APOD: Wonder and Mystery above the VLT (2011 May 09)

[APOD Robot]

Wonder and Mystery above the Very Large Telescopes

Explanation: What's that bright orange dot above the large telescope on the right? Even seasoned sky enthusiasts might ponder the origin of the orange orb seen by scrolling across this panoramic image, taken last December. Perhaps identifying known objects will help. To start, on the far left is a diagonal band of light known as zodiacal light, sunlight reflected off of dust orbiting in the inner Solar System. The bright white spot on the left, just above the horizon, is Venus, which also glows by reflected sunlight. Rising diagonally from the ground to the right of Venus is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy. In the image, the band, which usually stretches dramatically overhead, appears to arch above the elevated Chilean landscape. Under the Milky Way arch, toward the left, lie both the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies, while toward the right lies the constellation of Orion surrounded by the red ring of Barnard's Loop. On the ground, each of the four Very Large Telescopes is busy keeping an eye on the distant universe. The orange spot -- it's the Moon. The image was taken during a total lunar eclipse when the normally bright full moon turned into a faint orb tinted orange by the intervening Earth's atmosphere.

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[owlice]

One in every Monday; love it!

Magnificent photo, too!

[Indigo_Sunrise]

This.

Is.

AWESOME!






(not much else I can say.....)

[rghoeing]

What a beautiful birthday present --- thank you!
rghoeing

[owlice]

Happy birthday, rhhoeing, and welcome to Asterisk!

Indigo: word!

[emc]

Happy Birthday rghoeing!

What an APOD treat this day!

There’s a notation on the ESO website (or used to be) regarding how dark the area is at night (free from ground based light) helping make it an excellent Earth base for telescopes. The notation was about how one can see one’s own shadow from the Milky Way’s light. That made me think ‘how cool, and what an old shadow!’ relatively speaking of course.

[agulesin]

Amazing, astounding... lost for words...

Many thanks APOD for brightening up my day once again... And for making me hope that one day I'll be in a place dark enough to see that many stars...

Can anyone tell me what the tracks on the ground are for? Just a guess but the AT (auxiliary telescope) seems to be able to move around on these tracks. More details would be appreciated!

[agulesin]

Who is online
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Seem to be all alone except the insects & bots!

[biddie67]

Wonderful set of pictures!! I'd love to be able to take a trip to this location some day ... Would this complex ever allow a small tourist group to visit for a couple of days?

[orin stepanek]

How fortunate we are to be able to view the wonders of the night sky from our position in the Milky Way Galaxy! Today's APOD is simply beautiful!

[NoelC]

Any image where the landscape is illuminated almost exclusively by starlight is ALL RIGHT BY ME!

Stunning work.

-Noel

[islader2]

One of a kind, Yuri--one of a kind!!! Thanx.

[kshiarella]

amazing photo! But that eclipsed moon looks tiny relative to Venus.

[geckzilla]

amazing photo! But that eclipsed moon looks tiny relative to Venus.

Venus must have been much brighter than the moon.

[Chris Peterson]

Venus must have been much brighter than the moon.

It's complicated. "Brightness" can have many different meanings. In terms of intensity per unit area, Venus was certainly brighter. Indeed, it is brighter than an uneclipsed full Moon. But in terms of total brightness, even the eclipsed Moon was probably brighter (although not necessarily... I didn't do the calculation). This is further complicated by the way in which cameras capture images, and how point sources (or near point sources) are different from extended sources.

[Ann]

This is a fantastic image. Stunning.

It's so fascinating, too, to see that the Moon looks so small here, when it is occulted. Because the Moon is so overwhelmingly bright in our skies, we tend to think of it as big in angular size. But it isn't.

Ann

[bystander]

Eclipsed Moon, Striking Night Sky
European Southern Observatory | Picture of the Week | 2011 May 09

A total eclipse of the Moon is an impressive spectacle. But it also provides another viewing opportunity: a dark, moonlight-free starry sky. At Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama Desert, one of the most remote places in the world, the distance from sources of light pollution makes the night sky all the more remarkable during a total lunar eclipse.

This panoramic photo, taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky, shows the view of the starry sky from the site of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal during the total lunar eclipse of 21 December 2010. The reddish disc of the Moon is seen on the right of the image, while the Milky Way arches across the heavens in all its beauty. Another faint glow of light is also visible, surrounding the brilliant planet Venus in the bottom left corner of the picture. This phenomenon, known as zodiacal light, is produced by sunlight reflecting off dust in the plane of the planets. It is so faint that it’s normally obscured by moonlight or light pollution.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth’s shadow blocks direct sunlight from the Moon. The Moon is still visible, red in colour because only light rays at the red end of the spectrum are able to reach the Moon after being redirected through the Earth’s atmosphere (the blue and green light rays are scattered much more strongly).

Interestingly the Moon, which appears above one of VLT’s Unit Telescopes (UT2), was being observed by UT1 that night. UT1 and UT2 are also known as Antu (meaning The Sun in Mapudungun, one of Chile’s native languages) and Kueyen (The Moon), respectively.

Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky

Zoomable Image

[geckzilla]

Venus must have been much brighter than the moon.

It's complicated. "Brightness" can have many different meanings. In terms of intensity per unit area, Venus was certainly brighter. Indeed, it is brighter than an uneclipsed full Moon. But in terms of total brightness, even the eclipsed Moon was probably brighter (although not necessarily... I didn't do the calculation). This is further complicated by the way in which cameras capture images, and how point sources (or near point sources) are different from extended sources.

Maybe the exposure times are not constant across the image. Would the left side be given a longer exposure to make the zodiacal light more obvious?

[Chris Peterson]

Maybe the exposure times are not constant across the image. Would the left side be given a longer exposure to make the zodiacal light more obvious?

Most likely the exposure times were the same, as doing otherwise makes it difficult to stitch together images seamlessly. The zodiacal light is about as bright as the Milky Way, so there's no need for a particularly long exposure to capture it.

[tytower1]

When I look out my bedroom window the Southern Cross appears below the pointers when in the position shown in this picture .I am in Australia looking south but this should not make any difference so whats going on ?

Is someone leg pulling or has there been an image reversal or something?

[geckzilla]

When I look out my bedroom window the Southern Cross appears below the pointers when in the position shown in this picture .I am in Australia looking south but this should not make any difference so whats going on ?

Is someone leg pulling or has there been an image reversal or something?

It's all in the timing... early in the evening the cross is above the pointers. Later on, closer to morning, the earth has rotated and the pointers end up above.

[tytower]

No thats not correct
It was my mistake .
The cross leads the pointers around in a clockwise direction always .
I can see mymistake tonight in which the night stars are fantastic as its a clear cold night in Paradise

[bystander]

The “Little World” of Paranal
European Southern Observatory | POTW | 2011 Sept 19

This interpretation of a previous Picture of the Week was created by astronomer Alex Parker. It captures some of the essence of Paranal Observatory — a little world where astronomers leave the Earth behind and travel to the stars... metaphorically at least.

The observatory lies deep in the barren Atacama Desert, which can really seem like an alien environment. It is far from civilisation and modern life, a place where visiting astronomers spend their nights gazing out at the wonders of the Universe using ESO’s flagship facility, the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT is the reason why Cerro Paranal was transformed from just another mountain in the Chilean Andes into a base for world-class scientific research.

When night falls over Paranal, and the night sky is aglow with stars, nebulae and nearby galaxies, the unearthly view emphasises our place in the Universe — as Alex Parker so creatively demonstrates — floating through space on a tiny chunk of rock.

Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky/A. H. Parker