{"id":4376,"date":"2024-09-26T09:01:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T12:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/?p=4376"},"modified":"2024-09-26T10:31:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T13:31:15","slug":"el-mapa-infrarrojo-mas-grande-de-nuestra-galaxia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/2024\/09\/26\/el-mapa-infrarrojo-mas-grande-de-nuestra-galaxia\/","title":{"rendered":"The largest infrared map of our Galaxy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Milky Way is nothing more than a mass of innumerable stars\u201d, said Galileo Galilei when he observed our Galaxy for the first time with his telescope. <\/span><\/p>\n

Four hundred years later, the largest infrared map of the Milky Way was completed after more than 13 years of observation of our Galaxy by the VISTA Variables in the Milky Way (VVV) project and its companion project VVV eXtended (VVVX). This monumental effort has left an invaluable legacy for the astronomical community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, a paper was released that presents a map combining the positions, distances, and proper motions of different types of stars. This work, published in the prestigious European journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is led by Professor Roberto Saito, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Florian\u00f3polis, Brazil, and co-authored by 146 people from 15 different countries on four continents. From the Instituto de Astronom\u00eda Te\u00f3rica y Experimental (IATE), Laura Baravalle, Mar\u00eda Victoria Alonso, Juan Cabral, Ingrid Vanessa Daza Perilla, Sebasti\u00e1n Gurovich, Marcelo Lares, Celeste Parisi, Luis Pereyra, Eduardo Schmidt, Mario Agust\u00edn Sgr\u00f3, Carlos Valotto and Carolina Villalon are participating.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Image of a small region of the VVVX survey, showing the immense number of stars in our Galaxy, as well as the Circinus galaxy. Credit: D. Minniti.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The VVV and VVVX megaprojects were led by Dante Minniti, a graduate of UNC, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences and currently a professor at the Universidad Andr\u00e9s Bello (UNAB) and principal investigator at the Centre for Astrophysics and Related Technologies (CATA), together with Professor Philip Lucas of the University of Hertfordshire (UH) in the United Kingdom. At its inception, this was the largest observational project in terms of data volume at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Observations began in 2010 and ended in the first half of 2023. During 420 observing nights, around 200,000 images were acquired, and more than 1.5 billion objects were monitored, generating some 500 TB of scientific data.<\/span><\/p>\n

This survey produced countless applications for the astronomical community interested in studies of galactic structure:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • C\u00famulos globulares, los objetos m\u00e1s antiguos de nuestra Galaxia;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Estrellas hiperveloces, donde el agujero negro supermasivo central las expulsa de la galaxia;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Ventanas que nos permiten ver el otro lado de la galaxia a trav\u00e9s de todo el polvo y el gas interestelar;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Estrellas variables RR Lyrae en el centro de la Galaxia, la poblaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s antigua conocida;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Estrellas enanas marrones y planetas flotantes binarios, los objetos menos luminosos conocidos que no est\u00e1n asociados con ninguna estrella;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Objetos variables desconocidos que llamamos WIT, acr\u00f3nimo de \u201cWhat Is This?” (\u00bfQu\u00e9 es esto?);<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Miles de galaxias distantes, vistas a trav\u00e9s del disco y del bulge de la V\u00eda L\u00e1ctea;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Objetos estelares reci\u00e9n nacidos, que son violentamente variables;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Eventos de microlentes gravitacionales en el coraz\u00f3n de la V\u00eda L\u00e1ctea;<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Estrellas variables Cefeidas muy distantes, incluso en las ant\u00edpodas de nuestra galaxia.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The discoveries have resulted in over 300 scientific publications and 30 PhD theses, with 4 of them being conducted at IATE. Imaging, data analysis, and scientific exploration will persist for many years. This work will leave a lasting legacy for the astronomical community, which will continue to utilize this data in various projects. Many of these studies will be enhanced for better understanding with future observations using NASA's Nancy Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in late 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"\"
    Image from the VVVx survey, showing clouds of gas and dust enveloping young stars in our Galaxy. Credit: D. Minniti.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

     <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    “La V\u00eda L\u00e1ctea no es m\u00e1s que una masa de innumerables estrellas” dijo Galileo Galilei cuando observ\u00f3 nuestra Galaxia por primera vez con su telescopio. Cuatrocientos a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, se complet\u00f3 el mapa infrarrojo m\u00e1s grande de la V\u00eda L\u00e1ctea, despu\u00e9s de m\u00e1s de 13 a\u00f1os de observaci\u00f3n de nuestra Galaxia…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comunicacion-de-la-ciencia","category-novedades"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iate.oac.uncor.edu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}