First Images from the VLT Survey Telescope in Chile

[rodsky]

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ESO - eso1119 - First Images from the VLT Survey Telescope

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST), the latest addition to ESO’s Paranal Observatory, has made its first release of impressive images of the southern sky. The VST is a state-of-the-art 2.6-metre telescope, with the huge 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM at its heart, which is designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality. It is a visible-light telescope that perfectly complements ESO’s VISTA infrared survey telescope. New images of the Omega Nebula and the globular cluster Omega Centauri demonstrate the VST’s power.

One example...

Messier 17, or Omega Nebula, is shown in dazzling color in the first images transmitted from the new VLT Survey Telescope.

CNN's report: Awesome telescope sheds new light on cosmos – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

-RODION

[BeerBreeze]

This is so awesome!!!! The universe is such a beautiful place

[boom_box]

Another question rodsky..

1. How many months did they zoomed that area? Considering that light would take some time to travel in that Nebula.
3. Why is it ESO's Paranal Obeservatory choose the location in Chile's Antofasgata Desert?

[rodsky]

Another question rodsky..

1. How many months did they zoomed that area? Considering that light would take some time to travel in that Nebula.
3. Why is it ESO's Paranal Obeservatory choose the location in Chile's Antofasgata Desert?

1. Months? You just need a few mins/hours of standard photographic exposure. It has nothing to do with the speed of light travelling through space--all light coming from that area of space arrives our area of the space at the same time.

2. my guesses: a) Less light pollution (far from urban areas), b) the area has good "seeing" Astronomical seeing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , c) it's the southern hemisphere...for the past 300 years, most of the focus of sky observation has been biased towards the northern hemisphere (considering the fact that Europe, US and Japan are all in the Northern Hemisphere).

-RODION

[boom_box]

1. Months? You just need a few mins/hours of standard photographic exposure. It has nothing to do with the speed of light travelling through space--all light coming from that area of space arrives our area of the space at the same time.

I see, so that was totally different from the technique they use in Hubble Space Telescope to capture the Hubble Deep Field?

[rodsky]

I see, so that was totally different from the technique they use in Hubble Space Telescope to capture the Hubble Deep Field?

The only difference between the HDF shot and that shot of the Omega Nebula pictured above, is that the HDF shot merely magnified a very small section of sky (in astronomy parlance "a tiny subtended angle") that seemed "empty" or totally black...but I think the amount of exposure (hours), is roughly the same, after all, you will indeed get to see galaxies in long exposure astrophotography shots. In astronomy or amateur astronomy, this kind of photography is called DSO (Deep Sky Objects) Photography, and yes, even amateurs can do it, and quality of shots merely depend on equipment used, and your location on earth.

-RODION

[observer]

rodsky, be honest. Would your dream job be doing something related to astronomy?

[rodsky]

rodsky, be honest. Would your dream job be doing something related to astronomy?

Seriously, no. I want it as purely a hobby, NOT as job. As a hobby, I can take my own time with it, and not be troubled by thoughts of:

a) Continuously looking for funding for my research (borrowing, begging money).

b) Spending cold nights on top of a mountain, far away from civilization (and hot girls).

c) Formulating theories and writing research papers that ordinary people care so little about (LOL).

-RODION

[handsoff241]

This is nerdgasmic!

[hobie]

nice picture. tulo ako laway hehe