HAWK-I view of the Milky Way’s central region

Taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in the Chilean Atacama Desert, this stunning image shows the Milky Way’s central region with an angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds. This means the level of detail picked up by HAWK-I is roughly equivalent to seeing a football (soccer ball) in Zurich from Munich, where ESO’s headquarters are located.

The image combines observations in three different wavelength bands. The team used the broadband filters J (centred at 1250 nanometres, in blue), H (centred at 1635 nanometres, in green), and Ks (centred at 2150 nanometres, in red), to cover the near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. By observing in this range of wavelengths, HAWK-I can peer through the dust, allowing it to see certain stars in the central region of our galaxy that would otherwise be hidden.

Crediti:

ESO/Nogueras-Lara et al.

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:galactic-centre-b
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:Lunedì 16 Dicembre 2019 17:00
Grandezza:4257 x 1775 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:Milky Way Galactic Centre
Tipo:Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Constellation:Sagittarius
Categoria:Stars

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Coordinate

Position (RA):17 45 34.83
Position (Dec):-28° 59' 44.38"
Field of view:35.67 x 14.87 arcminutes
Orientazione:Il Nord è a 121.3° a destra della verticale

Colori e filtri

BandaLunghezza d'ondaTelescopio
Infrarosso
J
1.258 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I
Infrarosso
H
1.62 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I
Infrarosso
Ks
2.146 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I