Images
through
your
telescope.
So
you
get
nice
point-like
images
rather
than
these
blurred
aberrated
things
that
are
changing
every
you
know.
A
How
we
do
it
is
we
look
at
a
bright
star
and
we
know
what
a
Bright
Star
Loop
should
look
like
if
there's
no
turbulence
they're
Point
sources
they're
far
away,
and
so
we
can
look
at
how
they're
blurred
and
then
we
use
a
computer
to
calculate
it.
What
turbulence
caused
the
fluorine
we
see
and
then
put
that
anti-turbulence
on
the
defolo
mirror
so
works
great?
The
problem
is,
is
there
aren't
Bright.
B
A
B
A
Is
a
powerful
laser
we
can
put
up
to
you
know
we
typically
have
about
10
watts
of
laser
power.
Now
your
typical
laser
pointer,
like
the
one
I'm
using
in
my
hand
this
evening,
is
about
in
the
order
of
five
milliwatts.
If
you
have
one
of
those
nice
green
ones
that
you
use
for
pointing
out
stars
in
the
sky
might
be
10
milliwatts,
so
we're
talking
10
watts,
1000
times
more
powerful
than
your
your
bright
green
laser
pointers.
A
So
there
are
some
safety
hazards
with
this.
We
need
to
communicate
with
the
FAA
so
that
we
don't
eliminate
any
aircraft.
Now
if
we
hit
an
airplane,
it's
not
like
we're
gonna.
You
know
it's
gonna
explode
and
have
debris
raining
around
the
observatory,
but
we
could
line
the
pilot
and
or
the
air
Crews
or
passengers,
and
so
that
would
be
bad.
You
don't
want
your
pilot
to
be
blinded
as
I'm
coming
in
to
land
at
San,
Jose,
International
Airport.
What.
A
A
That
without
Adaptive
Optics
just
looks
like
a
Big
Blob.
You
can
see
there's
some
stars
there,
so
you
can
sense
of
how
blurred
it
is,
and
this
is
with
the
Adaptive
Optics
this
one.
So
you
can
clearly
see
the
white
dwarf
at
the
center
and
the
planetary
nebulosity
around
it.
Now.
One
of
the
research
projects
I'm
involved
in
is
looking
at
gas
giants
in
our
own
solar
system
and
tracking
the
storms.
So.
A
A
A
A
Like
like
two-thirds
the
size
of
here,
it's
a
big
storm,
we
tracked
it,
and
this
was
work
done
by
a
graduate
student,
mostly
at
UC
Berkeley,
Ned
malter,
it
just
published
in
2019,
and
then
you
see
this
little
diagram
at
the
lower
right.
That
shows
where
the
equatorial
band
is
on
these
projections
of
Neptune,
but
the
storm
lasted.
For
you
know
quite
a
long
time
for,
for
you
know
over
six
months,
actually
lasted
for
for
almost
a
year
before
it
dissipated.
E
A
A
paper
in
February
by
ironde
Chavez
is
the
grad
school
another
grad
student
at
Berkeley,
looking
at
the
drift
rates
of
storms
at
different
latitudes
of
Neptune,
and
so
the
average
drift
rate
that
was
measured
was
I'm.
Gonna
have
to
look
this
up
because
I
don't
remember.
The
number
was
yeah
about
five
degrees
per
day
across
the
face
of
Jupiter
Neptune
talk
about
the
right
Planet
anyway,
lots
of
pretty
pictures.
You
can
see
lots
of
details
and,
of
course,
without
Adaptive
Optics.
A
It
just
looks
like
sort
of
one
big,
uniform
blob
and,
of
course,
I
hope.
Most
of
you
have
looked
at
Neptune
through
a
small
telescope
and
noticed
its
lovely
blue
color
and
things
anyway,
but
Adaptive
Optics
allows
us
to
do
interesting
science.
So
what
other
science
do
we
do
on
Mount
Hamilton?
Well,
we
have.
B
A
A
It
is
using
a
technique
called
radial
velocities,
where,
if
you
have
a
star
and
a
plant
orbiting
around
it,
the
gravitational
attraction
of
that
planet
actually
causes
the
star
to
wobble
a
little
bit
and
we
can
use
a
spectrograph
to
measure
that
wobble
of
the
star
in
terms
of
its
redshift
and
blue
shift.
When
things
are
moving
towards
us,
the
light
gets
shifted,
a
little
blue
Earth
and
when
there
we
go
and
when
the
object
moves,
when
the
star
wobbles
away
from
us
like
gets
shifted
a
little
bit
red.
A
A
A
D
A
The
Wobble,
the
bigger
the
wobble,
that
means
the
more
massive
the
planet
and
then
the
period
of
the
wobble
sort
of
tells
you
how
far
from
the
Star
it
is.
So
we
can
measure
things.
So
this
is
some
data
shown
on
the
right
from
an
actual
star,
70
virginis,
a
discovered
a
planet
that
was,
you
know,
maybe
six
times
the
mass
of
Jupiter.
A
F
A
B
A
Transits
many
more
have
been
discovered
because
you
know
with
the
radial
velocity
technique,
you
look
at
one
star
at
a
time
with
a
Transit,
you
can
look
at
a
wide
field
and
lots
of
stars
at
the
same
time,
so
your
odds
of
finding
plants
are
better.
The
problem
is,
is
that
transits
can
sort
of
tell
you
what
size
the
planet
is,
but
it
doesn't
really
tell
you
it's
Mass,
and
so,
even
though
we've
discovered
plans
with
the
transit
method,
you
want
to
go
and
look
at
those
same
stars
with
the
radial
velocity
method.
A
So
you
can
measure
the
mass
of
that
planet
and
it
turns
out
there
just
are
not
enough
telescopes
that
can
do
this
in
the
world,
so
we're
trying
to
figure
out.
How
can
we
make
our
automated
Planet
finder
better?
So
it
can
do
more
of
this
work
and
for
these
newly
discovered
transiting
planets
figure
out
their
masses.
A
Is
that
there's
terminals
in
the
atmosphere?
And
so
while
we
have
a
slit
here
and
we
want
all
the
light
to
go
through
that
slit
into
our
spectrograph,
so
we
can
measure
the
radial
velocity
a
lot
of
the
light
that
spills
out
as
the
turbulence
moves
things
around,
and
so
we
could
get.
We
could
take
more
data
if
we
get
more
of
that
light
to
go
through
the
slit.
That
means
higher
signal
to
noise
in
your
data,
which
means
either
shorter
exposures
or
you
can
look
at
fainter
Stars.
A
That
can
correct
the
atmospheric
turbulence,
use
this
to
change
the
secondary
mirror.
So
this
is
tough
technology.
You
know
you've
got
to
have
a
thin
sheet
of
glass
curved
at
the
right
shape
to
focus
the
light
of
the
telescope.
It
has
to
have
all
the
actuators
on
the
back.
That
can
change
the
shape
of
that
secondary
mirror,
but
we're
developing
at
UC
Santa
Cruz.
A
My
colleagues
Rachel
bonus,
Rubin
and
Phil
Hintz
are
working
on
this
glass
slumping
technology
as
they
call
it
to
create
this
thin
sheet
of
glass
in
the
right
shape,
so
they're
well
under
way
of
doing
figuring
out
that
technology.
Other
other
telescopes
have
adaptive,
stuffed
Dairy
mirrors.
So
we're
not
the
first
people
to
do
this,
but
we're
the
first
people
to
do
this
on
a
robotic
telescope
dedicated
to
observing
discovering
other
stars.
E
A
C
A
C
A
So
when
we
have
a
system
with
multiple
planets,
usually
what
we've
done
is
we've
fit
the
big
wobble
and
then
we
remove
that
and
say
we
discovered
a
planet.
Then
we
removed
that
wobble
from
the
signal
and
then
we
see
another
smaller
wobble
and
then
we
remove
that
one
and
then
oh
look
there's
another
periodic
signal
we
see,
and
so
you
just
keep
working
downwards
until
you
find
you
know,
you
can't
pick
anything
else
out
from
the
noise.
A
A
So
anyway,
if
the
our
modeling
shows
us
that,
if
we
properly
do
an
Adaptive
secondary,
OB,
mirror
and
use
Adaptive
Optics
on
the
APF,
you
can
get
nearly
three
times
as
much
light
through
that
slit,
which
means
you
can
either
look
at
three
times
more
stars
in
a
night
or
look
at
stuff.
That's
three
times
fainter,
so
it's
like
Transforming
Our,
one
APF
telescope
into
two
or
maybe
even
three
APF
telescopes,
so
huge
Advantage.
A
Speaking
of
planets,
we're
moving
back
to
planets
in
our
own
solar
system,
with
one
of
our
newest
telescopes
peas,
that's
Planet
as
exoplanic
analog
spectrograph.
It's
a
mouthful!
This
is
a
half
meter,
plane
wave
telescope.
So
if
you
have
enough
money,
you
could
buy.
One
of
these
yourself
they're,
actually
fabulous
little
telescopes.
This
was
put
together
with
all
off-the-shelf
parts
by
a
postdoc
at
UC,
Santa
Cruz
named
Emily
Martin,
and
we
have
this
problem
planets
in
our
solar
system.
We
can
see
in
great
detail
planets
in
other
solar
systems
around
other
stars.
A
We
can't
see
in
detail
so
this
telescope
has
an
instrument
that
is
designed
to
scramble
the
light
from
say,
Jupiter
to
make
it
sort
of
look
more
like
an
exoplanet
around
another
star,
so
that
we
can
start
figuring
out
what
we
might
be
seeing
with
spectrographs.
That
can
actually
look
at
the
atmospheres
of
planets
around
other
stars.
Now
the
James
Webb
Space
Telescope,
you
might
have
noticed
in
just
the
past
few
days,
is
had
press
releases
about
planets,
with
no
atmospheres
and
planets
that
might
have.
A
You
know
other
important
elements
like
water
or
carbon
dioxide
in
their
atmospheres,
but
this
is
going
to
help
us
by
studying
planets
in
our
own
solar
system,
as
if
they
were
planets
in
another
solar
system
and
see
what
information
we
can
extract
as
we
get
these
new
and
better
instruments
now
the
peas,
essentially
it
it
does
two
things.
The
light
comes
through.
A
The
telescope
goes
to
an
instrument
and
then
they
split
off
some
of
the
light
to
just
take
regular
old
pictures
like
all
of
us
are
familiar
with,
and
then
the
other
half
of
the
light
goes
to
what's
called
an
integrating
sphere.
So
this
takes
all
the
light
and
essentially
scrambles
it
and
then
spits
it
out
into
a
spectrograph.
So
we
can
look
at
the
Spectrum
in
November
of
2020.
