Helt nya MOONS!
Denna veckas bild hyllar den intrikata konstruktionen hos Multi Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph, eller MOONS, ett nytt instrument vid ESO:s Very Large Telescope (VLT) som nyligen utförde sina första observationer. Här visas två av MOONS infraröda kameror. Dessa komplicerade glänsande metallstrukturer, fulla av bultar och kablar, kommer att användas för att undersöka vår galax och många andra bortom denna.
Vintergatans centrum är höljt i stoft som blockerar det synliga ljuset från de inneboende stjärnorna. Genom att samla in en annan typ av ljus som kan passera genom detta stoft, kallat infrarött ljus, kan MOONS undersöka egenskaperna hos miljontals "dolda" stjärnor. Detta gör det möjligt för astronomerna att skapa en noggrann 3D-karta över det centrala området i vår galax. MOONS kommer också att användas för att studera miljontals andra galaxer och undersöka hur de bildas och hur de har utvecklats vid olika tidpunkter i universum.
Hur möjliggör MOONS konstruktion detaljerade observationer av så många kosmiska objekt? Genom att använda cirka 1000 fiberoptiska kablar, var och en monterad på en robotpositionerare som noggrant positionerar dem på den exakta platsen för ett astronomiskt objekt, kan deras ljus matas från VLT till två spektrografer. En spektrograf fungerar likt ett prisma genom att skapa en regnbåge som delar upp det inkommande ljuset i separata "färger" (eller våglängder), som sedan detekteras av kameror som de bilden.
Fingeravtrycken från de kemiska grundämnen som är kodade i ljuset kan sedan analyseras i detalj, vilket avslöjar viktiga egenskaper hos de kosmiska objekten, som sammansättning, massa och hastighet. För att minimera kontaminering från infraröda ljuskällor runt instrumentet kyls MOONS till mycket låg temperatur (mellan –143 och –233 grader Celsius) med hjälp av en kryostat.
MOONS utvecklades av ett internationellt konsortium lett av Science and Technology Facilities Councils UK Astronomy Technology Centre. När fotografen och ESO-astronomen Luca Sbordone reflekterar över sin bild av det unika och kraftfulla nya instrumentet säger han: ”Jag tycker att dessa objekt är vackra, det är en skönhet som kommer från den skicklighet, precision, engagemang och ackumulerade kunskap som krävs för att tillverka dem.”
Länkar
- ESO-meddelande och pressmeddelande från UK ATC om MOONS premiärobservationer.
- Mer om MOONS på ESO:s blogg
L. Sbordone/ESO
Om bilden
| ID: | potw2636a |
| Språk: | sv |
| Typ: | Foto |
| Publiceringsdatum: | 7 september 2026 06:00 |
| Storlek: | 7728 x 5152 px |
Om objektet
| Namn: | MOONS |
| Typ: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Instrument |
Bildformat
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