NOIRLab – आवारा मुसाफिर

Dark Sky Protection: We are losing the universe

March 14, 2023685 Views

From city lights to satellite constellations, the heritage of the night sky is quickly slipping away Why is the dark night important, and what can we do to protect it? If you happen to live in a large city or major metropolitan area, you certainly have the opportunity to enjoy a vibrant nightlife. What you won’t be able to enjoy, however, is a vibrant night sky. Travel to a more rural area, however, and a summertime evening stroll would likely showcase hundreds of stars and clearly delineated constellations. Aside from those lucky enough to visit National Parks, that is about as good as it gets for most of the people in the United States; a pleasant view of the stars and brightest planets, but nothing that stops you in your tracks. And, believe it or not, the night sky can indeed st...

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Potential First Traces of the Universe’s Earliest Stars

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 2, 2022189 Views

Gemini observation of distant quasar uncovers evidence of first-generation star that died in ‘super-supernova’ explosion The very first stars likely formed when the Universe was only 100 million years old, less than one percent its current age. These first stars — known as Population III — were so titanically massive that when they ended their lives as supernovae they tore themselves apart, seeding interstellar space with a distinctive blend of heavy elements. Despite decades of diligent searching by astronomers, however, there has been no direct evidence of these primordial stars, until now. By analyzing one of the most distant known quasars using the Gemini North telescope, one of the two identical telescopes that make up the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s N...

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Dark Energy Camera captures bright, young stars blazing inside glowing Nebula

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

September 13, 2022444 Views

To celebrate 10 years of discovery, the DOE-built DECam unveils thousands of stars shining in and around the Lobster Nebula The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, is celebrating 10 years as one of the highest-performance, wide-field CCD imagers in the world. To help commemorate DECam’s first decade of operation, NOIRLab has released a breathtaking image of the star-forming Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357), which is located about 8000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Scorpius. This image reveals bright, young stars surrounded by billowing clouds of dust and gas. At the center of the nebula, which spans about 400 light-years, resides the ...

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Spanish Dancer Galaxy twirls into view

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 27, 2022993 Views

NSF’s NOIRLab in Chile captures stunning image through Dark Energy Camera Located in the constellation Dorado and lying around 70 million light-years away, NGC 1566 is a grand-design spiral galaxy with two arms that appear to wind around the galactic core, just like the arms of a dancer as they spin around and around in a furious twirl. This image was taken from Chile at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, using the Dark Energy Camera. The galaxy's face-on view to us, its location, and its composition make it a trove of observational opportunities for astronomers across many fields of astronomy. This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerr...