Marte, 2099?
Una fredda oscura notte su Marte, nel mezzo di un arido deserto una strada illuminata da luci artificiali serpeggia verso un solitario avamposto umano sulla cima di un antica montagna. O almeno, questo è quello che un fan di fantascienza potrebbe pensare di questa spettrale vista.
La fotografia in effetti mostra l'osservatorio ESO situato sul Cerro Paranal, casa del Very Large Telescope (VLT), sulla Terra. Tuttavia, è facile immaginarlo come la futura vista che potremmo avere su Marte, forse alla fine del secolo. Ed è per questo che Julien Girard, che ha scattato questa foto, l'ha intitolata "mars 2099".
Situato a 2600 metri di altitudine, l'osservatorio Paranal si trova in uno dei posti più aridi della Terra, il deserto cileno di Atacama. Il paesaggio è così marziano, che infatti L'European Space Agency(ESA) e la NASA testano i loro rover marziani in questa regione. Per esempio, un team ESA ha recentemente testato il rover autosterzante Seeker, come descritto in ann12048.
L'immagine è stata scattata al tramonto, guardando a Sud-Est verso il VLT, dal picco dov'è situato il telescopio VISTA. Ad Ovest si trova l'Oceano Pacifico, a soli 12 kilometri dal Paranal. Dalla vetta del Paranal si può vedere la via Lattea che si erge in cielo, lasciando un inconfondibile marchio nel cielo australe -- L'asterismo della Croce del Sud.
Al Paranal, i cieli sono così sgombri e oscuri che la luce proveniente dalla via Lattea è abbastanza forte da creare ombre. Questo è il motivo per cui l'ESO ha scelto questo sito per la costruzione del VLT, e perchè l'osservatorio gode delle migliori condizioni di osservazione del cielo notturno al mondo.
Julien Girard è un astronomo ESO operante in Cile, che lavora al VLT. Ha caricato questa fotografia sulla pagina Flickr "Le vostre foto" dell'ESO dove tutti possono caricare i loro scatti, di cui migliori vengono poi selezionati come Foto della Settimana o inseriti nella galleria del sito. Nel 2012 come parte dei festeggiamenti per i cinquant'anni di attività, saranno caricati scatti storici riguardanti l'ESO e gli osservatori.
Links
- Annuncio ESO " rover autosterzante testato alle basi ESO del Paranal"
- Comunicato stampa del STFC "sistemi di navigazione rivoluzionari per i prossimi rover marziani"
- Questa foto, con annotazioni, sul profilo Flickr di Julien Girard
- Photostream di Julien Girard
- Il profilo Flickr ESO "le vostre foto"
- Annunci ESO riguardo "le vostre foto"
ESO/J. Girard (djulik.com)
Riguardo l'immagine
| Identificazione: | potw1226a |
| Lingua: | it-ch |
| Tipo: | Fotografico |
| Data di rilascio: | Lunedì 25 Giugno 2012 10:00 |
| Grandezza: | 5184 x 3456 px |
Riguardo all'oggetto
| Nome: | Very Large Telescope |
| Tipo: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory |
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