Picture of the Week
RSS Feed29 June 2009: The future ALMA array on Chajnantor (artist's rendering)
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest astronomical project in existence. It is a revolutionary astronomical telescope, comprising an array of 66 giant 12-metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. It is being built on the breathtaking location of the Chajnantor plateau, at 5000 metres altitude in the Chilean Andes, and will start scientific observations in 2011.
In this artist’s rendering, the ALMA array is seen on the Chajnantor plateau in an extended configuration. The antennas, which each weigh over 100 tons, can be moved to different positions with custom-built transporter vehicles in order to reconfigure the array.
ALMA is the most powerful telescope for observing the cool Universe — molecular gas and dust as well as the relic radiation of the Big Bang. It will study the building blocks of stars, planetary systems, galaxies and life itself.
ALMA, an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/L. Calçada
22 June 2009: Panorama of the Chilean night sky
This Quicktime interactive panorama movie shows the night sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and reveals its incredible richness and beauty.
To navigate this dual landscape and starscape, left-click on the image and continue pressing the button as you drag the mouse in the direction you would like to see. To zoom in and out, press "shift" or "ctrl".
Moving towards the right, the panorama shows the Milky Way band blazing over the horizon. Ascending the mountain that comes into view, one sees ESO’s Very Large Telescope array and the red beam of its Laser Guide Star. Still further right, the VISTA peak rises, with the lingering Gegenschein aglow above it. Other sights in the sky over Paranal include the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades and the Hyades star clusters, the constellation of Orion, and the brightest star in the sky Sirius, seen low on the horizon. The Milky Way’s galactic neighbours, the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds, also shine brightly overhead.
To see this panorama movie, click here.
Another interactive panorama also taken from Paranal on a different night and with the constellations highlighted is available at: http://www.astrosurf.com/sguisard/Anim-astro/Paranal-ZL-MW/SGU-Paranal-Zodiacal_Light-MW-const_names.html
Happy viewing.
Credit: ESO/S. Guisard
15 June 2009: A Milky Way cousin
NGC 2613 is a rarely imaged spiral galaxy located about 60 million light years away towards the southern constellation of Pyxis (the mariner’s compass). It is thought to resemble our own Milky Way.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
08 June 2009: Ready for the night
Three of the four Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) are shown here getting ready for another exceptional night of observations on top of Cerro Paranal, in Chile. Prior to every night, the engineers in charge go through a routine of manoeuvres to prepare the flagship facility of European astronomy. The VLT is the world’s most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2-metre diameter and four movable 1.8-metre diameter Auxiliary Telescopes. One of the Auxiliary Telescopes is shown on the right of the image.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)
02 June 2009: A Giant Galaxy
Centaurus A is our nearest giant galaxy, at a distance of about 13 million light-years in the southern constellation of Centaurus, and as such, it is one of the most extensively studied objects in the southern sky. It is an elliptical galaxy, currently merging with a companion spiral galaxy, resulting in areas of intense star formation and making it one of the most spectacular objects in the sky. Centaurus A hosts a very active and highly luminous central region, caused by the presence of a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 100 million solar masses (see ESO 04/01), and is the source of strong radio and X-ray emission. Thick dust layers almost completely obscure the galaxy's centre.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen & S. Guisard (ESO)
25 May 2009: The VLT and the Moon
The Moon is normally much too large and bright to be a target for the 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope, whose sheer power is best reserved for much fainter and much more distant astronomical objects, such as exoplanets or exploding stars located at the edge of the visible Universe. But back in 2002, one of the UTs was not yet equipped with an instrument at one of its Nasmyth platforms (located on the side of the telescope), and astronomers and engineers could have an unusual view of our natural satellite. In this case, the Moon's image was projected onto a sandblasted glass plate. Since then, the Very Large Telescope has been equipped with no less than 14 instruments, including three for interferometry, making it truly the world’s most advanced observatory.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)
18 May 2009: The Southern Pinwheel
Located about 15 million light-years away towards the Hydra (the sea serpent) constellation, Messier 83 is a nearby face-on barred spiral with a classic grand design form. It is the main member of a small galactic group including NGC 5253 and about 9 dwarf galaxies. Messier 83 stretches over 40 000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way. However, in some respects, Messier 83 is quite similar to our own galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Messier 83 possess a bar across their galactic nucleus, the dense spherical conglomeration of stars seen at the centre of the galaxies.
