PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

VISTA stares deeply into the blue lagoon

VISTA stares deeply into the blue lagoon
2011-01-06
(Press-News.org) This new infrared image of the Lagoon Nebula was captured as part of a five-year study of the Milky Way using ESO's VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This is a small piece of a much larger image of the region surrounding the nebula, which is, in turn, only one part of a huge survey.

Astronomers are currently using ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) to scour the Milky Way's central regions for variable objects and map its structure in greater detail than ever before. This huge survey is called VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) [1]. The new infrared image presented here was taken as part of this survey. It shows the stellar nursery called the Lagoon Nebula (also known as Messier 8, see eso0936), which lies about 4000-5000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer).

Infrared observations allow astronomers to peer behind the veil of dust that prevents them from seeing celestial objects in visible light. This is because visible light, which has a wavelength that is about the same size as the dust particles, is strongly scattered, but the longer wavelength infrared light can pass through the dust largely unscathed. VISTA, with its 4.1-metre diameter mirror — the largest survey telescope in the world — is dedicated to surveying large areas of the sky at near-infrared wavelengths deeply and quickly. It is therefore ideally suited to studying star birth.

Stars typically form in large molecular clouds of gas and dust, which collapse under their own weight. The Lagoon Nebula, however, is also home to a number of much more compact regions of collapsing gas and dust, called Bok globules [2]. These dark clouds are so dense that, even in the infrared, they can block the starlight from background stars. But the most famous dark feature in the nebula, for which it is named, is the lagoon-shaped dust lane that winds its way through the glowing cloud of gas.

Hot, young stars, which give off intense ultraviolet light, are responsible for making the nebula glow brightly. But the Lagoon Nebula is also home to much younger stellar infants. Newborn stars have been detected in the nebula that are so young that they are still surrounded by their natal accretion discs. Such new born stars occasionally eject jets of matter from their poles. When this ejected material ploughs into the surrounding gas short-lived bright streaks called Herbig–Haro objects [3] are formed, making the new-borns easy to spot. In the last five years, several Herbig–Haro objects have been detected in the Lagoon Nebula, so the baby boom is clearly still in progress here.



INFORMATION:

Notes

[1] This survey, one of six VISTA surveys currently in progress, will image the central parts of the Milky Way many times over a period of five years and will detect huge numbers of new variable objects.

[2] Bart Bok was a Dutch-American astronomer who spent most of his long career in the United States and Australia. He first noticed the dark spots that now bear his name, in star formation regions and speculated that they may be associated with the earliest stages of star formation. The hidden baby stars were only observed directly when infrared imaging was possible several decades later.

[3] Although not the first to see such objects, the astronomers George Herbig and Guillermo Haro were the first to study the spectra of these strange objects in detail and realise that they were not just clumps of gas and dust that reflected light, or glowed under the influence of the ultraviolet light from young stars, but were a new class of objects associated with star formation.

More information

The science team for VVV includes Dante Minniti (Universidad Catolica, Chile), Phil Lucas (University of Hertfordshire, UK), Ignacio Toledo (Universidad Catolica) and Maren Hempel (Universidad Catolica).

ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and VISTA, the world's largest survey telescope. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 42-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
VISTA stares deeply into the blue lagoon

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

IDSA announces first guidelines for treatment of MRSA infections

2011-01-06
AT A GLANCE The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) released its first-ever guidelines for the treatment of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which will help physicians determine the most appropriate care for infections due to the common bacterium. MRSA is the most common cause of skin infections that send people to the emergency room. Its invasive form kills about18,000 people a year. Treatment of MRSA varies widely. The guidelines will help physicians make good treatment decisions, which may mean not prescribing antibiotics for some ...

Study confirms 2 vaccine doses protect children from chickenpox

2011-01-06
[EMBARGOED FOR JAN. 5, 2011] Two doses of the varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine provide excellent protection in children against this highly contagious and, in some cases, severe disease. To be published in the February 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the findings support the two-dose vaccine regimen recommended in the United States since 2006. (Please see below for a link to the study online.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began recommending a single dose of varicella vaccine in children aged 1 to 13 years old in 1995. Although the ...

Co-management holds promise of sustainable fisheries worldwide

Co-management holds promise of sustainable fisheries worldwide
2011-01-06
Encouraging new evidence suggests that the bulk of the world's fisheries – including small-scale, often non-industrialized fisheries on which millions of people depend for food – could be sustained using community-based co-management. "The majority of the world's fisheries are not – and never will be – managed by strong centralized governments with top-down rules and the means to enforce them," according to Nicolas Gutiérrez, a University of Washington doctoral student in aquatic and fishery sciences who is lead author of a paper that goes online Jan. 5 in the journal ...

Oxygen's challenge to early life

Oxygens challenge to early life
2011-01-06
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The conventional view of the history of the Earth is that the oceans became oxygen-rich to approximately the degree they are today in the Late Ediacaran Period (about 600 million years ago) after staying relatively oxygen-poor for the preceding four billion years. But biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside have found evidence that shows that the ocean went back to being "anoxic" or oxygen-poor around 499 million years ago, soon after the first appearance of animals on the planet, and remained anoxic for 2-4 million years. What's more, ...

