GRAVITY discovers new double star in the Orion Trapezium Cluster (annotated)

As part of the first observations with the new GRAVITY instrument the team looked closely at the bright, young stars known as the Trapezium Cluster, located in the heart of the Orion star-forming region. Already, from these first data, GRAVITY made a discovery: one of the components of the cluster (Theta1 Orionis F) was found to be a double star for the first time. The brighter known double star Theta1 Orionis C is also well seen.

The background image comes from the ISAAC instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. The views of two of the stars from GRAVITY, shown as inserts, reveal far finer detail than could be detected with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Crédit:

ESO/GRAVITY consortium/NASA/ESA/M. McCaughrean

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso1601f
Type:Collage
Date de publication:13 janvier 2016 15:00
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso1601
Taille:2737 x 2273 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Trapezium Cluster
Type:Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Open
Distance:1400 années lumière
Catégorie:Star Clusters

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
1,2 Mio
JPEG taille écran
170,5 Kio