A
It
finally
saw
first
light:
it
was
a
bitterly
cold
night,
so
this
is
Emily
Martin
and
Andy
schemer
with
their
first
light
information,
but
they
took
a
Spectra
of
Mars,
so
the
Spectrum
actually
goes
into
many
many
fiber
optics.
So
each
one
of
these
lines,
horizontal
lines
on
Mars,
there's
a
separate
Spectrum
from
each
fiber
optic
and
then
the
sky
background.
So
they
said
yeah.
They
were
really
looking
at
Mars
anyway.
This
telescope
does
not
have
its
own
Dome.
It
lives
in
the
basement
of
120
inch
telescope.
It's
not
a
carton,
we
roll
it
out.
A
A
A
That
says:
stands
for
pulsed
all
Sky
near
infrared,
Optical,
search
for
extraterrestrial
intelligence,
quite
a
long
title,
but
this
is
a
program
that
actually
started
at
our
nickel
telescope
with
an
optical
study
program.
Looking
for
laser
pulses
in
the
optical
from
other
civilizations
that
might
be
out
there.
Now,
we've
looked
for
radio
signals
for
a
long
time.
We've
only
been
looking
for
optical
signals
on
the
order
of
20
25
years,
haven't
discovered
anything
yet,
but
we
keep
expanding
the
technology
and
the
technology
keeps
getting
better.
A
So
now,
in
the
this
Dome
used
to
house
the
Carnegie
dual
astrograph,
that
telescope
was
retired
a
couple
decades
ago
from
use-
and
we
just
put
the
two
excuse
me:
it's
the
two
Panasonic
telescopes
here
at
the
bottom
of
the
slit.
So
these
are
two
I,
don't
know
12-inch
telescopes,
with
fresnel
lenses
on
the
front,
so
they
have
wide
fields
of
view,
and
these
telescopes
don't
move.
They
just
look
at
the
sky
as
it
drifts
overhead
and
these
new
technology
called
multi-pixel.
A
Photon
counters
are
sensitive
all
the
way
from
the
near
ultraviolet,
at
300,
nanometer
wavelength,
all
the
way
through
the
optical
into
the
near
infrared,
to
the
1650
nanometer
wavelengths.
So
there
are
a
lot
of
different
laser
Technologies
out
there
that
lays
at
very
different
wavelengths,
and
this
system
has
a
good
chance
of
detecting
pretty
much
anything
at
the
laser
wavelengths
that
we're
familiar
with
using
regularly,
and
so
it's
searching
for
these
very
short
transient
signals
in
fact,
I'm
very
excited
about
this
project
because
it
shows
we're
sensitive.
A
Oh
part
of
the
plot
is
not
showing
here
interesting,
there's
supposed
to
be
a
big
gray
box.
On
the
left
hand,
half
of
the
of
the
screen
so
I'm
not
quite
sure,
what's
weird
with
the
display
here
that
you
can't
see
at
all,
but
things
in
our
universe
are
often
variable
and
change
brightness
over
time
and
over
long
time
scales.
You
know
minutes
hours
days
years
we
have
a
lot
of
Technology,
that's
sensitive
to
it.
A
When
we
start
looking
at
things
that
change
over
time,
scales
of
nanoseconds
to
you
know
10
10th
of
a
second
there's,
not
a
lot
of
technology
that
detects
it.
These
multi-pixel
full-time
counters
that
Shelly
Wright
from
UC
San
Diego,
is
using
in
her
panel
setting
instrument
can
detect
nanosecond
pulses.
So
if
you're
using
a
super
fast
pulse
laser,
her
instrument
will
see
it
and
you
know
so
so
we're
not
not
just
hoping
to
see
lasers,
but
there
are
other
astrophysical
phenomena
down
here.
A
A
You
know,
pulsars,
can
you
know
change
brightness
pretty
quickly.
You
know
up
to
a
thousand
times
a
second,
but,
as
I
said,
there's
a
lot
of
parameter
space
here,
where
there's
just
nothing
in
this
plot
that
no
one's
had
an
instrument
sensitive
to
before.
So
we
have
that
so
as
well
as
having
the
chance
of
detecting
lasers
yeah.
Conversely,.
A
Any
response
we
have
not
purposely
sent
signals
out
with
lasers
that
I'm
aware
of
now.
We
certainly
have
lasers
powerful
enough
that
have
sent
signals
out
into
space
that
could
be
detected
by
other
civilizations.
The
laser
we
use
for
our
laser
guide.
Star
system
with
you
know,
with
our
adaptive
optic
system
on
the
Shane
telescope,
not
quite
bright
enough
really
for
for
extraterrestrial
civilizations
to
detect.
A
But
you
know
a
laser,
that's
you
know,
a
kilowatt
of
power
has
potentially
could
potentially
be
done
and
we've
shot
lasers
that
powerful
out
into
space
many
times
for
all
sorts
of
different
reasons.
So
so
yes,
we,
we
are
inadvertently
sending
signals
out
just
like
we
have
with
radio
waves
and
television
signals
and
everything
else.
A
So
you
know
if
they're
out
there
they
might
detect
us
and
we
might
detect
them
anyway.
The
thing
is:
is
this
instrument
is
so
good
at
detecting
short,
bright
things
that
actually
detects
things
like
you
know,
particle
events
in
our
atmosphere
that
create
you
know
photons
and
such
you
know,
cosmic
rays
hitting
the
atmosphere
that
create
little
bright
pieces
of
light.