This new year, how motivated are you?

2011-01-06
Personal motivation may be the biggest factor in determining the length of time it takes for a patient to return to work following a total knee replacement, according to new research published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS). "Although the physical demands of a patient's job certainly have some influence on their ability to return to work following a primary total knee replacement, the patient's characteristics, particularly motivation, play a more important role," said study author Joseph F. Styron, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University. According ...

Antibiotic resistance is not just genetic

2011-01-06
Genetic resistance to antibiotics is not the only trick bacteria use to resist eradication– they also have a second defence strategy known as persistence that can kick in. Researchers reporting in the Journal of Medical Microbiology have now demonstrated for the first time that interplay occurs between the two mechanisms to aid bacterial survival. The findings could lead to novel, effective approaches to treat multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections. 'Persister' bacterial cells are temporarily hyper-resistant to all antibiotics at once. They are able to survive (normally) ...

Carbon taxes are the answer to the stalled climate negotiations

2011-01-06
London, UK (January 6, 2011) - For global warming policy, the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen Summit) was a major disappointment. Designed to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, the Summit concluded without a binding agreement because of deep divisions on the distribution of emissions reductions and costs. In addition, the United States failed to take action on a carbon cap-and-trade bill in 2010. Confronting this policy vacuum, leading climate economist William Nordhaus argues in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, ...

Catfish study reveals multiplicity of species

2011-01-06
Peer into any stream in a South American rainforest and you may well see a small shoal of similar-looking miniature catfish. But don't be fooled into thinking that they are all the same species. An extensive investigation of South American Corydoras catfish, (reported in Nature 6.1.11), reveals that catfish communities- although containing almost identically coloured and patterned fish, could actually contain three or more different species. Establishing for the first time that many species are mimetic; that is, they evolve to share the same colour patterns for mutual ...

New findings show vitamin D accelerates recovery from TB

2011-01-06
'High-dose vitamin D3 during intensive treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis: a double-blind randomised control trial' is published in The Lancet on 6 January 2011. Dr Adrian Martineau is available for interview, to arrange please contact: Alex Fernandes Communications Office Queen Mary, University of London Tel: 020 7882 7910 Mobile: 07528 711332 a.fernandes@qmul.ac.uk END ...

Extreme obesity associated with higher risk of death for 2009 H1N1 patients

2011-01-06
[EMBARGOED FOR JAN. 5, 2011] For those infected with the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus, extreme obesity was a powerful risk factor for death, according to an analysis of a public health surveillance database. In a study to be published in the February 1, 2011, issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers associated extreme obesity with a nearly three-fold increased odds of death from 2009 H1N1 influenza. Half of Californians greater than 20 years of age hospitalized with 2009 H1N1 were obese. (Please see below for a link to the study online.) Data from ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Sensitive ceramics for soft robotics

Trends in hospitalizations and liver transplants associated with alcohol-induced liver disease

Spinal cord stimulation vs medical management for chronic back and leg pain

Engineered receptors help the immune system home in on cancer

How conflicting memories of sex and starvation compete to drive behavior

Scientists discover ‘entirely unanticipated’ role of protein netrin1 in spinal cord development

Novel SOURCE study examining development of early COPD in ages 30 to 55

NRL completes development of robotics capable of servicing satellites, enabling resilience for the U.S. space infrastructure

Clinical trial shows positive results for potential treatment to combat a challenging rare disease

New research shows relationship between heart shape and risk of cardiovascular disease

Increase in crisis coverage, but not the number of crisis news events

New study provides first evidence of African children with severe malaria experiencing partial resistance to world’s most powerful malaria drug

Texting abbreviations makes senders seem insincere, study finds

Living microbes discovered in Earth’s driest desert

Artemisinin partial resistance in Ugandan children with complicated malaria

When is a hole not a hole? Researchers investigate the mystery of 'latent pores'

ETRI, demonstration of 8-photon qubit chip for quantum computation

Remote telemedicine tool found highly accurate in diagnosing melanoma

New roles in infectious process for molecule that inhibits flu

Transforming anion exchange membranes in water electrolysis for green hydrogen production

AI method can spot potential disease faster, better than humans

A development by Graz University of Technology makes concreting more reliable, safer and more economical

Pinpointing hydrogen isotopes in titanium hydride nanofilms

Political abuse on X is a global, widespread, and cross-partisan phenomenon, suggests new study

Reintroduction of resistant frogs facilitates landscape-scale recovery in the presence of a lethal fungal disease

Scientists compile library for evaluating exoplanet water

Updated first aid guidelines enhance care for opioid overdose, bleeding, other emergencies

Revolutionizing biology education: Scientists film ‘giant’ mimivirus in action

Genetic variation enhances cancer drug sensitivity

Protective genetic mutation offers new hope for understanding autism and brain development

[Press-News.org] VISTA stares deeply into the blue lagoon