Una nueva estrella en el vecindario
En el centro de esta nueva imagen (sobre la que podemos hacer zoom), obtenida por el telescopio VISTA de ESO, podemos ver a VVV BD001, una enana marrón recién descubierta. Se trata de la primera enana marrón detectada por el sondeo VVV en nuestra vecindad cósmica. VVV BD001 se encuentra a unos 55 años luz de distancia, hacia el atestado centro de nuestra galaxia.
Las enanas marrones son estrellas que no han conseguido crecer hasta convertirse en estrellas como, por ejemplo, nuestro Sol. A menudo son denominadas "estrellas fallidas”; su tamaño es mayor que el de planetas como Júpiter, pero menor que el de una estrella.
Esta enana es peculiar por dos motivos: primero, es la primera encontrada si miramos en dirección al centro de la Vía Láctea, una de las regiones más atestadas del cielo. Y segundo, pertenece a un tipo inusual de estrellas conocidas como “enanas marrones inusualmente azules” — aún no se sabe muy bien por qué estas estrellas son más azules de lo esperado.
Las enanas marrones nacen igual que las estrellas, pero no tienen la suficiente masa como para desencadenar la "quema" de hidrógeno y convertirse así en una estrella normal. Por este motivo son objetos mucho más fríos y emiten mucha menos luz, haciendo que sean más difíciles de detectar. Por lo general, los astrónomos buscan este tipo de objetos utilizando telescopios especiales y cámaras que observan en el infrarrojo medio y cercano, un rango sensible a estos objetos tan fríos, pero suelen evitan mirar en zonas plagadas de estrellas — como la región central de nuestra galaxia, por ejemplo.
VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, Telescopio de Sondeo para Astronomía Visible e Infrarroja) es el telescopio de sondeo más grande del mundo y se encuentra en el Observatorio Paranal de ESO, en Chile. Está llevando a cabo seis sondeos independientes del cielo, y el sondeo VVV (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) está diseñado para catalogar mil millones de objetos situados en el centro de nuestra galaxia, la Vía Láctea. VVV BD001 fue descubierta por casualidad durante este sondeo.
Los científicos han utilizado el catálogo VVV para crear un mapa de 3 dimensiones del bulbo central de la Vía Láctea (eso1339). Los datos también se han utilizado para crear una gigantesca imagen a color de 108.200 por 81.500 píxeles que contiene cerca de nueve mil millones de píxeles (eso1242), una de las imágenes astronómicas más grandes jamás producida.
Enlaces
Sondeo VVV (Variables de VISTA en la Vía Láctea)
Crédito:ESO, and D. Minniti and J. C. Beamín (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile).
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw1338a |
| Idioma: | es |
| Tipo: | Observación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 23 de Septiembre de 2013 a las 10:00 |
| Tamaño: | 1501 x 1501 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | VVV BD001 |
| Tipo: | Milky Way : Star : Type : Brown Dwarf |
| Distancia: | 55 años luz |
| Constellation: | Ophiuchus |
Fondo de pantalla
Coordenadas
| Position (RA): | 17 26 40.04 |
| Position (Dec): | -27° 38' 2.14" |
| Field of view: | 8.53 x 8.53 arcminutes |
| Orientación: | El norte está a 33.6° a la derecha de la vertical |
Colores y filtros
| Banda | Longitud de onda | Telescopio |
|---|---|---|
| Infrarrojo J | 1.25 μm | Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy |
| Infrarrojo H | 1.65 μm | Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy |
| Infrarrojo Ks | 2.2 μm | Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy |
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