Imágenes de la semana

4 de Mayo de 2008: An image of the planet Uranus (located 20 Astronomical units from Earth) obtained at the Very Large Telescope Observatory using the Adaptive Optics system NAOS and the near-infrared imager CONICA to capture high-contrast images of the giant planet and its system of satellites and rings during its 2008 equinox. Every 42 years, the ring (and satellites) plane of Uranus crosses the Sun, providing us with a unique opportunity to observe the rings while they present their edge to us. Ring plane crossing also allow us to observe the rings form their dark side (i.e. while the Sun is illuminating them from the opposite side), so one can search for faint satellites, faint rings, or faint ring structures, which could not be seen otherwise. Ring Plane Crossings are also an excellent opportunity to observe mutual events between satellites such as eclipse or occultation phenomena. The image above corresponds to a one ...

20 de Marzo de 2008: The 8.2-m primary mirror of Yepun, Unit Telescope 4 of ESO's Very Large Telescope, after its recoating in early March

11 de Marzo de 2008: The central region of the Orion Nebula (M42, NGC 1976) as seen in the near-infrared by the High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal.

25 de Febrero de 2008: Arrival of the ALMA Antenna Transporters at the Operations Support Facility (OSF) in Chile as the convoy passed through the Valle de Luna.

11 de Febrero de 2008: La determinación de la distancia a RS Pup, siguiendo el método del astrónomo norteamericano Robert Havlen, se basa en la medición de la diferencia de fase entre la variación de la estrella y la variación de características nebulares aisladas. Debido a que la luminosidad de la estrella cambia en un patrón muy distintivo, la presencia de la nebulosa permite a los astrónomos ver ecos de luz y utilizarlos para medir la distancia a la estrella. La luz que viajó desde la estrella a un grano de polvo y luego al telescopio llega un poco más tarde que la luz que llega directamente de la estrella al telescopio. En consecuencia, si medimos el brillo de una mancha o zona de polvo aislada y específica en la nebulosa, obtendremos una curva de brillo que tiene la misma forma que la variación de la Cefeida, pero desplazada en el tiempo. Este retraso se ...

29 de Enero de 2008: Artist's impression of the disc of matter surrounding the young stellar object MWC 147 as inferred from observations made with ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Thanks to these observations, astronomers have probed the inner parts of the disc of material surrounding the MWC 147, witnessing how it gains its mass before becoming an adult. A slice has been cut to show the inner structure better. The disc extends out to 100 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun (100 Astronomical Units — 100 AU). It is inclined by about 50 degrees as seen from Earth. The dust in the outer disc emits mainly at mid-infrared wavelengths, while close to the star there is also strong near-infrared emission from very hot gas. This gas is transported towards the forming star, increasing its mass at a rate of 7 millionths of the mass of the Sun — or about 2 ...

21 de Enero de 2008: Colour-composite image of the triplet of galaxies, catalogued as NGC 7173 (top), 7174 (bottom right) and 7176 (bottom left), and located 106 million light-years away towards the constellation of Piscis Austrinus (the 'Southern Fish'). This triplet of galaxies makes up part of the Hickson Compact Group HCG 90. NGC 7173 and 7176 are elliptical galaxies, while NGC 7174 is a spiral galaxy with quite disturbed dust lanes and a long, twisted tail. This seems to indicate that the two lower galaxies - whose combined shape bears some resemblance to that of a sleeping baby - are currently interacting. Astronomers have suggested that the three galaxies will finally merge. The size of the image is about 5.3 arcminutes. The image is based on data obtained with the VLT FORS1 instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope through three different filters, B, V, and R. The data were extracted from the ESO Science ...

14 de Enero de 2008: Este cuarteto es uno de los más bellos ejemplos de un grupo compacto de galaxias. Además es un excelente laboratorio para estudiar las interacciones entre galaxias y los efectos en la formación de estrellas.

