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ESO @eso.org · 2d

The colour of the stars in this image depends on their age (stars at the centre are older, on average) and also dust, which reddens starlight, especially in the central regions. The blue- and red-shift that you're describing is a very minute effect that isn't noticeable here.

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ESO @eso.org · 2d

Meet NGC 1232!

This galaxy lies some 60 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. Its central areas contain older, reddish stars, while the spiral arms are populated by young, blue stars and many star-forming regions 🔭

Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso9845d/

📷 ESO

A face-on spiral galaxy set against a dark star field. A bright golden core radiates at the centre, while blue spiral arms sparkle with stars and patches of white light, forming a pinwheel shape.

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ESO @eso.org · 3d

📹 ESO/L. Calçada/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) /Balsalobre-Ruza et al.

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ESO @eso.org · 3d

Take a closer look at dwarf star PDS 70, located 400 light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus.

The final shot shows an ALMA image of the system, where #exoplanet PDS 70b and a cloud of debris orbit the central star.

Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2311/ 🔭

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ESO @eso.org · 4d

A fish-eye image of a Unit Telescope of our VLT, as it sends lasers beams into the sky.

These lasers create an artificial "guide star", used to correct observations for the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere 🔭

#flashback 📷 ESO/A. Ghizzi Panizza

Fish-eye night view of a large astronomical observatory firing bright orange laser beams into the sky, with the Milky Way arching overhead.

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ESO @eso.org · 5d

#OTD 30 years ago the very first #exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was discovered!

It was found with the radial-velocity method.

What other techniques do astronomers use to hunt for planets? 🤔

Find out with #ChasingStarlight! 🧪

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA47z3TGU1c

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ESO @eso.org · 5d

Under a giant's gaze ⛰️

Some of ALMA's antennas can be seen here in this image of the Chajnantor Plateau, under the silent gaze of an imposing mountain.

Do you know its name and the secret it hides? Find out: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2540a/

📷 Y. Villalon/ESO

🔭 🧪

The image shows a partly snowy desert, on which some white antennas are distributed, with some gathered together in the middle-left part of the image. In the background a dark mountain arises in front of the blue sky, also with snow on it.

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ESO @eso.org · 7d

📹 ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey .org)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Meingast et al.
🎧 Music: Azul Cobalto

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ESO @eso.org · 7d

Fly to Cha 1107-7626, a rogue planet 620 light-years away.

As observed by our VLT, every second it's eating up six billion tonnes of gas & dust from its surroundings — the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a planet of any kind. https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2516/

🔭 🧪
#exoplanets

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ESO @eso.org · 7d

#TourESO 📹🔴 Ready? Our next virtual tour of the La Silla Observatory will start in 5 minutes! ⏱️

Streamed here https://www.youtube.com/user/ESOobservatory/

📷 ESO

Sunset view over a mountain-top astronomical observatory, with several domed telescope buildings perched along winding roads

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ESO @eso.org · 8d

ICYMI, our VLT identified an enormous growth spurt in a rogue planet, which is eating up six billion tonnes of gas & dust a second!

The discovery sheds new light on how such planets form.
Discover more in our video 👇

Full story: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2516/

🔭 🧪 #exoplanets #planetsci

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

To sustain stable nuclear fusion over long timescales the mass needs to be higher than about 80 times the mass of Jupiter. Below that, but above roughly 13 Jupiter masses, we have brown dwarfs, which can fuse deuterium (note that these limits are not hard cutoffs though).

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

As much as we like that Star Wars reference, rogue planets have been known for some time 😉 The novelty here is the extreme rate at which the planet is feeding off its surrounding disc.

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

When the material from the disc reaches the surface of the planet it creates a hot spot that can be detected as a brightening at certain wavelengths. Also, since the infalling material is colder than this hot spot, it leaves a darker spectral signature on top of the brightening of the hot spot.

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

The findings indicate that at least some rogue planets may share a similar formation path to stars since similar bursts of accretion have been spotted in young stars before. 3/

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

The planet in question is Cha 1107-7626, located about 620 light-years away in the constellation Chamaeleon. It is still forming and has a mass 5 to 10 times the mass of Jupiter. 2/ 🔭

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

🆕 Our VLT finds a rogue planet growing at record rate: six billion tonnes a second!

This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a planet of any kind, providing insights into how rogue planets form&grow: https://f.mtr.cool/pvyxnsjnfx

🔭 🧪 ☄️
#exoplanets
Illustration ESO/L. Calçada

A digital illustration of a planet surrounded by a flat gaseous disc, in bright orange tones. In the central parts of the disc, material is flowing from the disc onto the planet along arched trajectories above and below the plane of the disc.

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ESO @eso.org · 9d

A Sparkling Spray of Stars! ✨

NGC 2264 is located 2600 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn 🦄

It includes the sparkling blue baubles of the Christmas Tree star cluster and the Cone Nebula 🔭

Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0848a/

📷 ESO

A red and pink nebula filled with countless stars. Bright blue-white stars shine through the clouds of gas and dust, with a few regions of bluish light where starlight illuminates the surrounding nebula.

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ESO @eso.org · 10d

📹 ESO/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/DESI/CFHT/N. Risinger (skysurvey. org)/J. Geach et al.

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ESO @eso.org · 10d

This video takes us on a journey from the #milkyway to a galaxy far, far away, 9io9 🚀 ✨
So far away, that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. This means that we see it as it was when the Universe was just 2.5 billion years old.
More: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2316/ 🔭

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ESO @eso.org · 11d

Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/alma-2009-02582/

📷 ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
#flashback

ALMA antennas

www.eso.org

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ESO @eso.org · 11d

Just how big are the ALMA antennas? 📡

This image of three 12-metre antennas next to the building of the Operations Support Facility on Chajnantor will help put their size into perspective. 🔭

Three large radio telescope antennas standing in a row and towering a facility under a clear blue sky

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ESO @eso.org · 12d

This careful inspection is done by hand, but the overall recoating process is quite involved and takes several days. Here's a timelapse of the whole process: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-tr...

VLT main mirror cleaning and recoating

YouTube video by European Southern Observatory (ESO)

www.youtube.com

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ESO @eso.org · 12d

📷 ESO/N. Schafer

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ESO @eso.org · 12d

Not even our mirrors stay clean forever! 🧽

Optical engineer Jaime González is checking for large particles on a VLT mirror.

This is part of a periodic cleaning process that keeps the mirrors ultra-precise & super-reflective.

More: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2539a

🔭 🧪
#instrumentation

A silvery, reflective surface of an enormous mirror is visible. A person in all-white, transparent plastic hat covering their head reaches out over the mirror surface, with a slightly distorted reflection appearing to reach back towards them, showing a near-perfect mirror image on its pristine metal.

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