{"id":13293,"date":"2016-10-05T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13293"},"modified":"2016-10-04T01:48:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T05:48:16","slug":"esos-vista-sees-stars-through-the-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13293","title":{"rendered":"ESO’s VISTA sees stars through the dust"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>) latest report:<\/p>\n

ESO\u2019s Dustbuster Reveals Hidden Stars <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In this new image of the nebula Messier 78, young stars cast a bluish pall over their surroundings, while red fledgling stars peer out from their cocoons of cosmic dust. To our eyes, most of these stars would be hidden behind the dust, but ESO\u2019s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) sees near-infrared light, which passes right through dust. The telescope is like a giant dustbuster that lets astronomers probe deep into the heart of the stellar environment.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This richly detailed view of the star formation region Messier 78, in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As well as the blue regions of reflected light from the hot young stars the image also shows streams of dark dust and the red jets emerging from stars in the process of formation. [Larger imagers<\/a>].<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Messier 78<\/a>, or M78, is a well-studied example of a reflection nebula<\/a>. It is located approximately 1600 light-years away in the constellation of Orion<\/a> (The Hunter<\/em>), just to the upper left of the three stars that make up the belt of this familiar landmark in the sky. In this image, Messier 78 is the central, bluish haze in the centre; the other reflection nebula towards the right goes by the name of NGC 2071. The French astronomer Pierre M\u00e9chain<\/a> is credited with discovering Messier 78 in 1780. However, it is today more commonly known as the 78th entry in French astronomer Charles Messier<\/a>\u2019s catalogue, added to it in December of 1780.<\/p>\n