ESO telescope captures most detailed infrared map of Milky Way ever

The latest report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO):

ESO telescope captures
the most detailed infrared map ever of our Milky Way

This collage highlights a small selection of regions of the Milky Way imaged as part of the most detailed infrared map ever of our galaxy. Here we see, from left to right and top to bottom: NGC 3576, NGC 6357, Messier 17, NGC 6188, Messier 22 and NGC 3603. All of them are clouds of gas and dust where stars are forming, except Messier 22, which is a very dense group of old stars. The images were captured with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) and its infrared camera VIRCAM. The gigantic map to which these images belong contains 1.5 billion objects. The data were gathered over the course of 13 years as part of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey and its companion project, the VVV eXtended survey (VVVX).

Astronomers have published a gigantic infrared map of the Milky Way containing more than 1.5 billion objects ― the most detailed one ever made. Using the European Southern Observatory’s VISTA telescope, the team monitored the central regions of our Galaxy over more than 13 years. At 500 terabytes of data, this is the largest observational project ever carried out with an ESO telescope.

We made so many discoveries, we have changed the view of our Galaxy forever,

says Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile who led the overall project.

This record-breaking map comprises 200 000 images taken by ESO’s VISTA ― the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. Located at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, the telescope’s main purpose is to map large areas of the sky. The team used VISTA’s infrared camera VIRCAM, which can peer through the dust and gas that permeates our galaxy. It is therefore able to see the radiation from the Milky Way’s most hidden places, opening a unique window onto our galactic surroundings.

This gigantic dataset [1] covers an area of the sky equivalent to 8600 full moons, and contains about 10 times more objects than a previous map released by the same team back in 2012. It includes newborn stars, which are often embedded in dusty cocoons, and globular clusters –– dense groups of millions of the oldest stars in the Milky Way. Observing infrared light means VISTA can also spot very cold objects, which glow at these wavelengths, like brown dwarfs (‘failed’ stars that do not have sustained nuclear fusion) or free-floating planets that don’t orbit a star.

This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope captures a celestial landscape of vast, glowing clouds of gas and tendrils of dust surrounding hot young stars. This infrared view reveals the stellar nursery known as NGC 6357 in a new light. It was taken as part of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey, which is currently scanning the Milky Way in a bid to map our galaxy’s structure and explain how it formed.

The observations began in 2010 and ended in the first half of 2023, spanning a total of 420 nights. By observing each patch of the sky many times, the team was able to not only determine the locations of these objects, but also track how they move and whether their brightness changes. They charted stars whose luminosity changes periodically that can be used as cosmic rulers for measuring distances [2]. This has given us an accurate 3D view of the inner regions of the Milky Way, which were previously hidden by dust. The researchers also tracked hypervelocity stars — fast-moving stars catapulted from the central region of the Milky Way after a close encounter with the supermassive black hole lurking there.

The new map contains data gathered as part of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey [3] and its companion project, the VVV eXtended (VVVX) survey.

The project was a monumental effort, made possible because we were surrounded by a great team,”

says Roberto Saito, an astrophysicist at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil and lead author of the paper published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics on the completion of the project.

The VVV and VVVX surveys have already led to more than 300 scientific articles. With the surveys now complete, the scientific exploration of the gathered data will continue for decades to come. Meanwhile, ESO’s Paranal Observatory is being prepared for the future: VISTA will be updated with its new instrument 4MOST and ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) will receive its MOONS instrument. Together, they will provide spectra of millions of the objects surveyed here, with countless discoveries to be expected.

Notes

[1] The dataset is too large to release as a single image, but the processed data and objects catalogue can be accessed in the ESO Science Portal.

[2] One way to measure the distance to a star is by comparing how bright it appears as seen from Earth to how intrinsically bright it is; but the latter is often unknown. Certain types of stars change their brightness periodically, and there is a very strong connection between how quickly they do this and how intrinsically luminous they are. Measuring these fluctuations allows astronomers to work out how luminous these stars are, and therefore how far away they lie.

[3] Vía Láctea is the Latin name for the Milky Way.

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When the Heavens Went on Sale:
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

Space habitat reports – Sept.20.2024

Here is this week’s selection of videos, articles, and news items concerning space habitats (govt and commercial), living in space, and space settlement.

