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3 May 2017
VISTA’s view of the Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is a striking feature of the southern sky even to the unaided eye. But visible-light telescopes cannot get a really clear view of what is in the galaxy because of obscuring clouds of interstellar dust. VISTA’s infrared capabilities have now allowed astronomers to see the myriad of stars in this neighbouring galaxy much more clearly than ever before. The result is this record-breaking image — the biggest infrared image ever taken of the Small Magellanic Cloud — with the whole frame filled with millions of stars.
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy, the more petite twin of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). They are two of our closest galaxy neighbours in space — the SMC lies about 200 000 light-years away, just a twelfth of the distance to the more famous Andromeda Galaxy. Both are also rather peculiarly shaped, as a result of interactions with one another and with the Milky Way itself.
Highlights from VISTA's view of the Small Magellanic Cloud
Their relative proximity to Earth makes the Magellanic Clouds ideal candidates for studying how stars form and evolve. However, while the distribution and history of star formation in these dwarf galaxies were known to be complex, one of the biggest obstacles to obtaining clear observations of star formation in galaxies is interstellar dust. Enormous clouds of these tiny grains scatter and absorb some of the radiation emitted from the stars — especially visible light — limiting what can be seen by telescopes here on Earth. This is known as dust extinction.
The SMC is full of dust, and the visible light emitted by its stars suffers significant extinction. Fortunately, not all electromagnetic radiation is equally affected by dust. Infrared radiation passes through interstellar dust much more easily than visible light, so by looking at the infrared light from a galaxy we can learn about the new stars forming within the clouds of dust and gas.
The location of the Small Magellanic Cloud in the constellation of Tucana
VISTA, the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope, was designed to image infrared radiation. The VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC) is focused on mapping the star formation history of the SMC and LMC, as well as mapping their three-dimensional structures. Millions of SMC stars have been imaged in the infrared thanks to the VMC, providing an unparalleled view almost unaffected by dust extinction.
The whole frame of this massive image is filled with stars belonging to the Small Magellanic Cloud. It also includes thousands of background galaxies and several bright star clusters, including 47 Tucanae at the right of the picture, which lies much closer to the Earth than the SMC. The zoomable image will show you the SMC as you have never seen it before!
A close-up look at VISTA's view of the Small Magellanic Cloud
The wealth of new information in this 1.6 gigapixel image (43 223 x 38 236 pixels) has been analysed by an international team led by Stefano Rubele of the University of Padova. They have used cutting-edge stellar models to yield some surprising results.
The VMC has revealed that most of the stars within the SMC formed far more recently than those in larger neighbouring galaxies. This early result from the survey is just a taster of the new discoveries still to come, as the survey continues to fill in blind spots in our maps of the Magellanic Clouds.
Comparison of the Small Magellanic Cloud in infrared and visible light
More information:
This research was presented in the paper "The VMC survey – XIV. First results on the look-back time star formation rate tomography of the Small Magellanic Cloud", in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
Links:
ESOcast 105 Light: Starstruck by the Small Magellanic Cloud (4K UHD): http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1714a/
Zoomable version of the image: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1714a/zoomable/
Research paper: https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1714/eso1714a.pdf
Photos of VISTA: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/surveytelescopes/?search=VISTA
VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC): https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/surveytelescopes/vista/surveys/
Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA): http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/surveytelescopes/vista/
University of Padova: http://www.dfa.unipd.it/
Images, Text, Credits: ESO/Richard Hook/Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)/Maria-Rosa Cioni/VISTA VMC/IAU and Sky & Telescope/Videos: ESO/VISTA VMC/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org). Music: Astral electronic.
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