New wide image of universe called unprecedented
March 22, 2012 Courtesy of the Science & Technology Facilities Council of the U.K.
and World Science staff
and World Science staff
Astronomers have released a panoramic image of the universe that they call unprecedented in scope.On this color composite of the UltraVISTA image (click for full-screen view), the large white objects with haloes are foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. A host of other galaxies can be seen, from relatively nearby galaxies which appear large enough to discern their structures, to the most distant galaxies which appear as red dots in this image. (Credit: UltraVISTA
The image is the most detailed picture taken of a region large enough to be representative of the distant universe, according to the researchers behind the work. Galaxies seen at vast distances are also seen as they were long ago, since their light takes time to travel.“Until recently our view back to the first epoch of galaxy formation has been limited to tiny, ‘pencil-beam’ images made with the Hubble Space Telescope,” said James Dunlop of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who led the scientific team. “Now VISTA, with its panoramic imaging capability, is providing us with the first view of truly representative regions of the young Universe.”
VISTA is the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, a new instrument located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The image was taken using near-infrared light, a type of light somewhat less energetic than what the human eye can detect, although it can be converted to visible form in images./.../
The image is the most detailed picture taken of a region large enough to be representative of the distant universe, according to the researchers behind the work. Galaxies seen at vast distances are also seen as they were long ago, since their light takes time to travel.“Until recently our view back to the first epoch of galaxy formation has been limited to tiny, ‘pencil-beam’ images made with the Hubble Space Telescope,” said James Dunlop of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who led the scientific team. “Now VISTA, with its panoramic imaging capability, is providing us with the first view of truly representative regions of the young Universe.”
VISTA is the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, a new instrument located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The image was taken using near-infrared light, a type of light somewhat less energetic than what the human eye can detect, although it can be converted to visible form in images./.../
No comments:
Post a Comment