*** The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread ***

Over to the pros:


This film follows the men and women who are pushing the limits of science and engineering in some of the most extreme environments on earth. But most strikingly of all, no-one really knows what they will find out there.
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The VLT consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across, which are generally used separately but can be used together to achieve very high angular resolution. The four separate optical telescopes are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language. The telescopes form an array which is complemented by four movable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) of 1.8 m aperture.

The VLT operates at visible and infrared wavelengths. Each individual telescope can detect objects roughly four billion times fainter than can be detected with the naked eye, and when all the telescopes are combined, the facility can achieve an angular resolution of about 0.001 arc-second. This is equivalent to roughly two metres at the distance of the Moon.

The VLT is the most productive ground-based facility for astronomy, with only the Hubble Space Telescope generating more scientific papers among facilities operating at visible wavelengths. Among the pioneering observations carried out using the VLT are the first direct image of an exoplanet, the tracking of individual stars moving around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and observations of the afterglow of the furthest known gamma-ray burst.
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Astronomers 'see' strands of cosmic web.

I do love it when the universe gives up it's secrets though hard work of man. :)

Astronomers have for the first time captured a glimpse of the vast, web-like network of diffuse gas that links all of the galaxies in the cosmos.

Leading cosmological theories suggest that galaxies are cocooned within gigantic, wispy filaments of gas. This “cosmic web” of gas-filled nebulas stretches between large, spacious voids that are tens of millions of light years wide. Like spiders, galaxies mostly appear to lie within the intersections of the long-sought webs.

In observations spied through one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, the 33-foot (10-meter) Keck I Telescope in Hawaii, astronomers led by Sebastiano Cantalupo of the University of California, Santa Cruz, now report that they have detected a very large, luminous filament of gas extending about 2 million light-years across intergalactic space, exactly as predicted by theory.

Essentially, the filament reported in the January 19 Nature represents one of the strands of the cosmic web that holds together the galaxy-rich universe. Astronomers hope to understand both the structure of the universe and the development of galaxies such as our own Milky Way by unraveling the secrets of the cosmic web.
This deep image shows the Nebula (cyan) with a size of 2 million light-years discovered around the quasar UM287 (at the centre of the image). The energetic radiation of the quasar makes the surrounding intergalactic gas glow revealing the morphology and physical properties of a "Cosmic Web" filament. Credit: S. Cantalupo

This deep image shows the Nebula (cyan) with a size of 2 million light-years discovered around the quasar UM287 (at center) . The energetic radiation of the quasar makes the surrounding intergalactic gas glow revealing the morphology and physical properties of a “Cosmic Web” filament. Credit: S. Cantalupo

The discovery came thanks to intense radiation bellowing out of a quasar (a hyper-active galaxy) dubbed UM287, 10 billion light years from Earth. The quasar illuminated the neighboring gas filament, revealing its presence with a glow that resembled a cosmic florescent sign.

“This is a very exceptional object: it’s huge, at least twice as large as any nebula detected before, and it extends well beyond the galactic environment of the quasar,” said Cantalupo, in a statement.

“The light from the quasar is like a flashlight beam, and in this case we were lucky that the flashlight is pointing toward the nebula and making the gas glow. We think this is part of a filament that may be even more extended than this, but we only see the part of the filament that is illuminated by the beamed emission from the quasar.”
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cosmic-web1.jpg


For those who don't know about the cosmic web here you go.


 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the supernova in M82. It was first spotted on the 22nd, but happened a few days before that. It's still visible now so go take a look if you get a break in the clouds.

M82 is very faint, I can't even see it through my binoculars, though some people say they can. I did manage to see it through my 8 inch refractor last night, but alas my camera was out of battery so no pics :(
 
Spook187 said:
Astronomers 'see' strands of cosmic web.

I do love it when the universe gives up it's secrets though hard work of man. :)



cosmic-web1.jpg


For those who don't know about the cosmic web here you go.


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Reminds me of a shadow ship from babylon 5 lol. On a serious note it is so exciting what we are now learning about the universe, it makes me sad that some people dont find it as interesting as i believe everyone should. I cant wait for the james webb telescope to be launched and start sending pics back.
 
Anyone use http://itelescope.net

Signed up for the demo+ $5 AUD for 70points. Which appears to be about 30min to 1hr imaging time, depending on telescope, times etc. Nd apparently only charged for imaging time, not skewing and all the other stuff.

No idea what the hell I'm doing, scheduled a single picture, probably messed it up and won't get anything. And will take a nose when Spain comes online.
 
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Glaucus said:
Anyone use http://itelescope.net

Signed up for the demo+ $5 AUD for 70points. Which appears to be about 30min to 1hr imaging time, depending on telescope, times etc. Nd apparently only charged for imaging time, not skewing and all the other stuff.

No idea what the hell I'm doing, scheduled a single picture, probably messed it up and won't get anything. And will take a nose when Spain comes online.
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Will have a look at that.

We should plan a visit to the Chilean Observatories road trip thing next year or something. :)
 
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