“These unique capabilities of VIRCAM are powered by the large aperture of the VISTA,” explains Oscar. VIRCAM also helps us to see some of the most distant astronomical objects, such as quasars and galaxies from when our Universe was very young, as the wavelength of the light from these objects has been stretched into the infrared by the expansion of the Universe during the light’s long journey to us. Cold sources, such as brown dwarfs (“failed” stars that are too small to sustain nuclear fusion), are extremely faint in the visible wavelengths, but brighter in the infrared, which allows them to be detected by VIRCAM. This is why we can observe other dusty places using the 3-tonne heavy VIRCAM, such as the areas where stars are born and the central regions of other galaxies similar to our own.ĭifferent objects in the Universe can also have a variety of temperatures. This dark patch is in the middle of the Milky Way and is also the place with the highest density of stars! However, our eyes are not able to see those stars due to the large amount of dust located between them and us.” To overcome this, VIRCAM and VISTA work together to search for the infrared light from those stars - light that is able to overcome this dust barrier to reach us. “If you follow the majestic blanket of stars that traces the Milky Way, a large dark patch in the middle of it will immediately catch your eyes. “Have you ever had the chance to take a detailed look at a starry night?” asks Oscar. To avoid swamping the faint infrared radiation coming from space, the camera has to be cooled to -200 degrees Celsius and is sealed with the largest infrared-transparent window ever made. As a result huge amounts of data are generated each night: 315 GB on average, which is equivalent to 13 high definition Blu-ray discs! VIRCAM not only does this very well, but it does so in the infrared. By utilising 16 special detectors equating to some 67 million pixels, VISTA has embarked on six complementary surveys covering many aspects of astronomy from our own galaxy, the Milky Way, to its satellites - the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds - all the way out to deep extragalactic space. “Together, VIRCAM and VISTA are able to cover an area nearly eight times the size of the moon,” says Oscar González, instrument specialist. VISTA is a survey telescope, which means that its main purpose is to map large areas of the sky and to do so quickly. This telescope certainly lives up to its name - what a view VISTA gives us of the Universe! Located on its own peak, and offering a stunning panorama that includes the Very Large Telescope (VLT) platform, VIRCAM and VISTA are the vision of a consortium of 18 UK universities, and is watched over by Boris Haeussler and Juan Carlos Muñoz at ESO-Chile. The 4.1-metre Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy ( VISTA) opens up a unique window into our galactic surroundings with help from the VISTA InfraRed CAMera (VIRCAM) as it surveys the night sky.
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