Fotografia da Semana

29 de Junho de 2009: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest astronomical project in existence. It is a revolutionary astronomical telescope, comprising an array of 66 giant 12-metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. It is being built on the breathtaking location of the Chajnantor plateau, at 5000 metres altitude in the Chilean Andes, and will start scientific observations in 2011. In this artist’s rendering, the ALMA array is seen on the Chajnantor plateau in an extended configuration. The antennas, which each weigh over 100 tons, can be moved to different positions with custom-built transporter vehicles in order to reconfigure the array. ALMA is the most powerful telescope for observing the cool Universe — molecular gas and dust as well as the relic radiation of the Big Bang. It will study the building blocks of stars, planetary systems, galaxies and life itself. ALMA, an international astronomy facility, is ...

22 de Junho de 2009: This Quicktime interactive panorama movie shows the night sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and reveals its incredible richness and beauty. To launch the panorama please click the link on the right under QuickTime VR. To navigate this dual landscape and starscape, left-click on the image and continue pressing the button as you drag the mouse in the direction you would like to see. To zoom in and out, press "shift" or "ctrl". Moving towards the right, the panorama shows the Milky Way band blazing over the horizon. Ascending the mountain that comes into view, one sees ESO’s Very Large Telescope array and the red beam of its Laser Guide Star. Still further right, the VISTA peak rises, with the lingering Gegenschein aglow above it. Other sights in the sky over Paranal include the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades and the Hyades star clusters, the constellation of Orion, and the ...

15 de Junho de 2009: NGC 2613 is a rarely imaged spiral galaxy located about 60 million light years away towards the southern constellation of Pyxis (the mariner’s compass). It is thought to resemble our own Milky Way. This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).

8 de Junho de 2009: Esta imagem mostra três dos quatro Telescópios Principais do Very Large Telescope (VLT) do ESO a prepararem-se para mais uma noite de observações excepcionais no topo do Cerro Paranal, no Chile. Antes de cada noite, os engenheiros de serviço executam uma quantidade de testes de rotina para prepararem a infraestrutura emblemática da astronomia europeia. O VLT é o instrumento óptico mais avançado do mundo, constituído por quatro Telescópios Principais com espelhos primários de 8,2 metros de diâmetro e quatro Telescópios Auxiliares amovíveis de diâmetros de 1,8 metros cada um. Podemos ver um destes Telescópios Auxiliares à direita na imagem.

2 de Junho de 2009: Centaurus A is our nearest giant galaxy, at a distance of about 13 million light-years in the southern constellation of Centaurus, and as such, it is one of the most extensively studied objects in the southern sky. It is an elliptical galaxy, currently merging with a companion spiral galaxy, resulting in areas of intense star formation and making it one of the most spectacular objects in the sky. Centaurus A hosts a very active and highly luminous central region, caused by the presence of a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 100 million solar masses (see eso0109), and is the source of strong radio and X-ray emission. Thick dust layers almost completely obscure the galaxy's centre. This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B, V, R).

25 de Maio de 2009: The Moon is normally much too large and bright to be a target for the 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope, whose sheer power is best reserved for much fainter and much more distant astronomical objects, such as exoplanets or exploding stars located at the edge of the visible Universe. But back in 2002, one of the UTs was not yet equipped with an instrument at one of its Nasmyth platforms (located on the side of the telescope), and astronomers and engineers could have an unusual view of our natural satellite. In this case, the Moon's image was projected onto a sandblasted glass plate. Since then, the Very Large Telescope has been equipped with no less than 14 instruments, including three for interferometry, making it truly the world’s most advanced observatory.

18 de Maio de 2009: Located about 15 million light-years away towards the Hydra (the sea serpent) constellation, Messier 83 is a nearby face-on barred spiral with a classic grand design form. It is the main member of a small galactic group including NGC 5253 and about 9 dwarf galaxies. Messier 83 stretches over 40,000 light-years, making it roughly 2.5 times smaller than our own Milky Way. However, in some respects, Messier 83 is quite similar to our own galaxy. Both the Milky Way and Messier 83 possess a bar across their galactic nucleus, the dense spherical conglomeration of stars seen at the centre of the galaxies. Messier 83 has been a prolific producer of supernovae, with six observed in the past century. This is indicative of an exceptionally high rate of star formation coinciding with its classification as a starburst galaxy. Despite its symmetric appearance, the central 1,000 light-years of the galaxy shows an ...