=== International Space Station & NASA

** Space to Ground: Sunita in Charge: Sept. 20, 2024 NASA Johnson

** NASA’s Starliner astronauts talk about watching their ride leave ISS without themVideoFromSpace

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore talk about Starliner’s return trip and requesting an absentee ballot for the US election in November. Watch Starliner land: https://www.space.com/boeing-starline…

** Tracy C. Dyson Powers Space Station Research NASA Johnson

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is returning home after a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. While on orbit, Dyson conducted an array of experiments and technology demonstrations that contribute to advancements for humanity on Earth and the agency’s trajectory to the Moon and Mars. Here is a look at some of the science Dyson conducted during her mission: https://go.nasa.gov/4euV5kt

** NASA Aatronaut Discusses Life in Space with KCRA-TV, SacramentoNASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Tracy C. Dyson of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview Sept. 20 with KCRA-TV. Dyson is in the midst of a long-duration mission aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

=== Commercial space habitats

** Updates on NASA’s transition from ISS to commercial space stationsLaura Forczyk

The International Space Station will soon be deorbited, and NASA is preparing to rely on commercial space stations, or commercial LEO destinations. In today’s NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee meeting, NASA gave various updates on avoiding a gap in LEO, salvaging ISS items, the ISS deorbit timeline, the future of NASA microgravity research, and more.

** Axiom Space

— Axiom runs into financial turbulence: A key NASA commercial partner faces severe financial challenges | Ars Technica – Sept.17.2024

Axiom Space is facing significant financial headwinds as the company attempts to deliver on two key commercial programs for NASA—the development of a private space station in low-Earth orbit and spacesuits that could one day be worn by astronauts on the Moon.

Forbes reports that Axiom Space, which was founded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian and NASA executive Mike Suffredini in 2016, has been struggling to raise money to keep its doors open and has had difficulties meeting its payroll dating back to at least early 2023. In addition, the Houston-based company has fallen behind on payments to key suppliers, including Thales Alenia Space for its space station and SpaceX for crewed launches.

— Progress on construction of Axiom’s first space habitat:

— Spacious habitat interiors:

** Sierra Space

— Sierra updates NASA on progress with the projects (unfunded) carried out under the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) :

Sierra’s CCSC-2 activities were described by NASA as follows:

Sierra Space is collaborating with NASA for the development of the company’s commercial low Earth orbit ecosystem, including next-generation space transportation, in-space infrastructure, and expandable and tailorable space facilities providing a human presence in low Earth orbit.

— Lunar oxygen production system demonstrated: Sierra Space Unveils Breakthrough Technology Designed to Extract Oxygen from Lunar Soil, Enabling Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon | Sierra Space – Sept.17.2024

Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime that is Building a Platform in Space to Benefit Life on Earth®, announced today the company’s proprietary Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, heralding the first time in history that oxygen has been extracted from simulated lunar soil, or regolith, using an automated, standalone system in a lunar environment. The technology, when scaled up, is designed to produce oxygen in bulk to support one of the primary objectives of NASA’s Artemis program: establishing the first long-term presence on the moon.

“The Apollo program took us to the moon to study and learn. Artemis is taking us back to the moon, this time to stay,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. “Our company is focused on building the infrastructure necessary to enable continuous human presence on the lunar surface. This sustainable future begins with developing the core technology and systems that create oxygen in that environment, using local natural resources.”

Sierra Space test engineers spent two weeks in August operating the company’s oxygen extraction system inside a thermal vacuum chamber at Johnson, working with lunar regolith simulant in an environment the hardware would recognize as similar to the water-ice-laden south pole region of the moon. Under lunar temperatures and pressures, the Sierra Space system executed all of the regolith handling steps and performed the carbothermal reduction reaction that extracts oxygen from minerals in the regolith simulant.

This disruptive innovation, a system developed at Sierra Space’s facilities in Madison, Wisconsin, represents a major leap forward in enabling long-term human habitation on the moon and future space exploration endeavors. …

** VAST

— Interview with VAST CEO Max Haot:

** SpaceX and Polaris project

— SpaceX Polaris Dawn spacewalk! See the first-ever private egress from crewVideoFromSpace

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission conducted the first-ever private spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024. Full Story: https://www.space.com/spacex-polaris-…

During the spacewalk (also known as an extravehicular activity, or EVA), Polaris Dawn crewmembers Jared Isaacman (seen here) and Sarah Gillis exited their fully depressurized Crew Dragon spacecraft in specially-designed SpaceX spacesuits.

— SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew’s on-orbit event! Experiments explained + spacewalk time-lapseVideoFromSpace

The Polaris Dawn crew Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon explain the experiments conducted during the mission. Also, see a time-lapse of Isaacman’s spacewalk.

=== Chinese space habitats

** Chinese astronauts conduct experiments and more on Tiangong space stationVideoFromSpace

China’s Shenzhou-18 crew is seen conducting experiments and maintenance on the Tiangong space station.

=== Lunar habitation

 ** Lunar Development Conference Videos | The Moon Society

A selection of videos of presentations and panel discussions at the Moon Society‘s recent online conference has been posted. For example:

** Explore NASA’s lunar orbital Gateway habitat with 3D app: Gateway Space Station in 3D | NASA – Sept.11.2024

=== Space habitat technologies

** TESSERAE: Self-Assembling Prototypes — Aurelia Institute

Artist’s animation of a futuristic TESSERAE habitat that self-assembles in orbit, forms a multi-module space station, and can also be transported to the surface. Based on the real-life research project out of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative and Dr. Ariel Ekblaw’s PhD Thesis. To learn more: tesserae.arielekblaw.com

TESSERAE (Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments). The name and nature of the structure hearken to the small, colored tiles used in Roman mosaics, where many standard pieces, or “tesserae,” interlock to create the image. We make this reference to ancient history, while designing an artifact of our space exploration future, to tie architectural elements together across scales and across millennia.

Rendering courtesy of TU Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute as part of a collaboration with MIT Media Lab SEI. Collaborator credit: Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy. Artist credit: David Knozowski.

See also A futuristic space habitat will touch down in Seattle in new exhibit at Museum of Flight | GeekWire – Sept.10.2024

** Metal 3-D Printing in microgravity:

See also: Metal Part 3D Printed in Space for the First Time | Universe Today – Sept.19.2024

=== Other space habitat and settlement news and articles:

=== Earth views from ISS

** Highlight: Soyuz MS-26 19:19z Sep 11 2024 – ISS Above

NASA EHDC6 Live views of the Earth from the International Space Station

** Highlight: Brazil – Aug 31 2024 10:03 BRTISS Above

* Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA

Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.

The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8

Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

====

ISS after undocking of STS-132

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Outpost in Orbit:
A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station

ESO: Surface bubbles of another star tracked in highest detail ever

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO):

Astronomers track bubbles on star’s surface
in most detailed video yet

Astronomers have captured a sequence of images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface. The images of the star, R Doradus, were obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope co-owned by ESO, in July and August 2023. This panel shows three of these real images, taken with ALMA on 18 July, 27 July and 2 August 2023. The giant bubbles — 75 times the size of the Sun — seen on the star’s surface are the result of convection motions inside the star. The size of the Earth’s orbit is shown for scale.

For the first time, astronomers have captured images of a star other than the Sun in enough detail to track the motion of bubbling gas on its surface. The images of the star, R Doradus, were obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in July and August 2023. They show giant, hot bubbles of gas, 75 times the size of the Sun, appearing on the surface and sinking back into the star’s interior faster than expected.

“This is the first time the bubbling surface of a real star can be shown in such a way,“ [1]

says Wouter Vlemmings, a professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and lead author of the study published today in Nature.

“We had never expected the data to be of such high quality that we could see so many details of the convection on the stellar surface.”

Stars produce energy in their cores through nuclear fusion. This energy can be carried out towards the star’s surface in huge, hot bubbles of gas, which then cool down and sink — like a lava lamp. This mixing motion, known as convection, distributes the heavy elements formed in the core, such as carbon and nitrogen, throughout the star. It is also thought to be responsible for the stellar winds that carry these elements out into the cosmos to build new stars and planets.

Convection motions had never been tracked in detail in stars other than the Sun, until now. By using ALMA, the team were able to obtain high-resolution images of the surface of R Doradus over the course of a month. R Doradus is a red giant star, with a diameter roughly 350 times that of the Sun, located about 180 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado. Its large size and proximity to Earth make it an ideal target for detailed observations. Furthermore, its mass is similar to that of the Sun, meaning R Doradus is likely fairly similar to how our Sun will look like in five billion years, once it becomes a red giant.

“Convection creates the beautiful granular structure seen on the surface of our Sun, but it is hard to see on other stars,”

adds Theo Khouri, a researcher at Chalmers who is a co-author of the study.