A
So
this
is
all
a
test
program
with
these
small
test
telescopes
because
eventually
and
we're
looking
to
raise
money
to
do
this,
we
want
to
be
build
full
arrays
of
telescope
that
look
at
the
whole
Sky
all
the
time
at
two
different
sites
at
Observatory,
separated
by
about
0.5
or
you
know,
0.6,
maybe
even
0.7
miles.
Depending
on
what
sites
we
can
use
to
do,
an
all
Sky
search
for
extraterrestrial
intelligence
instead
of
just
the
ones
you
know
swath
the
sky.
They
can
look
with
their
stationary
telescopes
right
now,.
A
We
have
a
wave
front
sensor
now.
Wavefront
sensor
is
that
part
of
the
Adaptive
Optics
that
measures
the
turbulence,
and
then
we
have
llamas,
which
is
low.
Latency
adaptive
mirror
something
I've
forgot
what
it
all
stands
for
anyway.
It's
a
new
adaptive
optic
system
for
the
nickel
telescope,
so
I'll
just
quickly
mention.
What's
going
on
there.
First,
the
wavefront
sensor
as
I
said
the
wave
front
sensor
is
a
gizmo
that
allows
us
to
measure
the
turbulence
so
also
in
the
past.
A
In
2022,
we
put
in
a
brand
new
guide
camera
so,
on
the
right
hand,
sorry
left
hand
image
at
the
bottom.
You
can
see
our
guide
camera
brands
faking
new,
much
more
sensitive
works
so
much
better
than
the
old
one,
and
then
we
have
a
pick-off
mirror,
that's
hidden
behind
this
lens
above
the
the
camera
that
sends
light
to
the
little
red
box
there.
That
is
the
wavefront
sensor
camera.
So
it's
very
small,
and
so
what
we're
doing
right
now
is
when
we're
looking
at
the
stars.
A
We
just
you
know,
put
a
mirror
in
flops
in
the
way
blocks
light
to
the
guide
camera.
So
you
can
see
the
wave
front
sensor,
pick-off
mirror
actually
blocking
our
guide
camera
field
to
view
and
the
right
hand
image
is
that
round
circle
and
the
black
blob
blocking
some
of
that
circle
is
the
pick-off
mirror.
That's
sending
light
from
a
star
to
the
wavefront
sensor.
A
So
once
we
know
the
turbulent
statistics,
we
can
look
at
making
better
adaptive
optic
systems,
but
it's
mostly
just
characterizing
this,
but
it's
new
fun
Hardware
that
we've
installed
at
the
observatory
and
and
then
we
have
llamas-
and
this
is
a
project
from
Lawrence
Livermore
Labs-
that
is
going
to
put
a
fully
functional
adaptive
optic
system
on
the
nickel
telescope.
This
is
a
test
program.
A
It's
not
going
to
be
permanently
installed,
but
instead
of
an
optical
laser
like
we
use
at
the
Shane
telescope,
that's
at
589
nanometers,
which
is
yellow
it's
going
to
use
a
UV
laser,
so
we
won't
be
able
to
see
it
with
our
eyes
and
it's
going
to
be
super
powerful.
It's
a
hundred
watt
laser
so
10
times
more
powerful
than
what
we
use
at
the
Shane.
A
But
it's
going
to
be.
This
is
a
system
that's
designed
to
work
super
super
fast
and
to
correct
things,
because
right
now,
Adaptive
Optics
really
works
best
for
fixing
turbulence
in
the
near
infrared.
It
turns
out
that
the
shorter
the
wavelength
of
light,
the
more
turbulence,
affects
the
light
and
it's
harder
to
correct
so
adaptive
optic
systems
with
you
know.
Previous
technology
worked
really
well
for
correcting
the
turbulence
that
affects
near
infrared
light.
Not
didn't
do
so
well
for
optical
light.
A
We
hope
by
June,
we'll
see
I'm
working
on
all
the
paperwork
for
space
force
and
FAA,
so
we
are
allowed
to
use
this
laser
safely,
but
you
know
we'll
get
beautiful
images
you
can
see
here
at
the
upper
right
whoopsie
at
the
upper
right.
This
is
what
a
short
exposure
image
looks
like
through
the
telescope,
Big
Blob
and
then
the
simulations
of
how
it
will
work
with
the
new
adaptive
optic
system.
You
get
a
nice
point-like
Source
there.
A
We
have
a
robotic
telescope
at
Lick,
Observatory
called
the
Kate
katzman
automatic,
Imaging
telescope
that
discovers
supernovae,
and
now
there
are
many
robotic
telescopes
around
the
world
that
discover
Supernova
explosions,
and
then
we
characterize
them
with
the
Shane
telescope.
So
here's
some
data.
This
was
the
first
data
after
we
reopened
with
the
pandemic
and
figured
out
remote
observing
with
the
Shane
from
people's
own
houses,
since
they
couldn't
go
into
their
offices.
But
we
were
looking
at
Supernova,
2020
jfo,
which
I
believe
is
a
type
2
Supernova
anyway.
The
law
line.
A
That's
vertical
is
the
Supernova
and
then
all
the
horizontal
lines
is
noise
from
our
atmosphere
or
City
Lights
here
in
San,
Jose
and,
of
course,
a
lovely
picture
of
our
staff
at
Lake
observatory
in
front
of
the
telescope.
That
was
taken
right
before
the
pandemic
started
anyway.