11 de Maio de 2009: View from inside the main building of the 2,900 metre high ALMA Operation Support Facility. Three antennas currently being tested are seen outside. On 30 April, scientists and engineers working on the world’s largest astronomical project, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have achieved the successful linking of two ALMA astronomical antennas, synchronised with a precision of one millionth of a millionth of a second, to observe the planet Mars. The observations demonstrate ALMA’s full hardware functionality and connectivity. When completed around 2012, ALMA will comprise an array of 66 giant 12-metre and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths.Read more about this milestone in eso0918.

4 de Maio de 2009: Esta vista aérea do Very Large Telescope (VLT) do ESO, situado a 2600 metros de altitude no topo do Cerro Paranal no deserto chileno do Atacama, mostra as várias posições onde podem ser colocados os Telescópios Auxiliares amovíveis. As estruturas maiores albergam os quatro Telescópios Principais de 8,2 metros do VLT. No centro, encontra-se o laboratório do Interferómetro do VLT (VLTI). Ao contrário de outros grandes telescópios astronómicos, o VLT foi concebido desde o início para usar interferometria como objetivo principal. O VLTI combina a radiação colectada por dois ou três Telescópios Principais de 8,2 metros do VLT, aumentando de forma drástica a resolução espacial e obtendo assim imensos detalhes duma enorme variedade de objetos celestes. No entanto, a maior parte do tempo, os grandes telescópios são usados para outro tipo de investigação, estando por isso disponíveis para interferometria durante um número limitado de noites por ano. Assim, e de ...

24 de Abril de 2009: A galáxia distorcida NGC 2442, também conhecida como Galáxia Gancho, está localizada a cerca de 50 milhões de anos-luz de distância na constelação do Peixe Voador. A galáxia tem uma dimensão de 75 000 anos-luz e apresenta dois braços de poeira em espiral, que se estendem a partir de uma barra central proeminente, o que lhe dá a aparência de um gancho, daí o seu nome informal. A forma distorcida da galáxia é muito provavelmente o resultado dum encontro próximo com uma galáxia mais pequena escondida. Esta imagem baseia-se em dados adquiridos, através de três filtros (B: 250 s, V: 187 s, R:150 s), com o telescópio dinamarquês de 1,5 metros instalado no Observatório de La Silla do ESO, no Chile.

20 de Abril de 2009: Today, 20 April 2009, was the opening of the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (JENAM 2009), which takes place at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Lord Drayson, the British Minister of State for Science and Innovation, addressed the many attendees to this conference, expressing the importance of astronomy and space science for today’s society. He also visited the ESO stand where he was introduced to ESO’s flagship astronomical facility, the Very Large Telescope, by Tim de Zeeuw, the ESO Director General, and Patrick Roche, UK member of the ESO Council. Tim de Zeeuw also explained about the Extremely Large Telescope, a project which the minister showed great interest for.

14 de Abril de 2009: Esta fotografia aérea do local de acolhimento do Very Large Telescope do ESO (VLT), demonstra bem a qualidade soberba do local de observação. Em primeiro plano vemos o Observatório do Paranal, situado a 2600 metros de altitude na montanha do Paranal, no Chile. No fundo, podemos ver o vulção Llullaillaco, com o pico coberto de neve e que se encontra a 6720 metros de altitude, a uma distância de uns extraordinários 190 km para Este, na fronteira com a Argentina. Esta imagem testemunha bem a magnífica qualidade do ar e as condições ideais para observar que existem neste local remoto.Vêem-se claramente na imagem as cúpulas dos quatro Telescópios Principais de 8,2 metros do VLT e mais perto de nós encontra-se o Edifício de Controle, donde os astrónomos operam os telescópios. Tirada há alguns anos atrás, esta fotografia não mostra os Telescópios Auxiliares nem a cúpula do VST Survey Telescope, telescópio ...

1 de Abril de 2009: Semelhante em aparência à nossa Via Láctea, Messier 100 é uma galáxia em espiral enorme que apresenta uma estrutura intrincada, com um núcleo brilhante e dois braços proeminentes. A galáxia alberga numerosas estrelas jovens, massivas e quentes, assim como regiões extremamente quentes de hidrogénio ionizado. Podemos ver dois braços mais pequenos a sair do centro da galáxia, estendendo-se em direção aos braços em espiral maiores. A galáxia, localizada a 60 milhões de anos-luz de distância, é ligeiramente maior que a Via Láctea, com um diâmetro de cerca de 120 000 anos-luz. Uma supernova foi descoberta na M100 em 4 de Fevereiro de 2006. Chamada SN 2006X, é a 5ª supernova encontrada na M100 desde 1900. Esta imagem baseia-se em dados adquiridos, através de três filtros (B: 1390 s, V: 480 s, R: 245 s), com o telescópio dinamarquês de 1,5 metros instalado no Observatório de La Silla do ESO, no ...