7 de Enero de 2008: Estas extrañas formaciones de nieve y el hielo, llamadas "penitentes", se dan en regiones de gran altitud, como el llano de Chajnantor, cerca de donde se ubicará el conjunto ALMA. Se trata de láminas de hielo producidas por el contraste entre la sublimación y la fusión de la nieve. En Chajnantor, durante el solsticio de verano, el Sol está cerca del cenit al mediodía, y los penitentes adquieren formas verticales. Esta imagen fue tomada en diciembre de 2005. Esta imagen está disponible como imagen enmarcada en la tienda ESOshop.

24 de Diciembre de 2007: Una exposición de 30 minutos en banda K del VLT/NACO fue combinada con imágenes de archivo en banda B e I del HST/ACS para producir una imagen en tres colores del sistema de galaxias interactuante denominado "el Pájaro". La imagen de NACO ha permitido a los astrónomos no solamente examinar las dos galaxias ya conocidas, sino identificar un tercer componente claramente separado, una enorme galaxia irregular que parece formar estrellas a un ritmo frenético. La imagen final en color fue producida por Henri Boffin (ESO).

17 de Diciembre de 2007: On 3 and 4 December 2007, the two ALMA antenna transporters, Otto and Lore, were being loaded onto a barge on the Neckar at Heilbronn harbour (Germany) to start their long journey to Chile. From there, they will travel to Antwerpen (Belgium) and then put onto a ship towards the port of Mejillones, in the north of Chile, to finally reach the ALMA base, close to San Pedro de Atacama. The ALMA antenna transporters are each 20 metre long, 10 metre wide and 6 metre high, and weigh 130 tonnes. They will be able to transport a 115-tonne antenna and set it down on a concrete pad within millimetres of a prescribed position. Image taken in December 2007.

10 de Diciembre de 2007: The first three Japanese ALMA antennas of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) at the ALMA Operation Support Facility, located close to the town of San Pedro de Atacama in the Chilean Atacama Desert, at an altitude of 2900m. At the time of the picture, in November 2007, the antennas were undergoing final tests before being handed over to the ALMA Observatory. The 12-m antennas were built by MELCO for the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, one of the partners in the ALMA partnership.

1 de Diciembre de 2007: On 17 and 18 November 2007, the Regional Minister for Research of the Belgian French-speaking Community, Marie-Dominique Simonet, visited Paranal. This was part of a week-long visit to Brazil and Chile, in which the Minister promoted the 'Competitivity Poles' as well as Research and Education in this part of the world. The Minister was accompanied by a delegation comprising Claude Gonfroy and Jean-Luc Horward, members of her Cabinet, Jean-Pierre Swings, former member of the ESO Council, Claude Jamar from the Centre Spatial de Liėge, and Bill Collins, from the AMOS company which built the four Auxiliary Telescopes. Ten French-speaking Belgian journalists, including two TV crews, also joined the Minister for a day at Paranal. Felix Mirabel, ESO's Representative in Chile, Olivier Hainaut, Head of Science Operations at Paranal, and Ueli Weilenmann, were the hosts of the Minister. The Minister visited the telescopes and facilities on site and showed a clear ...

23 de Noviembre de 2007: Dos veces al año, para un observador situado en la cima de la montaña de Armazones, la puesta de sol pasa exactamente detrás de Paranal, a 20 kilómetros de distancia. Las coordenadas para calcular qué días y a qué horas sucede este evento se extrajeron de las ubicaciones de ambos sitios en Google Earth y teniendo en cuenta efectos atmosféricos. La imagen muestra claramente tres de las cuatro grandes cúpulas de las unidades de telescopio de 8,2 metros (la cuarta está detrás) del VLT (Very Large Telescope) de ESO; a su derecha, la cúpula del VST, y en el extremo derecho, el alto puesto meteorológico con la torre de DIMM. A la izquierda de la imagen también pueden verse las cúpulas parcialmente abiertas de los telescopios auxiliares de 1,8 metros, más pequeños. La imagen fue tomada por Stéphane Guisard (ESO) utilizando un telescopio refractor Takahashi FS128, una cámara Canon20Da y ...