The
research
I
do
is
on
quasars
and
quasars
are
supermassive
black
holes
at
the
centers
of
distant
galaxies
and
quasars
are
characterized
by
having
a
supermassive
black
hole
and
accretion
disc
around
it,
then
there's
usually
a
big
Dusty
Taurus,
and
sometimes
they
have
Jets
coming
out.
A
There's
often
diffuse
gas
further
away
that
gets
illuminated
by
the
the
Quasar
core
stuff
gets
super
hot
and
disrupted
very
close
to
the
black
hole
as
stuff
gets
spaghettified
and
stretched
out.
It
generates
a
lot
of
heat,
hence
a
lot
of
light,
a
lot
of
things
complicated
things
going
on
in
there
anyway.
Depending
on
how
you
view
this
thing
depends
on
what
you
see
if
you're
viewing
from
you
know,
say
up
here,
so
you
could
sort
of
look
down
into
the
core
accretion
disk
area.
A
You
get
what
are
called
often
type
one
Seaford
or
type
1
AGN
active,
Galactic
nuclei.
If
you
look
from
the
side,
you
know
through
the
the
dust
Taurus
can
block
stuff,
so
you
get
a
different
looking
Spectrum
anyway,
these
were
things
were
discovered
in
the
1950s
in
the
radio
and
when
they
looked
at
these
radio
sources,
they
looked
like
stars
in
the
optical
components,
so
they
were
called
quasi-stellar
objects
or
quasi-stellar
radio
sources.
A
We
still
call
them
qsos
today
later
on,
it
was
discovered
that
they
were
black
holes
in
the
centers
of
galaxies,
and
it
turns
out
that
the
original
quasars
were
all
identified
via
radio
sources.
But
there
are
a
lot
of
quasars
that
don't
have
radio
components.
That's
so
we
don't
see
radio
emission
from
them.
A
So
one
of
my
research
projects
is
to
discover
new
quasars,
because
they've
been
selected
by
Optical
surveys,
they've
been
selected
by
radio
surveys,
but
it
turns
out
there
are
these
whoopsie
quasars
that
are
dust
obscured,
so
they
don't
show
in
the
optical,
with
the
same
colors
as
the
the
blue
type
1
AGN.
So
this
is
the
accretion
disc
in
Taurus,
in
the
schematic.
Here
and
so
blue
type
ones,
we
know
a
lot
of,
but
these
red
and
ones
that
have
dust
in
their
own
Galaxy
or
dust
from
Galaxy
mergers.
A
We're
not
quite
sure
where
the
dust
is
coming
from.
That
makes
them
look.
Redder
can
block
the
optical
light,
and
so
we're
trying
to
one
discover
these
red
quasars
and
two
figure
out.
Is
this
a
phase
of
their
evolution?
What
is
the
environment
they're
in
how
many
What
proportion
of
the
population
of
quasars?
These
are
we're
using
a
lot
of
different
telescopes
to
figure
this
out.
We
start
with
the
Sloan
digital
Sky
survey
and
we
just
picked
the
data
release.
A
A
1
Agnes,
it's
really
good
at
but
obscured
sources,
both
type
2,
the
ones
that
you're
looking
sort
of
side
on
with
the
Taurus
you
know
of
obscuring
gas
and
red
type
ones
are
missed,
so
they
may
be
there,
but
not
identify
they
may
be
seen
by
Sloan,
but
not
identified
as
quasars
in
their
surveys.
So
we
came
up
with
a
relatively
unbiased
way
of
figuring
out
where
what
objects
were
quasars
from
the
wise
telescope.
A
First.
Here
are
the
sort
of
things
we're
looking
for,
and
so
we
said.
Okay,
if
we
look
at
things
in
this
color
regime,
and
so
the
black
line
is
our
border.
So
targets
and
the
red
circles
are
the
targets
we've
actually
observed,
but
if
we
overlay
it
on
the
plot,
no,
maybe
we'll
get
the
next
slide
there
we
go.
You
can
see
that
we
we
can.
You
know
we
have
very
neatly
identified
quasars
that
have
the
the
plot
on
the
left.
A
Now
the
the
circles
in
red
are
the
newly
confirmed
qsos
that
we
discovered
and
the
green
ones
are
quasars
that
we're
not
100
sure
quasars,
yet
that
we
think
they
are,
but
we
don't
have
a
red
shift
for
them.
We
don't
know
how
far
away
they
are
because,
unfortunately,
every
once
in
a
while,
you
get
things
that
confuse
this
like
radio
Stars,
so
they
have
radio
emission
but
are
not
quasars
so
to
get
rid
of
the
radio
Stars.
A
We
use
Gaia,
so
Gaia
is
measuring
the
proper
motions
of
like
all
the
stars
in
our
galaxy.
It
also
measures
a
bunch
of
other
objects,
but
objects
that
have
proper
motions
that
are
measurable
cannot
be
a
cosmological
distances
like
the
quasars
we're
looking
for.
So
if
it
has
a
measurable,
proper
motion,
it's
a
star.
We
reject
it
from
our
sample.
A
E
A
Only
a
redshift
of
you
know
0.167
now,
and
then
we
have
one.
That's
a
pretty
high
red
shift
at
2.63.
You
know
the
highest
redshift
object,
I've,
measured
so
far
with
the
Shane
is
at
a
redshift
about
3.5,
so
high
red
shift
and,
of
course,
now
that
we
have
all
these
things
that
are
confirmed,
quasars
based
on
their
Spectra
and
redshift.
