Bild der Woche

7. März 2011: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) antennas may look rooted to the ground in this striking image — taken at the Array Operations Site on the Chajnantor plateau, at an altitude of 5000 metres — but these dishes are surprisingly mobile. Thanks to the two antenna transporter vehicles, the antennas in the array — which will consist of a total of 66 dishes when construction is complete — can be repositioned to meet the needs of a particular observation project. The transporters, named Otto and Lore, were specially designed to transport the hefty 115-tonne antennas and position them precisely on concrete foundation pads, spread across the plateau over distances of up to 16 kilometres. Here, four antennas have been placed on closely spaced pads for testing during the Commissioning and Science Verification phase of ALMA construction. The transporter vehicles drive on 28 tyres, with two 700-HP (500 kW) diesel engines ...

28. Februar 2011: ALMA antennas stand side by side, built strong to withstand the unforgiving environment of the Chajnantor plateau, high in the Chilean Andes. At an altitude of 5000 m, the ALMA dishes — a total of 66 when construction is completed — will face strong winds and harsh sunlight, all without the safe haven of a protective dome. The temperature can vary by 40 degrees Celsius, dipping well below freezing and occasionally allowing snow to fall, as can be seen dusting the landscape in the background of this photograph. The ALMA project 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 photograph was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador José Francisco Salgado. Links ESO Photo Ambassadors webpage.

21. Februar 2011: Vier Antennen des Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) blicken zum mit Sternen übersäten Nachthimmel auf, gerade so als wären sie voller Vorfreude auf die bald beginnenden Beobachtungen dieser Nacht. Der Mond rechts im Bild erhellt die Szenerie, ohne dass die sich nach links oben erstreckende Milchstraße verblassen würde. ALMA wird zurzeit in einer Höhe von 5000 Metern auf der Chajnantor-Hochebene in der chilenischen Atacama-Wüste errichtet. Diese Gegend ist eine der trockensten der gesamten Erde, und genau diese Trockenheit sorgt zusammen mit der in so großer Höhe nur noch dünnen Luft für hervorragende Bedingungen für astronomische Beobachtungen im Millimeter- und Submillimeter-Bereich. Bei diesen Wellenlängen untersuchen die Astronomen zum Beispiel Molekülwolken, in denen durch den Kollaps dichter Regionen aus Gas und Staub neue Sterne geboren werden. Da das Universum bei diesen Wellenlängen noch weitgehend unerforscht ist, erhoffen sich die Wissenschaftler von ALMA viele neue Erkenntnisse zur Entstehung von Sternen, aber auch Planetensystemen ...

14. Februar 2011: This rich scattering of galaxies was captured using the Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The thousands of galaxies contained in this small area of sky give a glimpse into the Universe’s distant past, whilst also acting as a powerful reminder of the immense scale of the cosmos. This image was taken as part of the COMBO-17 project (Classifying Objects by Medium-Band Observations in 17 Filters), in which detailed surveys of five small patches of sky were made through 17 different coloured filters. The area of sky covered by each of the five regions is about the same area as that covered by the full Moon. The survey has produced a remarkable haul of celestial specimens. For example, across just three of these regions over 25 000 galaxies have been identified. Just below the bright stars in the centre of ...

7. Februar 2011: The HAWK-I instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile has been used to great effect in producing this distinctive image of the distant galaxy NGC 157. Boasting a central sweep of stars resembling a giant "S", reminiscent of the comic book hero Superman’s symbol, this celestial spiral is indeed a super example of how new technology is helping us to learn more about the cosmos. HAWK-I stands for High-Acuity Wide-field K-band Imager, and it is one of the latest and most powerful instruments on the VLT. It detects infrared light, allowing us to peer through the gas and dust that normally obscures our view. This reveals an otherwise hidden view of the Universe, and gives astronomers the opportunity to study dense areas of star formation. Learning more about star formation is an important step towards expanding our understanding of our own origins. The same ...

