Un halcón cósmico y sus estrellas bebé
La Imagen de la Semana de hoy, tomada con el VLT (Very Large Telescope) de ESO, parece haber captado a un halcón cósmico desplegando sus alas. Mientras que las nubes oscuras del centro de la imagen formarían la cabeza y el cuerpo del ave rapaz, los filamentos que se extienden desde el cuerpo hacia la izquierda y la derecha componen sus alas. Debajo, hay una hipnótica nebulosa azul con enormes estrellas recién nacidas, cuya intensa radiación hace que el gas de su entorno brille intensamente.
En conjunto, la imagen muestra la nebulosa RCW 36, situada a unos 2300 años luz de distancia, en la constelación de Vela. Casualmente, esta nebulosa, que se asemeja a un halcón, también fue captada por un halcón (el instrumento HAWK-I , instalado en el VLT -hawk significa “halcón” en inglés-). Aunque las estrellas que más llaman la atención en esta imagen puedan ser las brillantes y masivas estrellas bebé, el equipo que ha obtenido esta imagen está más interesado en estudiar estrellas ocultas y muy tenues llamadas enanas marrones, "objetos incapaces de fusionar hidrógeno en sus núcleos", explica Afonso do Brito do Vale, estudiante de doctorado en el Instituto de Astrofísica y Ciencias del Espacio de Portugal, y el Laboratorio de Astrofísica de Burdeos en Francia, y autor principal de un nuevo artículo donde se presenta esta imagen.
HAWK-I está perfectamente preparado para esta tarea. Observa en longitudes de onda infrarrojas, donde estas frías estrellas fallidas se detectan con más facilidad, y puede corregir la turbulencia atmosférica con óptica adaptativa, proporcionando imágenes tan nítidas como esta. Además de ofrecer datos muy valiosos para entender cómo se forman las enanas marrones, el estudio produjo una imagen impactante de "estrellas masivas 'empujando' las nubes de gas y polvo que hay a su alrededor casi como un animal rompiendo su cáscara y emergiendo del huevo", como describe Brito do Vale. Quién sabe, quizá el halcón cósmico esté protegiendo a sus estrellas bebé, velando por ellas mientras "eclosionan".
Enlace
Crédito:ESO/A. R. G. do Brito do Vale et al.
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw2609a |
| Idioma: | es-cl |
| Tipo: | Observación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2 de Marzo de 2026 a las 06:00 |
| Tamaño: | 4299 x 4039 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | RCW 36 |
| Tipo: | Milky Way : Star : Type : Brown Dwarf Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Molecular Cloud |
Formatos de imagen
Fondo de pantalla
Colores y filtros
| Banda | Longitud de onda | Telescopio |
|---|---|---|
| Infrarrojo J | 1.258 μm | Very Large Telescope HAWK-I |
| Infrarrojo H | 1.62 μm | Very Large Telescope HAWK-I |
| Infrarrojo Ks | 2.146 μm | Very Large Telescope HAWK-I |
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