We
now
look
at
the
radio
surveys.
A
So
a
lot
of
our
targets,
don't
have
radio
emission
they're
called
radio
quiet.
Some
of
them
do
like
this.
This
one
here
is:
you
have
the
radio
court
and
then
you
have
lobes
at
the
other
side.
So
this
this
is
the
equation,
actually
is
Jets
and
the
ends
of
the
Jets
are
very
bright,
making
it
what
we
call
an
fr2
type
quasar.
A
A
We
have
a
couple,
a
few
quasars
that
have
featureless
Spectra.
These
are
might
be
blazars,
a
special
class
of
Quasar
that
don't
tend
to
have
emission
lines
that
are
easy
to
measure,
so
it
makes
it
very
difficult
to
measure
their
red
shifts
or
there
might
be
something
else
entirely,
and
then
you
know
we're
continuing.
A
The
upper
the
sort
of
magenta
dots
up
here
tend
to
be
elliptical
galaxies
hosting
Quasar
cores.
The
bottom
magenta
blob
tends
to
be
spiral
type
galaxies
anyway.
If
you
look
at
the
red
shift
and
how
bright
they
are,
the
red
dots
are
a
newly
discovered
Quasar,
and
this
is
only
the
2019
data.
I
have
not
updated
these
plots
to
include
any
of
our
more
recent
data,
but
we're
continuing
on.
As
I
said.
Every
year
we
observe
more
this
year,
I've
lost
all
my
telescope
time
due
to
snow.
A
It's
been
very
frustrating
we'll
see.
Let's
hope
winter
is.
Finally
over
yeah
this
year
was
like
the
snowiest
winter
on
Mount
Hamilton
I've
ever
experienced.
It
was
something
else,
but
it
really
has
hampered
our
data
collection
activities
anyway.
What
do
we
do?
We
now
have
to
figure
out
which
one
of
these
are
red
and
quasars
due
to
dust
in
their
own
Galaxy
or
dust
from
someplace
else,
and
some
of
our
red
quasars
have
very
bad
fits.
A
We
do
modeling
fits
so
the
top
row
is
for
two
different
quasars
are
bad
fit
of
the
Quasar
modeled
Quasar
Spectrum,
to
what
we
see
if
we
then
use
a
more
sophisticated
program
called
Gandalf
that
we
can
model
the
actual
host
Galaxy
component
and
subtract
that
out
and
we
get
a
much
better
fix
to
the
Galaxy,
and
you
can
see
in
these
this
E
B,
minus
V
is
how
much
redditing.
So
here
it
said
the
reddening
was
0.4.
A
That's
a
lot
of
red
inning,
that's
a
lot
of
dust
getting
in
the
way
and
the
Quasar,
but
then
once
we
de-redden
it,
you
can
see
that
the
the
EB
minus
V
is
essentially
zero.
So
that's
great!
That
means
that
the
Galaxy
itself,
so
all
the
obscuring
dust
was
in
the
Galaxy
itself
whether
the
dust
came
from
something
intrinsic
in
the
Galaxy,
with
star
formation
or
from
emerging
system.
A
We
don't
yet
know
we
need
to
do
some
more
research,
but
we've
done
this
for,
like
all
of
our
quasars,
that
had
some
significant
reddening
and
most
of
them,
the
vast
majority.
It's
the
the
Galaxy
itself,
the
dust
in
the
Galaxy
itself
that
is
causing
the
reddening
and,
of
course
the
other
thing
we're
seeing.
Is
these
red
qsos
once
we
de-reddened
them
come
up
in
this
nice,
brightness
and
magnitude.
A
Absolute
magnitude
relation
is
very,
very
tight,
but
you
can
see
it
doesn't
work
for
the
very
brightest
red
qsos.
They
don't
fit
very
well
on
the
rest
of
the
line,
so
we're
trying
to
figure
out
what's
going
on
there,
because
it
seems
like
the
very
most
reddened
qsos
tend
to
the
the
bright
end.
Something
else
is
going
on
and
we
don't
know
what
that
is
yet,
but
I'm
gonna,
guess
it's
probably
their
emerging
Galaxy
system.
So
there's
extra
dust
and
extra
feeding
of
the
black
hole
in
this
process.
A
You
could
do
all
sorts
of
Statistics.
One
of
the
interesting
things
is
particularly
this
right
hand.
Plot
is
when
we
look
at
Blue
qsos,
you
see
a
nice
Peak
here
at
a
redshift
of
around
1.3
in
that
sample
we
were
using,
but
the
red
qsos
one.
We
see
none
at
all
at
a
redshift,
less
than
point
one
in
our
sample
and
there's
a
Peak
at
a
higher
red
shift
and
then,
when
you
get
to
the
higher
redshift
ones,
we
see
more
of
them
that
the
red
qsos
actually
dominate
at
the
high
redshifts.
A
So
this
implies
there's
something
with
the
evolution
of
quasars,
that
something
is
making
them
more
common
earlier
in
the
universe
and
less
common.
Now
so
I
said
Lots
on
knowns.
We
also
have
other
statistics
here
with
the
brightness
that
the
dust
is.
There
are
two
types
of
dust:
obscure
quasars,
the
type
twos
which
I
haven't
really
talked
about
much
other
than
you
know,
saying
where
they
are,
but
the
red
type
ones
and
it
fine.
