Olivier R. Hainaut
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| NTT, 1991 - the original |
NTT, 1998 - post Big-Bang |
NTT, 2002 - migrated to the RITZ |
NTT, 2011 - at the NOB |
Science
Nice Results
- Halley's comet is still observed! in March 2003, at the distance of
Neptune. This was also the "Astronomy Picture of the Day" on Oct.3.
I had also observed that comet in 1994, as it
passed the halfway mark (January 1994): observation of the
faintest solar system object ever observed. [at that time]. In 1991, I
detected a majour outburst on the comet - which should have been quiet
at that time. This outburst created some waves in the public. For
instance, a lady contacted me to ensure me that this was a direct
cause (or was it a consequence?) of the Gulf war. Also, a journalist
concluded that the comet had completely exploded (which in turned
caused some
additional comments-in
french in this example).
- Comet Hale-Bopp is still very active, esp. considering the
distance at which it is now. We observed it at the 2.2m at ESO in
Mar.2001; here is a nice color
image (and is also available in
Italian, in
Hebrew
elsewhere...). It was also an
"Astronomy
Pic. of the Day".
- The object 2000 OF8 was discovered as an asteroid. We found out
that it is really a comet
-
The Trans-Neptunian Object 1996 TO66 has been extensively
observed; we obtained many interesting resulst on that object,
including its rotation period. This is described in
an ESO
Press Release, and in more details in one of
my papers.
- A strange supernova, sn 1998 bw, which seems to be related
to a Gamma Ray Burst (May
98). An ESO
Press Release has been published on that object.
-
Volcanoes on
Io, using the UH adaptive optics instrument on the CFHT.
-
Observations of Comet Hale-Bopp.
The IfA
Hale-Bopp page contains plenty of info and links about that comet;
for nice pictures, check out
the Images
and Spectra page.
-
Rapid Changes in the Inner Coma of
Comet Hyakutake (March 1996):
acrobatic observations of this nice comet with a great telescope and a
great seeing!
- Comet 1992a Helin-Alu, a nice distant comet, on
its discoverer page.
-
The discovery of a Transneptunian Object: 1994
TG2 (October 1994): one more TNO (only about 60 were known at that time), but I
discovered this one :-)
- High Resolution HST Images of Pluto
and Charon (May 1994): the first detailed, direct look at
Pluto and Charon's surface.
Trans-Neptunian Objects
Papers
ADS custom
query.
Software tools
-
POS1/Astromet:
an ESO/MIDAS package for astrometric calibration of scientific image (plates
and CCD); it can get its USNO/A1 standard stars automatically through the
net.
- TMAG:
an ESO/MIDAS package for photometric calibration of CCD images, with
quasi-automatic identification of Landolt's stars, and interactive
edition of bad points.
- MeteoMonitor,
a web-tool to monitor the conditions at ESO/La Silla. It also exists for ESO/Garching, at
MeteoMonitor - Garching.
-
Astrolabe Generator, a web-tool to
produce "astrolabes" for your site (updated version at eso.org - The
one at IfA is outdated).
-
Airmass Plots, a web-tool to produce airmass plots for a list of object over a full night. This is the tool that used to work on the La Silla SciOps pages.
-
Observable comets, compute ephemerides for all comets, and select them according to various criteria.
Information
Personal stuff
You can also
-
Enjoy my (small but growing)
UFO picture collection.
-
Have a look at
my curriculum
vitae
-
get my
addresses
-
On this page, you will find the whole,
email exchange constituting the Car 42 Saga. This is part of
the ESO folklore, probably of no interest for outsiders...
Marie-Claire, my wife, has her own page
at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope,
with plenty of palmtrees and aloha. Note that she left CFHT for
Gemini, where she worked until 2009.
There was a nice article about her in
the July 98 "Ciel & Espace" (sorry, no English version).
Note that this is a private page. "Any view or statement
made is not part of an official standpoint of ESO."
Olivier R. Hainaut (ohainaut at eso.org)
