{"id":20544,"date":"2019-12-16T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T16:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=20544"},"modified":"2019-12-15T20:03:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T01:03:21","slug":"eso-vlt-detects-ancient-burst-of-star-formation-in-milky-way-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=20544","title":{"rendered":"ESO: VLT detects ancient burst of star formation in Milky Way core"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>):<\/p>\n

ESO Telescope Images Stunning Central Region of Milky Way,
\nFinds Ancient Star Burst<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope in the Chilean Atacama Desert, this stunning image shows the Milky Way\u2019s central region with an angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds. This means the level of detail picked up by HAWK-I is roughly equivalent to seeing a football (soccer ball) in Zurich from Munich, where ESO\u2019s headquarters are located. The image combines observations in three different wavelength bands. The team used the broadband filters J (centred at 1250 nanometres, in blue), H (centred at 1635 nanometres, in green), and Ks (centred at 2150 nanometres, in red), to cover the near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. By observing in this range of wavelengths, HAWK-I can peer through the dust, allowing it to see certain stars in the central region of our galaxy that would otherwise be hidden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has observed the central part of the Milky Way with spectacular resolution and uncovered new details about the history of star birth in our galaxy. Thanks to the new observations, astronomers have found evidence for a dramatic event in the life of the Milky Way: a burst of star formation so intense that it resulted in over a hundred thousand supernova explosions.<\/p>\n

“Our unprecedented survey of a large part of the Galactic centre has given us detailed insights into the formation process of stars in this region of the Milky Way,”<\/em><\/p>\n

says Rainer Sch\u00f6del from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, who led the observations.<\/p>\n

“Contrary to what had been accepted up to now, we found that the formation of stars has not been continuous,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

adds Francisco Nogueras-Lara, who led two new studies of the Milky Way central region while at the same institute in Granada.<\/p>\n