Noticias y novedades sobre astronomía escritas por el periodista especializado Hernán Julio
Los astrónomos que utilizan el Telescopio Espacial Hubble de la NASA han rastreado la ubicación de cinco breves y potentes explosiones de radio hasta los brazos espirales de cinco galaxias…
This image is so beautiful that it could almost be a painting, but it is real. It has been produced using observations made at the SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), which is a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. It features a reflection nebula known as NGC 2626, which lies 3300 light-years from Earth. Reflection nebulae are not luminous themselves, but they reflect light from a nearby star or stars. The light scatters off the dust particles in the nebulae, which often results in reflection nebulae having a blue tint, because blue light scatters more efficiently. This is the same phenomenon that makes the sky on Earth appear blue — the laws of physics are the same throughout our Universe! The red nebulosities are glowing hydrogen gas.
Esta imagen es tan bella que casi podría tratarse de una pintura, pero es real. Se generó a partir de las observaciones del Telescopio SMARTS de 0,9 metros en Cerro Tololo (CTIO),…
If you look closely at the faint and fuzzy centre of this picture, you will find a ghostly galaxy — the not-so-spooky-sounding UDG4 — captured using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). UDG stands for ultra-diffuse galaxy: objects as large as the Milky Way but with 100 – 1000 times fewer stars. These galaxies are extremely faint and lack star-forming gas, which makes them appear almost like a fluffy cosmic cloud, or a smudge in space. Their origins remain uncertain, but astronomers speculate that they could be “failed” galaxies that lost their gas supply early in their lifetimes. This image of UDG4 was taken as part of a study from a much larger program, the VST Early-type Galaxy Survey (VEGAS), which aims to investigate very faint structures in galaxy clusters — large groups of many galaxies bound together by gravity. The study, led by Enrichetta Iodice from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica in Italy, has found several UDGs in the Hydra Cluster, but more observations are needed to elucidate their true nature. Given their flimsy appearance, UDGs can be difficult to spot. Nevertheless, the VST, equipped with its OmegaCAM camera, provides exquisite sensitivity to light, allowing astronomers to study such elusive objects.
Si miran de cerca el débil y difuso centro de esta imagen, verán una galaxia fantasmal —su nombre real no suena tan espeluznante: UDG4— captada con el VST (VLT Survey…
This image shows the location of the red supergiant star Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter). Betelgeuse can be seen quite easily without the need for a telescope as the right shoulder of Orion, as highlighted in this diagram.
Cuando Betelgeuse, una brillante estrella anaranjada situada en la constelación de Orión, se volvió visiblemente más oscura a finales de 2019 y principios de 2020, la comunidad astronómica se quedó…
La carrera espacial está tan apasionante que ya parece más la concreción de nuestros sueños infantiles, especialmente para quienes crecimos admirando las primeras proezas en este campo hace más de…
El 1 de Junio, el rover Perseverance de la NASA en Marte inició la fase científica de su misión abandonando el lugar de aterrizaje "Octavia E. Butler". Hasta hace poco,…
Crédito: NASA En una erupción dramática de múltiples etapas, el Sol ha revelado nuevas pistas que podrían ayudar a los científicos a resolver el antiguo misterio de las causas…
Se han recibido en la Tierra las dos primeras imágenes del sobrevuelo que la sonda espacial Juno de la NASA realizó a Ganímedes, la luna gigante de Júpiter, el 7…
This ESO Picture of the Week features a galaxy named both NGC 4254 and Messier 99, a beautiful cosmic spectacle located in the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). Messier 99 is special, owing to its classification as a grand design spiral galaxy: a kind of galactic architecture featuring strong, prominent, well-defined arms that wrap clearly around the galaxy’s centre. Only around 10 percent of all spirals are of the grand design variety, making objects like Messier 99 somewhat uncommon. The justification behind Messier 99’s categorisation is clear in this image; bright, swirling arms carve through the dark surrounding space, and are easily identifiable as a number of different, coherent structures. This image was created as part of the ESO Cosmic Gems programme, an outreach initiative to produce images of interesting, intriguing or visually attractive objects using ESO telescopes, for the purposes of education and public outreach. The programme makes use of telescope time that cannot be used for science observations. All data collected may also be suitable for scientific purposes, and are made available to astronomers through ESO’s science archive.
En esta Imagen de la semana de ESO vemos una galaxia llamada tanto NGC 4254 como Messier 99, un hermoso espectáculo cósmico ubicado en la constelación de Coma Berenices (Cabello de Berenice). Messier…
A partial solar eclipse is seen as the sun rises behind the Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse, Thursday, June 10, 2021, at Lewes Beach in Delaware. The annular or “ring of fire” solar eclipse is only visible to some parts of Greenland, Northern Russia, and Canada. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
El pasado jueves 10 de junio de 2021, muchos habitantes del hemisferio norte tuvieron la oportunidad de experimentar un eclipse de Sol anular o parcial. Un eclipse solar ocurre cuando…
