Astronomers get the most detailed infrared map of the Milky Way |. VIEW

[The Epoch Times, 27 settembre 2024](reports Epoch Times reporter Chen Juncun) Astronomers have used infrared telescope cameras to photograph more than 1.5 billion celestial objects in the Milky Way for more than 10 years and have produced the most detailed map of the Milky Way to date. to date. Astronomers say the discoveries have forever changed their view of the Milky Way.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) said in a press release issued on September 26 that astronomers have been using the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at the observatory in Chile to observe the central region’s Milky Way for more than 13 years.

These observations have a maximum size of 500 terabytes (terabytes or terabytes). This is the largest observation project in which the Observatory’s telescopes have participated to date.

“We have made so many discoveries that we have changed our view of the Milky Way forever,” said Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile who led the research project.

The research team used VISTA’s VIRCAM infrared camera to capture 200,000 images and combine them to create the most detailed map of the Milky Way to date. VIRCAM can observe through the dust and gas permeating the Milky Way, so it can see the radiation coming from the most secret places in the Milky Way, which is like opening a unique window into the Milky Way.

The nebulae NGC 3603 (left) and NGC 3576 (right) photographed by ESO’s VISTA. (ESO)

This huge database covers an area of ​​sky equivalent to 8,600 full moons and contains newborn stars and globular clusters. VISTA’s observation in the infrared means it can detect ultra-cold objects that shine at these wavelengths, such as brown dwarfs (‘failed’ stars that cannot sustain nuclear fusion) or free-floating planets that do not orbit their stars

This observation began in 2010 and ended in the first half of 2023, lasting a total of 420 nights. By observing each patch of sky multiple times, the team was able to determine not only where these objects were, but also how they moved and whether their brightness changed.

The research team mapped stars that undergo periodic changes in brightness. These stars can be used as cosmic scales to measure distances between different celestial bodies.

The team also monitored hypervelocity stars, fast-moving stars ejected after a close encounter with a supermassive black hole lurking in the central region of the Milky Way.

A collage provided by ESO (pictured above) highlights a small section of the Milky Way containing six objects. From left to right and top to bottom, they are: NGC 3576 nebula, NGC 6357 nebula, M17 nebula, NGC 6188 nebula, M22 star cluster and NGC 3603 nebula. Among these, with the exception of the M22 star cluster, which contains very dense old stars, the other nebulae are clouds of gas and dust where stars are born.

The above research results were published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics on September 26.

Responsible editor: Ye Ziwei#