A close look at Betelgeuse
eso_eso0927b July 29th, 2009
Credit: ESO and P. Kervella
Image of the supergiant star Betelgeuse obtained with the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The use of NACO combined with a so-called “lucky imaging” technique, allowed the astronomers to obtain the sharpest ever image of Betelgeuse, even with Earth’s turbulent, image-distorting atmosphere in the way. The resolution is as fine as 37 milliarcseconds, which is roughly the size of a tennis ball on the International Space Station (ISS), as seen from the ground. The image is based on data obtained in the near-infrared, through different filters. The field of view is about half an arcsecond wide, North is up, East is left.
Provider: European Southern Observatory
Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0927b/
Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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Image Details
Color Mapping
| Telescope | Spectral Band | Wavelength | |
|---|---|---|---|
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.04) | 1.0 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.08 (He I)) | 1.1 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.09 (P_gamma)) | 1.1 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.24) | 1.2 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.26 [Fe II]) | 1.3 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.28 (P_beta)) | 1.3 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.64 [Fe II]) | 1.6 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_1.75) | 1.7 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_2.12 (H2 (1-0) S(1))) | 2.1 µm |
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VLT (NACO) | Infrared (NB_2.17 (Br_gamma)) | 2.2 µm |
- ID
- eso0927b
- Subject Category
- B.3.1.4
- Subject Name
- Betelgeuse
- Credits
- ESO and P. Kervella
- Release Date
- 2009-07-29T00:00:00
- Lightyears
- Redshift
- Reference Url
- https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0927b/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Distance Notes
- Distance in light years from AJ (http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/135/4/1430)
- Facility
- Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
- Instrument
- NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO, NACO
- Color Assignment
- Band
- Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
- Bandpass
- NB_1.04, NB_1.08 (He I), NB_1.09 (P_gamma), NB_1.24, NB_1.26 [Fe II], NB_1.28 (P_beta), NB_1.64 [Fe II], NB_1.75, NB_2.12 (H2 (1-0) S(1)), NB_2.17 (Br_gamma)
- Central Wavelength
- 1040, 1083, 1094, 1237, 1257, 1282, 1644, 1748, 2122, 2166
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- Equinox
- Reference Value
- Reference Dimension
- 1230.0, 1230.0
- Reference Pixel
- Scale
- Rotation
- Coordinate System Projection:
- Quality
- FITS Header
- Notes
- Creator (Curator)
- European Southern Observatory
- URL
- http://www.eso.org/
- Name
- Telephone
- Address
- Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
- City
- Garching bei München
- State/Province
- Postal Code
- D-85748
- Country
- Germany
- Rights
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
- Publisher
- European Southern Observatory
- Publisher ID
- eso
- Resource ID
- eso0927b
- Resource URL
- https://www.eso.org/public/archives/images/original/eso0927b.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2009-07-27T13:45:52+02:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.1
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
