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Astronomers find evidence of oldest stars in ancient galaxy
For the longest time, Population III stars, which formed in the very early years of the universe, were nothing but a theory. Now, some astronomers led by David Sobral from the University of Lisbon in Portugal believe they've found evidence of these ancient, massive celestial bodies within an extremely bright (and old) galaxy. The team used ESO's Very Large Telescope, along with the Hubble Telescope and Japan's Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, to peer into an old part of the universe. There, they discovered several distant but luminous galaxies, including Cosmos Redshift 7 or CR7, which formed merely 800 million years after the Big Bang.
Visualized: Carina Nebula captured with a 268-megapixel camera
Combine a state-of-the-art telescope with a 268-megapixel camera, point it at the sky, add in a bit of calculation and you could end up with a gorgeous photo of the Carina Nebula. That's exactly what the ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile did recently with its brand new VLT Survey Telescope -- just a portion of the resulting inaugural image is shown above. This isn't the first time the ESO has shown a love for large captures: it managed to stitch together a massive 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way out of thousands of photographs taken with its VISTA telescope earlier this fall. However, with the 2.6-meter VLT and 268-megapixel OmegaCAM camera, the observatory is able to capture huge swaths of sky at a time -- no need for stitching here. The ESO says that it's the "largest telescope in the world exclusively dedicated to surveying the sky at visible wavelengths." As for the Carina Nebula, the star formation region is a popular choice among astronomers trying out new telescopes, and seeing how mesmerizing it is, we can't fault them for it. Click the source link below to see the whole image in all its zoomable glory.
Infrared telescope can pick out the atmosphere on distant planets, smell what the aliens are smelling
Astronomers in Chile using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope are now able to analyze the atmosphere on faraway planet Tau Bootis b. Using CRIRES, a supercooled infrared spectrograph bolted to the 'scope, the team was able to judge the size of the exoplanet -- and for the first time, take a reading of the atmosphere while not in transit. Historically, the only time researchers have been able to conduct atmospheric analysis is during the transit of its nearby star, which imprints the qualities of the atmosphere onto the light. The team found that Tau Bootis b is around six times the size of Jupiter, but its air is so thick with Carbon Monoxide that we'll have to look elsewhere to plan that expedition to the stars.
VLT Survey Telescope snaps out-of-this-world photos with 268-megapixel camera
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has just released the first batch of shots taken by its VLT Survey Telescope (VST), and, given the results, we'd say the thing's got a bright future in photography. Not to be mistaken for its cousin, the VLT (very large telescope), the VST sports a 268-megapixel camera, known as the OmegaCAM, and a field of view "twice as broad as the full moon." The images released by the ESO feature the Omega Nebula (located in the Sagittarius constellation) and Omega Centauri in stellar detail. Annie Lebovitz, eat your heart out -- the rest of you hop on past the break for another shot by this up and coming shutterbug.
New biggest star discovered, is not Justin Bieber
You know how sometimes you're just sitting out in a field with your homies, looking up at the stars and thinking man, the universe is so BIG... and I'm just so small! Thanks to the Very Large Telescope in Chile, Professor Paul Crowther at Sheffield University, and some good old-fashioned Hubble data, you can feel just a little bit smaller. Crowther and his team have measured the giant known as R136a1 to be 265 times the size of the sun. That's a pretty cool size, but not quite as cool as the 320 solar masses it was at birth -- nothing to sneeze at, since previous discoveries had the largest stars somewhere around 150 solar masses. It's also the most luminous star ever found, at 10 million times brighter than the sun. Even so, don't get your hopes up trying to see this with your telescope (unless it's, you know, Very Large) because it's a good 165,000 light years away. Doesn't mean you can't look in its direction and smile, though. [Image: ESO / M. Kornmesser]
