Now four days into our advent calendar count-down, showcasing the best pictures from the blog since we started earlier this year. Day four means it’s Christmas day in three weeks… it’ll be here before we know it!
Day 4
Astronomy Advent Calendar 4th December - Celestial Conjunction at Paranal Observatory (click to enlarge) - Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky
Suspended in the night sky over ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) observatory at Paranal in Chile, the Moon shines brightest in conjunction with two celestial companions; glowing in the centre of the image is Venus (our closest planetary neighbour) and to its right (and below) the giant, though more distant planet, Jupiter
Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to open a gateway to an alternate reality or something!? Maybe I watch too much sci-fi
Back on track! Take a look at images 45 to 41 in this weeks instalment from the ESO Top 100 Images series*. The left hand side of number 41 is fairly impressive.
# 45 - Paranal Observatory and the Volcano Llullaillaco - Credit: ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)
# 44 - Bird’s Eye View of the Very Large Telescope - Credit: ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)
# 43 - Latest Rendering of the E-ELT - Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions/ESO
# 42 - The Future European Extremely Large Telescope - Credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions/ESO
# 41 - Close-up of the drama of star formation - Credit: ESO/Sergey Stepanenko
The star-forming region of Messier 17 - 268 mega-pixel camera. Image Credit: ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM
A new state-of-the-art telescope has snapped its first impressive images of the southern sky over the Paranal Observatory in Chile.
The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) is the latest addition to the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) network of telescopes in northern Chile. The first image released shows the spectacular star-forming region Messier 17, also known as the Omega or Swan nebula, as it has never been seen before – 5,500 light years from Earth in the heart of the Milky Way.
The 2.6-metre aperture telescope, one of the world’s largest, uses adaptive optics to ensure the instrument’s mirrors are always in the perfect position to view the skies. Behind the telescope’s lenses, images are captured by OmegaCAM, a 268-megapixel digital camera that weighs in at 770kg.
The VST will conduct 3 surveys over the next 5 years and is sure to produce images that will further our knowledge on dark matter, the invisible substance that clings to galaxies; dark energy, which is thought to drive the expansion of the universe; and the evolution of galaxies.
Tim de Zeeuw, ESO director general, said: ‘I am very pleased to see the impressive first images from the VST and OmegaCAM. The unique combination of the VST and the Vista infrared survey telescope will allow many interesting objects to be identified for more detailed follow-up observations with the powerful telescopes of the VLT.’
After watching again the beautiful work by Terje Sorgjerd (The Aurora and The Mountain) I thought I’d have another look around for other videos in a similar vein. The two videos below are truly stunning, and perfect example of what draws so many people to astronomy and stargazing in general.
ALMA Time Lapse Sequence – Shot on location at the ALMA array in the Atacama Desert, Chile on June 2010 (credit to Jose Francisco Delgado).
VLT Time Lapse Sequence – Shot on location at ESO‘s VLT at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile (credit to Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado).
Beautiful stuff, makes you feel kinda small doesn’t it? I particularly love the second video as it seems to have everything, wide vistas, time lapse from inside the ‘scopes (which I’ve never seen before and they’re awesome), many shots of the VLT laser guide star and possibly the first “Milky Way-set” I’ve ever seen!
Now, when will the clouds scuppering my astrophotography aspirations over the south east UK finally cut me a break!?