31. Januar 2011: Was wie eine unfruchtbare und unbewohnbare Marslandschaft aussieht, ist ein 360°-Panorama des Standorts für das European Extremely Large Telescope der ESO, kurz E-ELT. Wenn der Bau beginnt, wird die unbewohnte Bergspitze links der Mitte zu einem Ort reger Betriebsamkeit, an dem Ingenieure, Techniker und Wissenschaftler daran arbeiten werden, das größte Auge der Welt in Richtung Himmel zu errichten. In vielerlei Hinsicht wirkt der Cerro Armazones in Chile wie eine fremde Welt. Die Umgebung ist rau, Feuchtigkeit und Luftdruck sind gering, und das bei tagsüber grellem Sonnenschein. Nachts offenbart sich dagegen ein atemberaubender Himmel. Der Cerro Armazones befindet sich in der Atacamawüste – einem der trockensten Orte auf der Erde. Diese Bedingungen, in Kombination mit der Abgeschiedenheit, machen die Region zu einem besonders geeigneten Standort für Teleskope. Der Armazones ist ein einzelstehender Gipfel, 3046 Meter über dem Meeresspiegel. Er ist etwa 20 km entfernt vom Cerro Paranal, der Heimat des berühmten ...

24. Januar 2011: As the Sun sets over Cerro Armazones, plans are well advanced for building the world's biggest “eye on the sky”: ESO's European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). With a primary mirror 39 metres in diameter, the E-ELT will dwarf all existing visible-light telescopes. Site selection has been a vital part of the plans for the E-ELT. Over the course of several years a team of experts investigated locations around the world, looking for the best place to host such an ambitious project. The site for the E-ELT must be remote enough not to be influenced by problems such as light pollution, but also needs the necessary infrastructure for the construction and operation of the observatory, and to accommodate the over 150 staff who will eventually work there. Monitoring stations, such as the one shown here, were set up to test site conditions scientifically by measuring parameters that included atmospheric turbulence and ...

17. Januar 2011: Like the bow of a ship sailing a rolling ocean of red hills, the southeast corner of the observing platform at Paranal stands over the Mars-like landscape of the Chilean Atacama Desert. This panorama shows the breathtaking view of the horizon, and conveys the feeling of immensity experienced when looking from the top of Cerro Paranal, a remote 2600-metre-high mountain located in one of the driest regions on Earth. Atop Cerro Paranal is the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world’s most advanced optical and near infrared ground-based astronomical facility, composed of four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) and four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs). The fourth Unit Telescope (UT4), named Yepun in the Mapuche language, is most prominent in this photograph, while UT3 (Melipal) and UT1 (Antu) are just visible on the right-hand edge of the picture. Three of the smaller ATs can also be seen on the 200-metre-wide observing platform. ...

10. Januar 2011: Before another clear, starry night falls at ESO's Paranal Observatory, home of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the sky produces a palette of intense colours, putting on a beautiful show for observers. These colours can only be seen with such depth from sites such as Paranal, where the atmosphere is extraordinarily pure. Looking to the west, over the Pacific Ocean, the sunset sky turns bright orange and red. However, this photograph shows the view to the east instead, looking away from the Sun after it has just set. The grey-bluish shadow above the horizon is the shadow of our own planet. Above this is a pinkish glow known as the "Belt of Venus", a phenomenon produced by the reddened light of the setting Sun being backscattered by the Earth's atmosphere. In the centre of the image is the fourth 8.2-metre Unit Telescope (UT4), part of the VLT. The Mapuche name ...

3. Januar 2011: Wogende rote Hügel breiten sich unter dem außergewöhnlich klaren blauen Himmel aus, der typisch für das Paranal-Observatorium der ESO ist. Obwohl sich die Teleskopkuppeln in der Morgendämmerung schließen und sich nichts in dieser dürren Wüste bewegt, macht das Very Large Telescope (VLT) der ESO niemals Pause. Seit dem Morgen arbeiten Ingenieure und Techniker an der Vorbereitung des Teleskops und der Instrumente für eine weitere perfekte Nacht. Der 2600 Meter hohe Cerro Paranal liegt in der Bildmitte dieses Panoramas mit Blick nach Süden. Der eingeebnete Gipfel ist die Heimat des VLT, der weltweit fortschrittlichsten bodengebundenen Observatoriumsanlage für Beobachtungem im sichtbaren- und Nahinfrarotbereich. Das VLT hat vier 8,2-Meter Hauptteleskope und zusätzlich vier 1,8-Meter Hilfsteleskope. Auf diesem Bild sind nur zwei Kuppeln der Hauptteleskope sichtbar, zusammen mit dem kleineren 2,6-Meter Survey Telescope (VST). Rechts vom Cerro Paranal bedeckt im Hintergrund ein Wolkenmeer die Küste des Pazifiks – nur 12 km entfernt. Die kalte ...

