Chaotic Astronomy

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ESOcast 4: 24 hours in the life of an ESO astronomer.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be an astronomer? In this fourth episode of the ESOcast, Dr. J takes us behind the scenes at ESOs Very Large Telescope in Chile to show us what a day in the life of an ESO staff astronomer is like.

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The countdown for an exciting night with an observation run at the world’s most advanced optical telescope, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), has begun …

In this ESOcast episode, were going to follow a day in the life of Dieter Nürnberger. Dieter is a staff astronomer at ESO. His job is to support those scientists that have managed to get observing time on ESOs Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Dieter spends most of his working days helping the successful few to make ground-breaking discoveries.

Dieter Nürnberger is on his way to meet the visiting scientists to team up for the night to come. The three have been observing together for several nights, today is their final evening and they are keen to get started. Over dinner they discuss plans for the night ahead.

Well before sunset they leave the Residencia and drive up the desert road to the building housing the VLT control room. At the control building they prepare the observations and check the set up of the telescope. Observing time on these great telescopes is precious and delays must be avoided at all costs.

Like a pilot checking his plane before departure, Dieter goes through a detailed check of his instrument, while the telescope operator does the same for the giant telescope. The astronomers have travelled far for a glorious view of the Universe, and here a glorious view of the sunset is included for free! As usual at Paranal, the conditions are perfect and Dieter and the visiting astronomers return with high expectations.

Read more: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/ESOCAST4/ESOCAST4.pdf

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ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in Astronomy designing, constructing and operating the worlds most advanced ground-based Telescopes.

• http://www.eso.org/
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Duration : 0:6:0

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Technorati Tags: 04, 24, an, Astronomer, astronomers, Astronomy, chile, discoveries, ESO, ESOcast, european, hours, in, Large, life, Observatory, Of, Paranal, Scientists, southern, telescope, The, universe, Very, VLT

Hubblecast 22: Hubble Space Telescope Directly Observes Exoplanet Orbiting Fomalhaut.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered an extrasolar planet, for the first time using direct visible-light imaging. The strange world is far-flung from its parent star, is surrounded by a colossal belt of gas and dust, and may even have rings more impressive than Saturn’s.

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Credit:
- ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
- Visual design & Editing: Martin Kornmesser
- Animations: Martin Kornmesser & Luis Calçada
- Web Hosting: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ)
- Web Technical Support: Lars Holm Nielsen & Raquel Yumi Shida
- Written by: Lee Pullen & Lars Lindberg Christensen
- Host: Dr. J
- Narration: Bob Fosbury
- Cinematography: Peter Rixner
- Music: movetwo
- Footage and photos: A. Fujii, Digitized Sky Survey 2, NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley). Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)
- Directed by: Lars Lindberg Christensen

Dr. J is a German astronomer at the ESO. His scientific interests are in cosmology, particularly on galaxy evolution and quasars. Dr. J’s real name is Joe Liske and he has a PhD in Astronomy.

Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
Garching/Munich, Germany
• http://www.eso.org
• http://www.spacetelescope.org
• http://hubblesite.org
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Duration : 0:5:2

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ESOcast 12: VISTA – A Pioneering New Survey Telescope Starts Work.

VISTA (the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a new telescope that has just started work at ESOs Paranal Observatory in Chile and has made its first release of pictures.

VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths and is the worlds largest survey telescope. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky.

Spectacular pictures of the Flame Nebula, the Centre of the Milky Way and the Fornax Galaxy Cluster show that it is working very well.

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VISTA is the latest telescope to be added to ESOs Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed on the peak adjacent to the one hosting the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and shares the same exceptional observing conditions.

VISTA’s main mirror is 4.1 metres across and is the most highly curved mirror of this size and quality ever made — its deviations from a perfect surface are less than a few thousandths of the thickness of a human hair — and its construction and polishing presented formidable challenges.

VISTA was conceived and developed by a consortium of 18 universities in the United Kingdom led by Queen Mary, University of London and became an in-kind contribution to ESO as part of the UK’s accession agreement. The telescope design and construction were project-managed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (STFC, UK ATC).

Provisional acceptance of VISTA was formally granted by ESO at a ceremony at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, Germany, attended by representatives of Queen Mary, University of London and STFC, on 10 December 2009 and the telescope will now be operated by ESO.

Read more: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2009/pr-49-09.html

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ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in Astronomy designing, constructing and operating the worlds most advanced ground-based Telescopes.

• http://www.eso.org/
.

Duration : 0:6:26

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Technorati Tags: Astronomy, atacama, chile, clusters, ESA, ESO, ESOcast, galaxies, herschel, hubble, infrared, Large, milky, most, NASA, Observatory, Paranal, pioneering, powerful, space, Spitzer, stars, survey, telescope, Telescopes, universe, Very, VISTA, VLT, way, world's

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is made up of four separate optical Telescopes (the Antu telescope, the Kueyen telescope, the Melipal telescope, and the Yepun telescope) organized in an array formation, built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635 m high mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. Each telescope has an 8.2 m aperture. The array is complemented by four movable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) of 1.8 m aperture. Working together in so-called interferometric mode, the telescopes can achieve an angular resolution of around 1 milliarcsecond, equivalent to the gap between the headlights of a car as observed from the same distance as between the Earth to the Moon.

Duration : 0:5:14

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Technorati Tags: Large, telescope, Very, VLT