VISTA views the Trifid and reveals hidden variable stars

Eso_eso1504f_1024

eso_eso1504f February 4th, 2015

Credit: ESO/VVV consortium/D. Minniti

This small extract from the VISTA VVV survey of the central parts of the Milky Way shows the famous Trifid Nebula to the right of centre. It appears as faint and ghostly at these infrared wavelengths when compared to the familiar view at visible wavelengths. This transparency has brought its own benefits — many previously hidden background objects can now be seen clearly. Among these are two newly discovered Cepheid variable stars, the first ever spotted on the far side of the galaxy near its central plane.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1504f/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
M 20 Messier 20 Trifid Nebula
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula
Eso_eso1504f_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 18h 2m 2.9s
DEC = -22° 57’ 22.2”
Orientation
North is 129.6° CCW
Field of View
29.0 x 20.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius
Eso_eso1504f_1280
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ID
eso1504f
Subject Category
B.4  
Subject Name
M 20, Messier 20, Trifid Nebula
Credits
ESO/VVV consortium/D. Minniti
Release Date
2015-02-04T12:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1504f/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
270.512198846, -22.9561771981
Reference Dimension
3840.0, 2708.0
Reference Pixel
1920.0, 1354.0
Scale
-0.000125759805035, 0.000125759805035
Rotation
129.5799999999999
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
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
eso1504f
Metadata Date
2015-01-27T13:46:35+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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