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This is the ESOcast!

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Cutting-edge science and life behind the scenes of ESO, the European Southern Observatory. 

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Exploring the Universe’s ultimate frontier with our host Dr J, a.k.a. Dr Joe Liske.

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Orion the Hunter is one of the most striking constellations in the sky 

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and is a familiar sight to amateur and professional astronomers alike. 

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The Orion Nebula is faintly visible to the naked eye as a dim glow in the hunter’s sword. 

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This swirling cloud of gas and dust is 1500 light-years from Earth,

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and has fascinated astronomers since the earliest days of the telescope. 

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Appearing to the eye as a small cluster of blue-white stars surrounded by a mysterious mist, 

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the nebula’s vast dusty regions have long hidden from human eyes an enormous stellar nursery full of young, hot stars. 

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The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, or VISTA, 

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has taken a spectacular new image that reveals some of the nebula’s buried secrets.

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VISTA is the latest addition to ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, 

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and it’s the largest survey telescope in the world, with a mirror measuring 4.1 metres in diameter. 

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It’s dedicated to mapping the sky in the infrared part of the spectrum.

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By looking in the infrared instead of visible light, 

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VISTA is able to peer straight through the obscuring gas and dust in the Orion Nebula. 

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That's because in the infrared, at about twice the wavelength of visible light, 

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the dust in the nebula turns largely transparent, giving us a clear view of the young stars that lie within.

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No other telescope has ever been able to not only see through the dust 

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to reveal the hidden features buried within the Orion Nebula,

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but also to show its huge extent in amazing detail in a single image.

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At the very heart of the nebula lie the four brilliant stars forming the Trapezium,

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a group of very hot young stars pumping out fierce ultraviolet radiation

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that is clearing the surrounding region and making the gas glow.

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Observing in the infrared also allows VISTA to reveal many other young stars 

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in this central region that cannot be seen in visible light.

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In this dusty region of the nebula, gas jets shot out by young stars at around 700 000 kilometres an hour, 

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have collided with the surrounding gas and dust, exciting it and sculpting strange red shapes.

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Normally invisible, these curious wisps provide important clues for astronomers 

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as they try to understand how stars are born and what happens in their early years.

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As impressive as this image is, it is just the beginning of what VISTA will reveal

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with its unparalleled ability to survey the sky both quickly and deeply in the infrared part of the spectrum. 

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This is Dr J signing off for the ESOcast. 

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Join me again next time for another cosmic adventure.

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ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. www.eso.org

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ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy

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designing, constructing and operating the world's most advanced ground-based telescopes.

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Transcription by ESO ; translation by —