Messier 83 has been a prolific producer of supernovae, with six observed in the past century. This is indicative of an exceptionally high rate of star formation coinciding with its classification as a starburst galaxy. Despite its symmetric appearance, the central 1000 light-years of the galaxy shows an unusually high level of complexity, containing both a double nucleus and a double circumnuclear starburst ring. The nature of the double nucleus is uncertain but the origin of the off centred nucleus could be a remnant core of a small galaxy that merged with Messier 83 in the past. The star clusters in the nuclear starburst rings are mostly young stars between 5 and 10 million years old.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, S. Guisard and C. Thöne
11 May 2009: ALMA Antennas at OSF
View from inside the main building of the 2,900 metre high ALMA Operation Support Facility. Three antennas currently being tested are seen outside. On 30 April, scientists and engineers working on the world’s largest astronomical project, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have achieved the successful linking of two ALMA astronomical antennas, synchronised with a precision of one millionth of a millionth of a second, to observe the planet Mars. The observations demonstrate ALMA’s full hardware functionality and connectivity. When completed around 2012, ALMA will comprise an array of 66 giant 12-metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths.
Read more about this milestone in ESO 18/09.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO04 May 2009: Paranal from above
This aerial shot of ESO’s Very Large Telescope array on top of the 2600 metre-high Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama Desert beautifully shows the various stations for the Auxiliary Telescopes. The largest structures are the enclosures of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of the VLT. In the middle lies the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) laboratory.
Contrary to other large astronomical telescopes, the VLT was designed from the beginning with the use of interferometry as a major goal. The VLTI combines light captured by two or three 8.2-metre VLT Unit Telescopes, dramatically increasing the spatial resolution and showing fine details of a large variety of celestial objects. However, most of the time, the large telescopes are used for other research purposes. They are therefore only available for interferometric observations during a limited number of nights every year. Thus, in order to exploit the VLTI each night and to achieve the full potential of this unique setup, some other (smaller; 1.8-metre in diametre), dedicated telescopes were included into the overall VLT concept. These telescopes, known as the VLTI Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs), are mounted on tracks and can be placed at precisely defined “parking” observing positions on the observatory platform (seen along the lines in the image). From these positions, their light beams are fed into the VLTI laboratory via a complex system of reflecting mirrors mounted in an underground system of tunnels.
Taken in 2005, this photo shows only two of the four ATs that are currently in operation.
The enclosure on the upper right of the image will soon host the VLT Survey Telescope (VST).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/G. Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)24 April 2009: Distorted galaxy NGC 2442
The distorted galaxy NGC 2442, also known as the Meathook Galaxy, is located some 50 million light-years away in the constellation of Volans (the Flying Fish). The galaxy is 75 000 light-years wide and features two dusty spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar that give it a hook-like appearance, hence its nickname. The galaxy’s distorted shape is most likely the result of a close encounter with a smaller, unseen galaxy.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 250 s, V: 187 s, R: 150 s).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen, C. C. Thöne and C. Féron20 April 2009: Lord Drayson opens JENAM 2009
Today, 20 April 2009, was the opening of the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (JENAM 2009), which takes place at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Lord Drayson, the British Minister of State for Science and Innovation, addressed the many attendees to this conference, expressing the importance of astronomy and space science for today’s society. He visited the ESO stand where he was introduced to ESO’s flagship astronomical facility, the Very Large Telescope, by Tim de Zeeuw, the ESO Director General, and Patrick Roche, UK member of the ESO Council. Tim de Zeeuw also talked about the future European Extremely Large Telescope, a project which the minister showed great interest for.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO14 April 2009: Crystal clear air over Paranal
This marvellous aerial photograph of the home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), fully demonstrates the superb quality of the observing site. In the foreground we see the Paranal Observatory, located at an altitude of 2600 metres on mount Paranal in Chile. In the background we can see the snow-capped, 6720 metre high volcano Llullaillaco, located a mind-boggling 190 km further East on the Argentinean border. This image is a testimony of the magnificent quality of the air and the ideal conditions for observing at this remote site.
