AMADO, Ariz.—As the stars come out over the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, high in southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains, new worlds are waiting to be discovered.
At the observatory, scientists seek out and study black holes, faraway galaxies, strong bursts of gamma rays, planets that orbit other stars, and many other things.
“On a good night, we’ll observe 40 to 50 objects—and that’s a fairly productive night,” telescope operator Mike Calkins said as he monitored three computer screens filled with target data.
“What we see here is just the beginning of the process. The guys that take the data and turn it into [meaningful] numbers, that’s the true magic,” Calkins added….