The Millennium Run Observatory: first light

The Millennium Run Observatory: First Light

Simulations of galaxy evolution aim to capture our current understanding as well as to make predictions for testing by future experiments. Simulations and observations are often compared in an indirect fashion: physical quantities are estimated from the observational data and compared to models. However, many applications can benefit from a more direct approach, where the observing process is a...

Light concentrators for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Vector Vortex Coronagraph: Laboratory Results and First Light at Palomar Observatory

High-contrast coronagraphy will be needed to image and characterize faint extra-solar planetary systems. Coronagraphy is a rapidly evolving field, and many enhanced alternatives to the classical Lyot coronagraph have been proposed in the past ten years. Here, we discuss the operation of the vector vortex coronagraph, which is one of the most efficient possible coronagraphs. We first present rec...

The Pierre Auger Observatory: Science Prospects and Performance at First Light

The Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) is designed to study cosmic rays with energies above about 10 GeV with the aim of uncovering their origins and nature. Such events are too rare to be directly detected, but the direction, energy, and to some extent the chemical composition of the primary particle can be inferred from the cascade of secondary particles induced when the primary impinges on the u...

First Results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a water imaging Čerenkov detector. Utilising a 1 kilotonne ultra-pure D2O target, it is the first experiment to have equal sensitivity to all flavours of active neutrinos. This allows a solar-model independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis to be made. Solar neutrinos from the decay of B have been detected at SNO by the charged-current (CC)...