Hidden Objects Along Center of Milky Way Detected Through Infrared

The VVV survey (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) of the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile has allowed astronomers to see the central parts of the Milky Way as never before.

Using infrared light, the VVV imaged the Trifid Nebula and revealed that the gas cloud has been hiding two Cepheid variable stars directly behind it but at a far distance.

The pair of cepheid stars hidden by the Trifid Nebula is estimated to be around 37,000 light years away from Earth while the Trifid Nebula is at 5,200 light years away. Cepheid variables are unstable bright stars that brightens and fades over time, in this case, a period of 11 days.

These two stars are the only two known Cepheid variables that are close to the central plane of the Milky Way which is 27,000 light years away from Earth.

The Vista Variables in the Via Lactea is an astronomical survey to map the Milky Way, it's bulge and the disk area close to the center of the galaxy. The VVV survey previously assisted astronomers in constructing a three dimensional map of the Milky Way

VLT Survey Telescope Captures Messier 8 Lagoon Nebula in Rich Detail

The European Southern Observatory used its VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile to capture the image of the Lagoon Nebula in rich detail.

This is part of the The VST/OmegaCam Photometric Hα Survey (VPHAS+) which is one of three imaging surveys that use visible light with the VST. These are complemented by six infrared surveys with the VISTA survey telescope. There are also two other surveys that have distinct objectives; The Gaia-ESO Survey and the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO). The Gaia-ESO Survey uses the VLT to map the properties of more than 100 000 stars in the Milky Way. PESSTO is studying transient objects such as supernovas with the New Technology Telescope at La Silla.

These surveys are used to find out more about the Universe such as the nature of dark energy, quasars, structures of galaxies and studying other objects in detail.

Data from all of these surveys are now publicly available and accessible through the ESO Science Archive Facility (see related links below).

The Lagoon Nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Nebulas are regions where stars are formed. The materials needed to form stars such as hydrogen and other gases are abundant in a nebula. Stars are formed when dust and gas start to clump together and gain mass. As the mass gets more dense and generates heat, thermonuclear fusion starts and a star starts to form.

Lobster Nebula NGC 6357 Imaged In Infrared By VISTA Telescope

The Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357) is captured in an infrared image by the European Southern Observatory's VISTA Telescope in infrared. The image shows the object in a surprising new light.

A Nebula is a region where stars are fromed. Nebulae (or nebulas) are made up of clouds of gas and dust. Over millions of years. these gas and dust clouds start massing together to form stars.

The Lobster Nebula is the informal name for Messier 17, also known as NGC 6357. This nebula is imaged in infrared which shows features of the nebula that is not picked up in visible-light images. This may happen because the object is too cold, blocked by the thick dust in the nebula, or is very far that the light that can be detected is in the red end of the spectrum. The farther an object is, the closer to the red spectrum (infrared) it is. Closer objects shift more to the blue spectrum of light.

In the case of the Lobster Nebula, the infrared image penetrates most of the clouds of dust blocking the light.

Lobster Nebula

Vista Captures 9 Gigapixel Image of the Center Of The Milky Way Galaxy

The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) captured a nine gigapixel image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Astronomers have used this image to catalog more than 84 million stars within it.

Because of the high resolution of the image (108,200 by 81,500 pixel), if printed in regular resolution as that of a book, the image would be 9 meters wide by 7 meters tall. This is one of the biggest astronomical images ever produced.

VISTA gigapixel mosaic of the central parts of the Milky Way

“By observing in detail the myriads of stars surrounding the centre of the Milky Way we can learn a lot more about the formation and evolution of not only our galaxy, but also spiral galaxies in general,” explains Roberto Saito (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de Valparaíso and The Milky Way Millennium Nucleus, Chile), lead author of the study.