Los compañeros helados de APEX
El telescopio APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) — que podemos ver en esta impactante imagen tomada por el Fotógrafo embajador de ESOBabak Tafreshi — es una de las herramientas utilizadas por ESO para penetrar más allá del reino de la luz visible. Se encuentra en el Llano de Chajnantor, a una altitud de 5.000 metros.
Al fondo de la imagen pueden verse grupos de penitentes blancos. Los penitentes son curiosos fenómenos naturales que se dan en regiones de gran altitud, normalmente a más de 4.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Son finos picos de nieve o hielo endurecidos, con una especie de hojas que apuntan al Sol, y que pueden medir desde unos pocos centímetros hasta varios metros.
APEX es un telescopio de 12 metros de diámetro que observa la luz en longitudes de onda milimétricas y submilimétricas. Los astrónomos que observan con APEX pueden ver fenómenos que serían invisibles en longitudes de onda más cortas. Este telescopio les permite estudiar nubes moleculares — las densas regiones de gas y polvo cósmico en las que nacen nuevas estrellas — que son oscurecidas por el polvo en los rangos visible o infrarrojo, pero que brillan en estas longitudes de onda relativamente más largas. Los astrónomos utilizan esta luz para estudiar las condiciones químicas y físicas que se dan en las nubes. Este rango de la luz también es ideal para estudiar algunas de las galaxias más tempranas y distantes del universo.
Arriba y a la izquierda, sobre APEX, el cielo nocturno nos regala, respectivamente, las débiles manchas de la Pequeña y la Gran Nube de Magallanes, galaxias vecinas de nuestra propia galaxia, la Vía Láctea. De hecho puede verse el propio plano de la Vía Láctea como una banda difusa atravesando el cielo, más prominente en la zona que se encuentra encima del edificio de control de APEX, a la derecha. Los espacios oscuros, parecidos a parches, que hay en la banda, son regiones en las que la luz de las estrellas distantes ha sido bloqueada por el polvo interestelar. Escondidas tras esos senderos oscuros de polvo, se encuentra el centro de la Vía Láctea, a una distancia de unos 27.000 años luz. Telescopios como APEX son herramientas cruciales para los astrónomos observar a través del polvo y estudiar en detalle el centro de nuestra galaxia.
APEX es una colaboración entre el Instituto Max Planck de Radio Astronomía (MPIfR), el Observatorio Espacial de Onsala (OSO) y ESO. Las operaciones de APEX en Chajnantor han sido encomendadas a ESO.
Enlaces
Crédito:ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw1247a |
| Idioma: | es-cl |
| Tipo: | Fotográfico |
| Fecha de publicación: | 19 de Noviembre de 2012 a las 10:00 |
| Tamaño: | 6124 x 4096 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | Atacama Pathfinder Experiment |
| Tipo: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory |
Formatos de imagen
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