“With ALMA, we have now been able to not only directly see convective granules  — with a size 75 times the size of our Sun! — but also measure how fast they move for the first time.”

The granules of R Doradus appear to move on a one-month cycle, which is faster than scientists expected based on how convection works in the Sun.

“We don’t yet know what is the reason for the difference. It seems that convection changes as a star gets older in ways that we don’t yet understand,”

says Vlemmings. Observations like those now made of R Doradus are helping us to understand how stars like the Sun behave, even when they grow as cool, big and bubbly as R Doradus is.

“It is spectacular that we can now directly image the details on the surface of stars so far away, and observe physics that until now was mostly only observable in our Sun,”

concludes Behzad Bojnodi Arbab, a PhD student at Chalmers who was also involved in the study.

Notes

[1] Convection bubbles have been previously observed in detail on the surface of stars, including with the PIONIER instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer. But the new ALMA observations track the motion of the bubbles in a way that was not possible before.

Links

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Celestron – NexStar 130SLT Computerized Telescope –
Compact and Portable –
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Computerized Hand Control –
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When the Heavens Went on Sale:
The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

Night sky highlights for September 2024

Check out the night sky this month, September 2024. Here are several videos highlighting the top sights to observe.

** What’s Up: September 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA – NASA JPL

What are some skywatching highlights in September 2024?

Five planets each make appearances, the Harvest supermoon shows us a partial eclipse, then slices through the Pleiades. Plus International Observe the Moon Night and solar sail sightings!

0:00 Intro
0:18 Sept. planets visibility
1:06 Moon & planet highlights
2:58 Solar sail visibility
3:38 International Observe the Moon Night
4:34 August photo highlights
4:48 September Moon phases

Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatch….

See also What’s Up: September 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA| NASA Science

“Sky chart showing The Moon near Jupiter in the morning sky before sunrise on September 24, along with some of the well-known (Northern Hemisphere) winter stars and constellations.” Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

** Tonight’s Sky: September 2024 – Space Telescope Science InstituteTonight’s Sky

In September, Pegasus becomes increasingly prominent in the southeastern sky, allowing stargazers to locate globular star clusters and a nearby double star, Alpha Capricorni. Keep watching for space-based views of densely packed, spherical collections of ancient stars in visible and X-ray light

About this Series … “Tonight’s Sky” is a monthly video of constellations you can observe in the night sky. The series is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute, home of science operations for the Hubble Space Telescope, in partnership with NASA’s Universe of Learning. This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes—and other astronomy videos—at https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/tonights-sky.

** What’s in the night sky, January 2024BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel reveal what’s in the night sky this month, including the planets improving, a partial lunar eclipse on 18 September and Saturn and Jupiter moon events.

00:00 Introduction
00:08 Inner planets
02:55 Outer planets
09:28 Saturn Titan event
11:38 Ganymede transits Jupiter
12:46 18 September partial lunar eclipse
14:19 Autumn equinox
14:43 Saturn’s moons
18:08 Stars and constellations

** Sky & Telescope’s Sky Tour Podcast – September 2024 | The Equinox and the Summer Triangle – Sky & Telescope Youtube

See also

** What’s in the Night Sky: September 2024 – National Space Centre

What’s in the Night Sky: September 2024
Saturn at Opposition
Partial Eclipse of the Moon
Andromeda Galaxy
✨ Constellation of the Month: Andromeda

https://youtu.be/FXnUIdQm85s

** What’s in the Sky this Month | September 2024High Point Scientific on Youtube

In this episode of What’s in the Sky this Month, Teagan reviews some of the beautiful celestial objects you can see in September 2024!

Read the full September 2024 Newsletter: https://www.highpointscientific.com/a…

Looking to expand your astronomy knowledge even further? The Astronomy Hub is the place to learn everything from what’s in the sky this month, to what gear can help you capture the best celestial images. Learn more here ➡️ https://www.highpointscientific.com/a…

#highpointscientific #astronomy #september

Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
00:37 – Nearest Neighbors
02:02 – Saturn & Neptune at Opposition
03:01 – NGC 7000
04:04 – Messier 39
04:30 – Messier 2
04:59 – Messier 15
05:33 – Conclusion

** Night Sky Notebook September 2024Peter Detterline

What’s happening in the sky in September 2024.

** See also:

 

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Stellaris: People of the Stars