Clearly visible in the image are the domes of the four giant 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of the VLT, with the Control Building, where astronomers carry out the observations, in the foreground. Taken several years ago, this photograph does not show the Auxiliary Telescopes nor the dome of the soon to come VST Survey Telescope.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/G. Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)01 April 2009: Messier 100 and Supernova SN 2006X
Similar in appearance to our own Milky Way, Messier 100 is a grand spiral galaxy that presents an intricate structure, with a bright core and two prominent arms. The galaxy harbours numerous young and hot massive stars as well as extremely hot regions of ionised hydrogen. Two smaller arms are seen emerging from the centre and reaching towards the larger spiral arms. The galaxy, located 60 million light-years away, is slightly larger than the Milky Way, with a diameter of about 120 000 light-years. A supernova was discovered in M100 on 4 February 2006. Named SN 2006X, it is the 5th supernova to have been found in M100 since 1900.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 1390 s, V: 480 s, R: 245 s). The supernova is the brighter of the two stars seen just to the lower right of the galaxy centre.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen, C. C. Thöne and C. Féron30 March 2009: The Paranal Residencia at Night
Night view of the Paranal Observatory, obtained on 21 March 2009. The Residencia — the place where staff can eat and sleep — is visible in the foreground, while one can distinguish the 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope in the higher background. Yepun, the Unit Telescope no. 4, is seen using the laser guide star to assist the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT. This allows astronomers to obtain images free from the blurring effect of the atmosphere, regardless of the brightness and location on the sky of the observed target. The image shows the great value of the dark night sky above Paranal. The band of the Milky Way is running through the image vertically. Orion and the Orion Nebula can be seen in the upper left corner along with a number of other interesting deep-sky objects in Auriga, the Charioteer.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/H. Heyer
23 March 2009: The Tarantula Nebula
Located inside the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) – one of our closest galaxies – in what some describe as a frightening sight, the Tarantula nebula is worth looking at in detail. Also known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070, the nebula owes its name to the arrangement of its bright patches that somewhat resemble the legs of a tarantula. Taking the name of one of the biggest spiders on Earth is very fitting in view of the gigantic proportions of this celestial nebula - it measures nearly 1,000 light years across!
Its proximity, the favourable inclination of the LMC, and the absence of intervening dust make this nebula one of the best laboratories to better understand the formation of massive stars. This spectacular nebula is energised by an exceptionally high concentration of massive stars, often referred to as super star clusters.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 80 s, V: 60 s, R: 50 s).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, C. C. Thöne, C. Féron, and J.-E. Ovaldsen
16 March 2009: Chajnantor panorama
A view across the Chajnantor plain, high in the Chilean Andes, taken from Cerro Chico and looking towards the south, with the Moon visible in the sky. This 5000 metre high, arid plateau is where ESO and its international partners are currently building the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the largest astronomical project in existence. ALMA is a revolutionary astronomical telescope, comprising an array of 66 giant 12-metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. The positions of the 12-metre antennas will be reconfigurable, with almost 200 possible antenna positions spread over 18 kilometres on the plateau. The centre of the ALMA antenna array will be located close to the centre of this image – not far from the technical building visible in the background. The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12-m submillimetre telescope is seen to the left of the image, in front of Cerro Chascón. The road to the 2900 metre high Operation Support Facility is to the right of the image.
This image in high-resolution is available in JPG (41.8 MB) and TIF (103.82 MB) formats.