27. Dezember 2010: This splendid picture shows the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert. The mountaintop, 120 km south of the town of Antofagasta, is a remote haven for scientific exploration.Its distance from populated areas means that light pollution is essentially non-existent, which helps to guarantee clear views for the telescopes. It also ensures that activity is not disturbed by other human activities, such as traffic on nearby roads or dusty air from mines. The desert location means that moisture in the atmosphere is at a very low level, which contributes to the excellent atmospheric conditions. As well as the VLT, Paranal Observatory is also home to the VISTA telescope on an adjacent peak, from which this photograph was taken. The road which links the two peaks can be seen in the centre of the image, winding through the desert landscape.The two distinct bright ...

20. Dezember 2010: On a remote mountaintop, 2600 metres above sea level in the Chilean Atacama Desert, lies the world’s most advanced visible-light observatory. The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) is not only a window on the Universe; it is also a celebration of modern science and technology. This photograph shows two of the four Unit Telescopes that make up the VLT. With its giant 8.2-metre diameter mirrors, sensitive detectors, and state-of-the art adaptive optics system, the VLT uses cutting-edge technology at every opportunity. Even the telescope enclosures — the domes — are highly advanced, being thermally controlled to reduce air turbulence in the telescope structure. Every night the VLT studies the sky to make discoveries about the Universe. Visible in this photo, sweeping between the two Unit Telescopes, is the plane of the Milky Way. Containing billions of stars, it is our own corner of the cosmos, but the VLT's ...

13. Dezember 2010: As soon as the Sun sets over the Chilean Atacama Desert, ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) begins catching light from the far reaches of the Universe. The VLT has four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes such as the one shown in the photograph. Many of the photons — particles of light — that are collected have travelled through space for billions of years before reaching the telescope’s primary mirror. The giant mirror acts like a high-tech “light bucket”, gathering as many photons as possible and sending them to sensitive detectors. Careful analysis of the data from these instruments allows astronomers to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. The telescopes have a variety of instruments, which allow them to observe in a range of wavelengths from near-ultraviolet to mid-infrared. The VLT also boasts advanced adaptive optics systems, which counteract the blurring effects of the Earth's atmosphere, producing images so sharp that they could ...

6. Dezember 2010: Imagine being a fly on the wall of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the world's most advanced optical observatory. You could have a view a little like this. Fish-eye photography gives this unusual view of the 8.2-metre diameter telescope, poised and ready to begin gathering light from the deep recesses of the Universe as soon as the dome opens and starlight pours in. The VLT has four of these 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes, called Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun. These are the Mapuche names for the Sun, Moon, Southern Cross and Venus. This photograph shows Yepun. The names are from the native language of the indigenous people who live mostly in the area south of the Bio-Bio River, some 500 km south of Santiago de Chile. The VLT is so powerful that it allows us to see objects four thousand million times fainter than those that can be seen with ...

29. November 2010: NGC 520 — also known as Arp 157 — looks like a galaxy in the midst of exploding. In reality, it’s the exact opposite. Two enormous spiral galaxies are crashing into each other, melding and forming a new conglomerate. This happens slowly, over millions of years — the whole process started some 300 million years ago. The object, about 100 000 light-years across, is now in the middle stage of the merging process, as the two nuclei haven’t merged yet, but the two discs have. The merger features a tail of stars and a prominent dust lane. NGC 520 is one of the brightest interacting galaxies in the sky and lies in the direction of Pisces (the Fish), approximately 100 million light-years from Earth. This image was taken by the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera attached to the 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla in Chile. It is based on ...

22. November 2010: The centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is again in the sights of ESO telescopes. This time it’s the turn of ISAAC, the VLT’s near- and mid-infrared spectrometer and camera. From Chile’s Atacama Desert, site of the ESO observatories, the Milky Way offers magnificent views, particularly in the southern hemisphere winter, when the central region of our galaxy is most visible (see eso0934). However, the Galactic Centre itself, located about 27 000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius, hides behind thick clouds of interstellar dust, which appear as dark obscuring lanes in visible light, but which are transparent at longer wavelengths such as the infrared. In this image, the infrared observations clearly reveal the dense clustering of stars in the galactic core. ESO telescopes have been tracking stars orbiting the centre of the Milky Way for more than 18 years, getting the highest resolution images of this ...

