In June, astronomers gave the public a glimpse of some of the sharpest IR images ever obtained by a ground-based telescope. The images from the Gemini North Observatory on the island of Hawaii show the power of the new telescope, which minimizes the distortion that has blurred astronomical images for hundreds of years.

Built by a partnership of seven nations, the observatory is the first of two 8-m telescopes designed to scan the northern and southern skies in visible and IR light. Its counterpart, Gemini South, is under construction in northern Chile.