A view taken from the other side of the plateau is available in the image archive:
http://www.eso.org/gallery/v/ESOPIA/ALMA/Chajnantor+sunrise+panorama+2007.tif.html
An interactive panorama (QTVR) of Chajnantor can be accessed on this link
Credit: ESO/F. Kamphues
09 March 2009: First Light for the Active Phasing Experiment — a step towards the E-ELT
The 42-metre primary mirror of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will be composed of 984 individual segments, which must be aligned with incredible precision. The position of the individual hexagonal mirrors needs to be controlled with nanometre precision (1 nanometre is 1 millionth of a mm). This can only be achieved with the help of new technologies and a prototype component for this high-tech alignment of segmented mirrors is seen in this image. The so-called Active Phasing Experiment achieved its First Light during the night of 6 December 2008 on the visitor focus of Melipal, one of the 8.2 m Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal. Made in collaboration with several European partners, the current active segmented mirror is composed of 61 hexagonal segments.
You can move around the experiment in this Quicktime VTR animation.
Credit: ESO
02 March 2009: The Sombrero Galaxy
One of most famous spiral galaxies is Messier 104, widely known as the "Sombrero" (the Mexican hat) because of its particular shape. It is located towards the constellation Virgo (the ‘virgin’), at a distance of about 30 million light-years and is the 104th object in the famous catalogue of deep-sky objects by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730 - 1817).
This luminous and massive galaxy has a total mass of about 800 billion suns, and is notable for its dominant nuclear bulge, composed mainly of mature stars, and its nearly edge-on disc composed of stars, gas, and dust. The complexity of this dust is apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but is also evident in the dark absorbing lanes throughout the disc. A large number of small, diffuse objects can be seen as a swarm in the halo of Messier 104. Most of these are globular clusters, similar to those found in our own Milky Way, but Messier 104 has a much larger number of them. This galaxy also appears to host a supermassive black hole of about 1 billion solar masses, one of the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxy, and 250 times larger than the black hole in the Milky Way. Despite having such a massive black hole at its centre, the galaxy is rather quiet, implying that the black hole is on a very stringent diet.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 120 s, V: 100 s, R: 100 s).
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler and J.-E. Ovaldsen
23 February 2009: Paranal Starry Night
Night scene at the 2600 metre high Cerro Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) array. In this 45-minute exposure, taken on a dark and clear night so typical of one of the best astronomical observing sites in the world, the stars leave trails in their dance around the Celestial South Pole (left). The four VLT 8.2 m Unit Telescopes are captured during an observation session, with the long exposure resulting in noticeable movement of the domes as the telescopes move to observe different celestial objects. At the bottom left, the trail left by the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, is clearly visible. The trails left by the Milky Way and by the very bright stars forming the Southern Cross, are visible above Yepun, Unit Telescope 4, in the foreground. One of the four 1.8 metre Auxiliary Telescopes, used for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, is seen below the Large Magellanic Cloud, dwarfed by its giant Unit Telescope companions. The image was taken in March 2008.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: Gianluca Lombardi/ESO
16 February 2009: Cosmic Butterfly
The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. It is located about 4,000 light-years away, towards the Scorpius constellation (the 'scorpion'). The nebula is the swansong of a dying solar-like star lying at its centre. At about 250,000 degrees Celsius and smothered in a blanket of hailstones, the star itself has never been observed as it is surrounded by a dense disc of gas and dust, opaque to light. This dense disc may be the origin of the hourglass structure of the nebula.
This colour image, which nicely highlights the complex structure of the nebula, is a composite of three exposures through blue, green and red filters. It was made using the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, Chile.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, A. Hornstrup and J.-E. Ovaldsen
09 February 2009: Beautiful Sky over Paranal
This image, taken an early morning two weeks ago, shows with great clarity the amazing sky over Paranal, the home of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The wonderful landscape of the Milky Way hangs in all its glory above three of the four 1.8-metre VLT Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs). They observe simultaneously, using interferometry to get a vision as sharp as if they used a telescope with a diameter equal to the largest distance between the telescopes, in this case, 48 metres. Because the larger 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of the VLT are usually used individually, the four ATs have been added to the system to make full use of the interferometric laboratory. Facing the East, the remarkable photo shows the constellations Ophiuchus (the 'snake-holder'), Sagittarius (the 'archer'), Scorpius (the 'scorpion'), and Triangulum Australe (the 'southern triangle'). The Centre of the Milky Way is just below the centre of the image.