15. November 2010: Among the myriad of stars in this image shines NGC 2257, a collection of cosmic gems bound tightly by gravity. Many billions of years old, but still sparkling brightly, it is an eye-catching astronomical object. NGC 2257 is a globular cluster, the name given to the roughly spherical concentrations of stars that orbit galactic cores, but are often found far out from the centres in the halo areas of galaxies. Globular clusters contain very old stars, being typically over 10 billion years old, and can therefore be used like a "fossil record" to learn more about the Universe’s past. They are densely packed, with tens to hundreds of thousands of stars gathered within a diameter of just a few tens of light-years. NGC 2257 lies on the outskirts of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. It is one of 15 very old globular ...

8. November 2010: This impressive image, taken on 10 May 2010 by ESO astronomer Yuri Beletsky, beautifully depicts the sky above Paranal. One of the 8.2-metre telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope, Yepun, Unit Telescope 4, is seen against the wonderful backdrop of the myriad of stars and dust that makes up the Milky Way. A laser beam is coming out of Yepun, aiming perfectly at the Galactic Centre. When used with the adaptive optics system the artificial star created by the beam allows the telescope to obtain images and spectra that are free from the blurring effect of the atmosphere. When this image was taken, astronomers Stefan Gillessen and Hauke Enkel were using the SINFONI instrument, together with the laser guide star facility, to study the centre of our Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole is lurking. The field of view of the image is very wide, about 180 degrees. One ...

1. November 2010: Mit dem Very Large Telescope (VLT), das die ESO am Paranal-Observatorium in Chile betreibt, haben Astronomen ein beeindruckendes Bild von Messier 17aufgenommen, der uch Omega- oder Schwanennebel genannt wird. Das beinahe an ein Gemälde erinnernde Bild zeigt riesige Wolken aus Gas und Staub, die von der intensiven Strahlung junger Sterne beleuchtet werden. Abgebildet ist hier die etwa 15 Lichtjahre durchmessende Zentralregion des Nebels. Insgesamt erstreckt sich Messier 17, der etwa 6000 Lichtjahre von uns entfernt im Sternbild Sagittarius (der Schütze) liegt, über etwa 40 Lichtjahre. Der Nebel ist ein beliebtes Beobachtungsobjekt für Amateurastronomen, die bereits mit kleinen Teleskopen sehr schöne Bilder von Messier 17 aufnehmen können. Die hier gezeigten tiefen VLT-Beobachtungen wurden im nahen Infrarotlicht mit dem ISAAC-Instrument durchgeführt. Verwendet wurden dazu die Filter J (1,25 µm, blau dargestellt), H (1,6 µm, grün), und K (2,2 µm, rot). In der Bildmitte befindet sich ein Haufen massereicher junger Sterne, deren Strahlung ...

25. Oktober 2010: Die Sterne rotieren während einer Nacht um den südlichen Himmelspol am La-Silla-Observatorium der ESO im Norden Chiles. Die diffusen Bereiche auf der rechten Seite des Bildes die Magellanschen Wolken, zwei kleinen Begleitgalaxien unserer Milchstraße. Die im Vordergrund sichtbare Kuppel beherbergt das 3,6-Meter-Teleskop mit dem HARPS-Instrument, dass dem zur Zeit erfolgreichsten Exoplanetenjäger der Welt. Das kastenförmige Gebäude unten rechts beherbergt das 0,25-Meter-TAROT-Teleskop, das so konstruiert ist, dass es besonders schnell auf Gammastrahlenausbrüche reagieren kann. Weitere Teleskope auf La Silla sind das 2,2-Meter-MPG/ESO Teleskop und das 3,6-Meter-New Technology Telescope, das erste Teleskop an dem aktive Optik zum Einsatz kam und somit Vorläufer aller modernen Großteleskope. La Silla war das erste Observatorium der ESO und ist nach wie vor eines der führenden Observatorien auf der Südhalbkugel.