A
It
turns
out
that
as
you
get
to
brighter
quasars,
more
intrinsically
bright
quasars,
they
tend
to
be
dominated
by
these
dust,
obscured
ones
rather
than
the
type
twos,
and
we
also
see
that
at
redshift
the
higher
redshifts
they
already
they
dominate
as
well.
So,
as
I
said,
there's
something
going
on
in
the
evolution
of
these
quasaras,
we're
not
quite
sure
what
it
is
yet,
but
the
more
data
we
get
the
stronger
these
relationships
appear
to
be.
A
And
again-
and
we
also
looked
at
the
radio
Mission,
it
turned
out
these
red
qso
are
more
likely
to
be
radio
loud
than
the
other
types
of
quasars,
and
so
we've
been
looking
at
these
quasars
and
we
have
four
different
sort
of
types
of
radio
sources
ones.
We
call
faint
they're
faint,
but
compact
compact
sources,
which
look
essentially
point
source
like
we
have
extended
sources,
and
then
we
have
the
fr2
lights,
which
are
sort
of
look
like.
They
have
Jets
and
you
know
bright
lobes
at
the
end
of
the
the
radio
Jets.
A
But
first
we
have
to
discover
these
things,
and
so
that's
what
I'm
doing
with
our
three
meter
telescope
and
measuring
all
those
red
shifts,
and
so
in
closing,
since
I
I
hope,
you've
gotten
a
sort
of
feel
of
all
the
exciting
things
that
are
going
on
like
Observatory,
you
can
come
and
visit
us.
We
have
public
programs
tickets
for
our
public
programs
for
the
summer
will
go
on
sale
later
this
month.
You
can
go
to
lick
observatory.org
to
find
out
more
information.
A
G
E
A
So
I
don't
think
I
had
anything
on
that.
In
my
talk,
certainly
Gaia
is
working
at
the
Gaia
telescope
is
working
on
measuring
proper
motions
of
stars.
You
can
combine
that
information
with
radial
velocity
of
the
stars
and
figure
out
where
or
how
all
the
stars
in
our
galaxy
are
moving
and
in
a
sense,
mapping
out
our
galaxy.
That
way
now
that's
a
project
that
originally
was
done
with
the
Carnegie
dual
astrograph
and
and
the
lick
refractor
back
in
the
day.
A
A
I,
don't
know
if
it
exists,
it
certainly
could
be
programmed,
but
it's
a
massive
amount
of
data
and
and
so
measuring.
You
know
you
know
we
can
measure
distances
of
stars
with
Parallax.
We
can
measure
how
they're
moving.
We
can
do
all
that
stuff.
But
there
are
you
know
some
couple
hundred
billion
stars
in
our
galaxy.
So
even
just
doing
making
a
map
of
like
the
nearest
million
stars
is
a
lot
of
computational
power.
I'm
sure
it
can
be
done.
B
A
For
the
automated
Planet
finder,
the
Adaptive
secondary
mirror
will
probably
be
about
this
big,
whatever
that
is
in
centimeters,
but
the
the
mirrors
the
chain
telescope,
adaptive
optic
system
are
flat
mirrors
and
thin
glass
tends
to
be
very
flexible,
so
you
could
have
little
Pistons,
you
know
glued
or
attached
to
the
back
that
change
its
shape,
push
and
pull
it
to
change
its
shape.
In
fact,
the
Adaptive
optic
system
on
the
Shane
actually
uses
two
deformable
mirrors.
A
One
uses
a
glass
mirror
that
has
only
of
what
52
actuators
I
think,
but
they
they
can
move
a
lot.
So
it
does
all
the
course
Focus
astigmatism
coma
Corrections,
and
then
we
have
a
second
deformable
mirror.
That
is
a
mems
device,
a
microelectrical
mechanical
device.
There's
a
gold
coated
mirror.
Actually
it's
about
an
inch
square
has
a
thousand
actuators,
but
they
only
move
plus
or
minus
a
couple
microns,
but
they
use
electrostatic
forces.
A
A
So
certainly,
we
have
sites
that
are
already
Disturbed
that
have
had
buildings
removed
or
destroyed
in
the
SCU
wildfire
that
we
can
use
easily
because
they're
already
Disturbed
sites
sites
that
have
not
been
used
for
telescopes
before
we
do
need
to
do
environmental
impact
assessments
and
such
like
that
you
know,
Mount
Hamilton
is
a
pretty
unique
ecosystem.
We
have
rare
plants,
we
have
some
uncommon
animals,
so
we
do
have
to
be
very
careful
of
that,
but
there's
nothing
stopping
us
from
building
it.
F
A
A
The
problem
is,
there's
only
one
and
there
are
a
whole
lot
of
astronomers
that
want
to
use
it,
but
the
the
data
my
colleagues
are
getting
from
UC
Santa
Cruz
with
those
extremely
high
redshift
galaxies,
is
really
helping
us
understand
the
very
early
history
of
the
universe,
and
you
know
we're
it's
looking
like
those
galaxies
are
remarkably
evolved
for
as
high
redshift
as
they
are,
which
is
a
surprise
so
we're
looking
into
that.
But
you
know
at
what
point
do
they
turn
on
and
become
quiz
ours?
A
When
do
the
massive
black
holes
that
their
cores
become?
You
know
active
and
so
that
we
see
a
mission
from
that.
So
so
there's
a
whole
lot
going
on
and
you
know
so
yeah,
it's
just
just
expanding
what
we
can
do
and
we
hope
that
you
will
be
able
to
mesh
all
the
data
sets
and
really
understand.