This image in high-resolution (TIF format, 13.9 MB) is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky
02 February 2009: Ballet of Interacting Galaxies
The pair of galaxies NGC 1531/2, engaged in a spirited waltz, is located about 70 million light-years away towards the southern constellation Eridanus (The River). The deformed foreground spiral galaxy laced with dust lanes NGC 1532 is so close to its companion — the background galaxy with a bright core just above the centre of NGC 1532 — that it gets distorted: one of its spiral arms is warped and plumes of dust and gas are visible above its disc. The cosmic dance leads to another dramatic effect: a whole new generation of massive stars were born in NGC 1532 because of the interaction. They are visible as the purple objects in the spiral arms.
This exquisite image was made using the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, Chile. It is based on data obtained through three different filters: B, V and R. The field of view is 12 x 12 arcmin.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler and J.-E. Ovaldsen
26 January 2009: Cleaning the VLT Mirror
The 8.2m diameter main mirror of Antu, the first Unit Telescope of ESO's Very Large Telescope, is being cleaned using carbon dioxide snow. While the telescope enclosure is maintained extremely clean, the mirrors are exposed to the elements during the observations. Consequently, dust from the desert slowly accumulates over the surface of the mirror, making it less reflective over time. The mirror's surface is so delicate that normal cleaners used for household mirrors are not appropriate for telescopes. Observatories have developed other methods, such as this one using carbon dioxide snow. The tiny CO2 snowflakes in the white plume have a temperature of almost minus 80 degrees Celsius; when they land on the mirror, which is at room temperature, they cause minuscule 'explosions' that detach the dust grains from the surface. The dust then floats away, leaving the mirror clean. The process is nevertheless very delicate: should Alain Gilliotte, the optician performing the cleaning, let the CO2 device touch the mirror, the fragile reflective Aluminium coating would be scratched. Also, hair or cloth lint should stay away from the mirror, which is why the optician is wearing a white suit made of special plastic.
This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky
19 January 2009: A 360 degree panorama of a unique cloudscape over La Silla
A 360 degree view of a rare cloudscape over La Silla, in the southern edges of
the Atacama Desert, home of ESO's first observing site. Here ESO operates three
major telescopes: the 3.6-metre telescope, the New Technology Telescope and the
2.2-metre Max-Planck-ESO telescope. They are equipped with state-of-the art
instruments such as HARPS, the best extrasolar planet finder in the world. The
dome in the centre of the image belongs to the ESO 3.6-metre telescope,
commissioned in 1977 and completely upgraded in 1999, and to which HARPS is
mounted. At the far right of the image is the 15-metre Swedish-ESO Submillimetre
Telescope (SEST), built in 1987, decommissioned in 2003, and replaced by the
Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope on the 5100 m Chajnantor plateau.
Download this image in high-resolution (TIF - 157 MB)
A magnificent Quicktime VR 360 degree interactive panorama is available here.
Credit: ESO/F. Kamphues
12 January 2009: The Trapezium Cluster
The Orion Nebula is arguably the finest of all nebulae within the Milky Way visible from the Northern Hemisphere. With a gaseous repository of 10 000 suns, and illuminated by a cluster of hot young stars, the clouds of Messier 42 — as it is also known — glow with fantastic colours and shapes, giving us a bird's eye view of one of the greatest star forming nurseries in our part of the Milky Way. Messier 42 is a complex of glowing gas, mostly hydrogen but also helium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in decreasing amounts, located 1500 light years away. At its very heart, we find the Trapezium, a group of four very hot stars that illuminate the nebula. They are the brightest of an extended cluster of several thousand young stars many of which lie unseen within the opaque gas and dust. Amazingly, whilst the Orion Nebula is easy to identify with the unaided eye, there is apparently no written record of its existence before the 17th century.
This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 60 s, V: 30 s, R: 21 s). East is at the upper right corner and North is at the lower right. This image in high-resolution is available in the image archive.
Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen, and A. Hornstrup
Archive
Pictures of the week of the year 2008
Picturess of the week of the year 2007