The support capability requirements of 8m-telescope science

Science workshops were held throughout the Gemini partnership during the second half of 1997 with the aims of identifying and quantifying the supporting capabilities required to enhance the utility and efficiency of the Gemini 8m telescopes. These workshops, held separately in the US, UK, Canada and South America, ensured representation programs were considered in detail sufficient to understand the requirements for their execution on Gemini as well as for any preparatory observations. The desire for wide-field optical and near-IR imaging was frequently identified with an average of one-half to one night of these survey observations per night of Gemini follow-up. Two other common themes were high angular resolution imaging and rapid response to target-of-opportunity events. ©2003 Copyright SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Two separate outflows in the dual supermassive black hole system NGC 6240

Theoretical models and numerical simulations have established a framework of galaxy evolution in which galaxies merge and create dual supermassive black holes (with separations of one to ten kiloparsecs), which eventually sink into the centre of the merger remnant, emit gravitational waves and coalesce. The merger also triggers star formation and supermassive black hole growth, and gas outflows regulate the stellar content. Although this theoretical picture is supported by recent observations of starburst-driven and supermassive black hole-driven outflows, it remains unclear how these outflows interact with the interstellar medium. Furthermore, the relative contributions of star formation and black hole activity to galactic feedback remain unknown. Here we report observations of dual outflows in the central region of the prototypical merger NGC 6240. We find a black-hole-driven outflow of [O III] to the northeast and a starburst-driven outflow of H{\alpha} to the northwest. The orientations and positions of the outflows allow us to isolate them spatially and study their properties independently. We estimate mass outflow rates of 10 and 75 solar masses per year for the H{\alpha} bubble and the [O III] cone, respectively. Their combined mass outflow is comparable to the star formation rate, suggesting that negative feedback on star formation is occurring.Comment: 38 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the April 19th, 2018 issue of Natur