Galaxy
and
Quasar
Evolution
from
the
very
earliest
times
of
our
universe,.
G
C
A
So
mitigation
is
a
couple
different
things
we
do
one
is
we
try
to
work
with
the
the
city
planning
commissions
Etc,
so
that
they
Do's
appropriate
light
lighting
to
preserve
the
sky?
We
have
there's
been
a
lot
of
problems
with
electronic
Billboards
and
cities,
not
wanting
to
necessarily
adopt
the
standards
at
the
international
dark
sky.
Association
recommends
for
appropriate
lighting.
A
So
that's
one
of
the
things
we
do.
The
other
thing
we
do
is
that
Lick
Observatory
has
changed
our
Focus.
We
now
Focus
much
more
on
developing
new
technologies
and
new
techniques,
because
we're
a
lower
altitude
facility,
which
means
there's
more
air
and
it's
easier
to
think
at
night
when
you're
trying
to
figure
out
new,
difficult,
Technologies,
we're
also
close
to
San
Jose
and
the
University
of
California
Berkeley
and
Santa
Cruz,
and
we
also
have
shops
at
UCLA.
A
So
so
we
have
this
huge
Brain
Trust
in
the
reasonably
local
area,
to
help
us
build
new
Innovative
Technologies
for
doing
new
science.
The
other
thing
we've
done
is
we've
changed
what
science
we
do.
We
have
shifted
to
doing
more
infrared
work
because
the
infrared
sky
is
not
affected
by
the
city
lights
in
San,
Jose
or
we've
changed
to
doing
survey
work
for
brighter
targets
like
when
we
look
for
planets
around
other
stars.
We
you
know
with
the
APF.
We
can
only
look
at
one
star
at
a
time.
A
You
know
discovering
Supernova
explosions,
they
tend
to
be
pretty
bright,
so
we,
you
know,
we
have
a
robotic
telescope,
discovering
that
so
we
we
have
focused
our
science
onto
more
survey,
work
of
brighter
targets
that
are
not
affected
so
much
by
the
Light
pollution.
So
is
light
pollution.
Good,
no
I
mean
we
all
want
less
of
it,
but
but
there's
plenty
of
science
to
be
done,
even
with
our
less
than
perfect
Skies.
D
A
B
G
A
So
detecting
gamma
rays
is
a
really
very,
very
different
technology
that
I'm
not
very
familiar
with
at
all,
but
we
do
know
that
gamma
ray
bursts
can
be
very,
very
short,
but
some
of
them
create
optical
afterglows
that
can
last
you
know
seconds
to
minutes.
So
so
that's
one
of
the
things
that
some
robotic
telescopes,
including
at
like
Observatory,
have
looked
for.
Is
these
Optical
afterglows
from
gamma
ray
burst?
A
Will
there
be
some
overlap
in
what
seti
or
the
Pano
said
he
discovers
and
the
gamma-ray
bursts?
It
wouldn't
surprise
me
at
all
because
now
we're
getting.
You
know
that
gamma
rays
are
such
high
energy
compared
to
the
UV,
to
IR
that
we're
looking
at
with
piano
seti
that,
as
I
said,
there's
a
possibility
for
all
sorts
of
discoveries,
and
maybe
knowing
more
about
these
gamma
ray
bursts
if
they
do
happen
to
have
short,
very
short,
Optical
properties
as
well.
D
A
It
is
definitely
a
problem.
It
hasn't
been
a
problem
so
much
for
lick
with
our
regular
data
programs
where
it
does
affect
us
with
all
these
extra
satellites
is
when
we're
using
our
laser,
because
we
have
to
shut
down
shutter
our
laser.
If
there's
a
satellite
going
through
where
we
happen
to
be
pointing
our
laser
and
we
don't
want
to
Blind
any
satellites
that
could
be
damaged.
So
we
have
a
lot
of
laser
shutdowns
that
are
really
irritating.
A
A
You
know
it's
already
a
problem.
More
than
half
the
active
satellites
in
orbit
are
now
from
you
know,
SpaceX
or
from
starlink,
and
it's
just
increasing
all
the
time,
and
there
are
other
people
other
organizations
that
want
to
put
up
Mega
constellations.
It's
it's
going
to
be
quite
crowded
up
there
and
they're
going
to
definitely
be
problems,
so
astronomers
are
actively
working
both
in
the
U.S
and
internationally,
with
these
satellite
trying
to
work
with
the
satellite
owners
and
figure
out
ways
to
mitigate
the
problems.
G
G
B
G
Coming,
please
look
at
our
website
if
you're,
if
you
are
not
that
familiar
with
all
our
activities,
I
think
we're
getting
more
and
more
things
back
in
operation
post
pandemic,
so
we
have
star
parties
here
in
town
we
have
out
of
town
star
parties.
We
have
daytime
observations
with
a
solar
telescope.
We
have
a
loaner
program.
We
have
a
library
over
there.
We
have
all
kinds
of
activities.
G
If
you
want
to
volunteer
to
help
us
with
any
of
those
things,
that's
awesome
if
you
want
to
just
take
advantage
of
them,
please
do
as
you
go
out
the
door
stop
by
the
snacks
and
then
also
please
fill
out
the
the
the
sign
in
sheet
back
there.
It
helps
the
city
to
know
how
many
people
we
have
coming
out,
so
we
would
love
to
see
more
names
on
there
and
then
also
there's
a
survey
there
for
quality
of
the
events.