30 de Março de 2009: Night view of the Paranal Observatory, obtained on 21 March 2009. The Residencia — the place where staff can eat and sleep — is visible in the foreground, while one can distinguish the 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope in the higher background. Yepun, the Unit Telescope no. 4, is seen using the laser guide star to assist the adaptive optics instruments on the VLT. This allows astronomers to obtain images free from the blurring effect of the atmosphere, regardless of the brightness and location on the sky of the observed target. The image shows the great value of the dark night sky above Paranal. The band of the Milky Way is running through the image vertically. Orion and the Orion Nebula can be seen in the upper left corner along with a number of other interesting deep-sky objects in Auriga, the Charioteer. Tremendous efforts are being put ...

23 de Março de 2009: Located inside the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) – one of our closest galaxies – in what some describe as a frightening sight, the Tarantula nebula is worth looking at in detail. Also known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070, the nebula owes its name to the arrangement of its bright patches that somewhat resemble the legs of a tarantula. Taking the name of one of the biggest spiders on Earth is very fitting in view of the gigantic proportions of this celestial nebula — it measures nearly 1,000 light years across ! Its proximity, the favourable inclination of the LMC, and the absence of intervening dust make this nebula one of the best laboratories to better understand the formation of massive stars. This spectacular nebula is energised by an exceptionally high concentration of massive stars, often referred to as super star clusters. This image is based on data acquired with ...

9 de Março de 2009: The 40-metre-class primary mirror of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will be composed of 984 individual segments, which must be aligned with incredible precision. The position of the individual hexagonal mirrors needs to be controlled with nanometre precision (1 nanometre is 1 millionth of a mm). This can only be achieved with the help of new technologies and a prototype component for this high-tech alignment of segmented mirrors is seen in this image. The so-called Active Phasing Experiment achieved its First Light during the night of 6 December 2008 on the visitor focus of Melipal, one of the 8.2 m Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal. Made in collaboration with several European partners, the current active segmented mirror is composed of 61 hexagonal segments. You can move around the experiment in this Quicktime VTR animation.

2 de Março de 2009: One of most famous spiral galaxies is Messier 104, widely known as the "Sombrero" (the Mexican hat) because of its particular shape. It is located towards the constellation Virgo (the ‘virgin’), at a distance of about 30 million light-years and is the 104th object in the famous catalogue of deep-sky objects by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730 - 1817).This luminous and massive galaxy has a total mass of about 800 billion suns, and is notable for its dominant nuclear bulge, composed mainly of mature stars, and its nearly edge-on disc composed of stars, gas, and dust. The complexity of this dust is apparent directly in front of the bright nucleus, but is also evident in the dark absorbing lanes throughout the disc. A large number of small, diffuse objects can be seen as a swarm in the halo of Messier 104. Most of these are globular clusters, similar to those ...

23 de Fevereiro de 2009: A view of Paranal from May 1987.

16 de Fevereiro de 2009: The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. It is located about 4,000 light-years away, towards the Scorpius constellation (the Scorpion). The nebula is the swansong of a dying solar-like star lying at its centre. At about 250,000 degrees Celsius and smothered in a blanket of hailstones, the star itself has never been observed as it is surrounded by a dense disc of gas and dust, opaque to light. This dense disc may be the origin of the hourglass structure of the nebula. This colour image, which nicely highlights the complex structure of the nebula, is a composite of three exposures through blue, green and red filters. It was made using the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, Chile.

9 de Fevereiro de 2009: Esta imagem, tirada nem Novembro de 2009, mostra com grande clareza o incrível céu sobre o Paranal, local de acolhimento do Very Large Telescope (VLT) do ESO no Chile.A maravilhosa paisagem da Via Láctea paira em toda sua glória por cima de três dos quatro Telescópios Auxiliares de 1,8 metros do VLT (ATs), os quais observam simultaneamente, usando interferometria para obter uma visão tão nítida como a que seria observada por um telescópio com diâmetro igual à maior distância entre os ATs, neste caso 48 metros. Como os Telescópios Principais maiores de 8,2 metros do VLT são geralmente usados ​​individualmente, os quatro ATs foram adicionados ao sistema para tirar o máximo partido do laboratório de interferometria. Olhando para leste, esta fotografia mostra as constelações de Ofiúco, Sagitário, Escorpião e Triângulo Austral. O centro da Via Láctea situa-se logo abaixo do centro da imagem.Esta imagem encontra-se disponível emoldurada na loja do ...