Merge Records Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records reaching the top of the "Billboard" music charts. After releasing a number of 7" records and cassettes, the first Merge Records full-length CD release came on April 1, 1992 with MRG020 Superchunk - "", the band's first collection of singles. The label's first album to reach
Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS) is a multi-year survey that used the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii in an effort to directly image extrasolar planets and protoplanetary/debris disks around several hundred nearby stars. Near-infrared imaging was carried out using the AO188 Adaptive Optics System and HiCIAO high-contrast imaging instrument. The survey is headquartered at National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and led by Principal Investigator Motohide Tamura. The survey team includes over a hundred members from dozens of institutes around the world. Observations began in late October