February 2012
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Boldly going up Cerro Paranal
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ESO’s Paranal Observatory facilities, such as the Residencia, give people who work at the site a welcome shelter from the surrounding inhospitable environment. In spite of that, they also offer interesting options for those who wish to enjoy the stark and silent beauty of the Atacama Desert.
Among these is the Star Track, a walking path which connects the Residencia with...
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Preview of a Forthcoming Supernova
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At the turn of the 19th century, the binary star system Eta Carinae was faint and undistinguished. In the first decades of the century, it became brighter and brighter, until, by April 1843, it was the second brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius (which is almost a thousand times closer to Earth). In the years that followed, it gradually dimmed again and by the...
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The Heart of the Milky Way, for Valentine’s Day
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There is a lot to love about astronomy, and — in time for Valentine’s Day — photographer Julien Girard offers a “heartfelt” example in this image. A bright pink symbol of love appears to float ethereally against the backdrop of the night sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. Girard drew the heart in the air by shining a tiny flashlight...
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A Sheep in Wolf-Rayet’s Clothing
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It’s well known that the Universe is changeable: even the stars that appear static and predictable every night are subject to change.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows planetary nebula Hen 3-1333. Planetary nebulae are nothing to do with planets — they actually represent the death throes of mid-sized stars like the Sun. As they puff out their...
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VLT Takes Most Detailed Infrared Image of the...
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ESO’s Very Large Telescope has delivered the most detailed infrared image of the Carina Nebula stellar nursery taken so far. Many previously hidden features, scattered across a spectacular celestial landscape of gas, dust and young stars, have emerged. This is one of the most dramatic images ever created by the VLT.
Deep in the heart of the southern...
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A Drive Through Time — How telescopes, and cars,...
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ESO turns fifty this year, and to celebrate this important anniversary, we are showing you glimpses into its history. Once a month during 2012, a special “Then and Now” comparison Picture of the Week shows how things have changed over the decades at the La Silla and Paranal observatory sites, the ESO offices in Santiago de Chile, and the Headquarters in Garching bei München,...
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Transforming Galaxies
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Many of the Universe’s galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, include the tilted galaxy at the bottom of the frame, shining behind a Milky Way star, and the small spiral at the top centre.
Other galaxies are even...
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My YouTube channel →
I have a YouTube channel where I share space and astronomy news, videos and features.
Feel free to visit and subscribe.
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A Pocket of Star Formation
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This new view shows a stellar nursery called NGC 3324. It was taken using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The intense ultraviolet radiation from several of NGC 3324’s hot young stars causes the gas cloud to glow with rich colours and has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust.
NGC 3324 is located...
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January 2012
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A Shadow at Sunrise
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In this photograph, taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Gianluca Lombardi, the Sun is rising and bathing the Chilean Atacama Desert in a familiar soft reddish glow. But this image, from 13 July 2011, has also captured something out of the ordinary: a dark shadow lurking on the horizon.
Gianluca took this photograph from Cerro Armazones, looking west. Armazones is the future home...
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Young Stars at Home in an Ancient Cluster
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Looking like a hoard of gems fit for an emperor’s collection, this deep sky object called NGC 6752 is in fact far more worthy of admiration. It is a globular cluster, and at over 10 billion years old is one the most ancient collections of stars known. It has been blazing for well over twice as long long as our Solar System has existed.
NGC 6752 contains a high number of...
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ESA’s CubeSats near the end of a five year journey
26 January 2012 The excitement is mounting, not only at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, but also in universities across Europe, as ESA’s Vega launch vehicle is prepared for its maiden flight. Among the payloads on board Europe’s latest rocket are seven student-built CubeSats sponsored by ESA.
The story of the ESA CubeSats – dubbed the ‘ESA Cubs’ - began...
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The Wild Early Lives of Today's Most Massive...
Dramatic star formation cut short by black holes
25 January 2012
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Using the APEX telescope, a team of astronomers has found the strongest link so far between the most powerful bursts of star formation in the early Universe, and the most massive galaxies found today. The galaxies, flowering with dramatic starbursts in the early Universe, saw the birth of new stars abruptly ...
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Robot competition in zero-gravity
Robot competition in zero-gravity
25 January 2012 School teams from Europe and America have been commanding robots competing in the Spheres ZeroRobotics tournament in space. The arena: 400 km above Earth on the International Space Station. Student teams could send a single piece of instruction software to control the small robotic ‘Spheres’. The goal of the tournament was to earn...
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Barred Spiral Galaxy Swirls in the Night Sky
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This image shows the swirling shape of galaxy NGC 2217, in the constellation of Canis Major (The Great Dog). In the central region of the galaxy is a distinctive bar of stars within an oval ring. Further out, a set of tightly wound spiral arms almost form a circular ring around the galaxy. NGC 2217 is therefore classified as a barred spiral galaxy, and its circular...
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Seeing Quadruple
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This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope picture may trick you into thinking that the galaxy in it — known as UZC J224030.2+032131 — has not one but five different nuclei. In fact, the core of the galaxy is only the faint and diffuse object seen at the centre of the cross-like structure formed by the other four dots, which are images of a distant quasar located in the...