Astronomers working on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Visible and Infra-Red Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) have today published the biggest ever dataset of infra-red images of the Milky Way.
Importantly, capturing images using infra-red light means being able to detect objects that are much colder than stars. These include free-floating objects (not in orbit around a star) and brown dwarfs, which are former or “failed” stars where there is no nuclear fusion.
Another advantage of infra-red light is its ability to penetrate dust clouds that scatter visible light, allowing the VISTA project to include areas of the galaxy that were previously veiled. As a result, the new dataset contains about ten times as many objects as were listed in the previous survey, published in 2012.
The extent of the new survey, which encompasses data from the VVV and VVX surveys, is conveyed in the image below, where each small square is one component of the complete area that has been captured.
Full details of the ESO announcment are available at https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2413/ and in the research paper “VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey: Completion of the observations and legacy” published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450584).
Finally, it is worth noting that research in modern astronomy is very much a team effort and computational in nature. This contrasts sharply with historic portrayals of Galileo and Newton peering through their telescopes into the night sky. To give full credit where it is due, the complete list of team members who have contributed to the latest research is given below;
R. K. Saito (Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil [UFSC]), M. Hempel (Instituto de Astrofísica, Dep. de Ciencias Físicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Providencia, Chile [ASTROUNAB] and Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany), J. Alonso-García (Centro de Astronomía, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile [CITEVA] and Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Providencia, Chile [MAS]), P. W. Lucas (Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom [CAR]), D. Minniti (ASTROUNAB; Vatican Observatory, Vatican City, Vatican City State [VO] and UFSC), S. Alonso (Departamento de Geofísica y Astronomía, CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Rivadavia, Argentina [UNSJ-CONICET]), L. Baravalle (Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental, Córdoba, Argentina [IATE-CONICET]; Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina [OAC]), J. Borissova (Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile [IFA-UV] and MAS), C. Caceres (ASTROUNAB), A. N. Chené (Gemini Observatory, Northern Operations Center, Hilo, USA), N. J. G. Cross (Wide-Field Astronomy Unit, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), F. Duplancic (UNSJ-CONICET), E. R. Garro (European Southern Observatory, Vitacura, Chile [ESO Chile]), M. Gómez (ASTROUNAB), V. D. Ivanov (European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München [ESO Germany]), R. Kurtev (IFA-UV and MAS), A. Luna (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy [INAF- OACN]), D. Majaess (Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada), M. G. Navarro (INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Italy [INAF-OAR]), J. B. Pullen (ASTROUNAB), M. Rejkuba (ESO Germany), J. L. Sanders (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London, United Kingdom), L. C. Smith (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom), P. H. C. Albino (UFSC), M. V. Alonso (IATE-CONICET and OAC), E. B. Amôres (Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil), E. B. R. Angeloni (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab, La Serena, Chile [NOIRLab]), J. I. Arias (Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile [ULS]), M. Arnaboldi (ESO Germany), B. Barbuy (Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), A. Bayo (ESO Germany), J. C. Beamin (ASTROUNAB and Fundación Chilena de Astronomía, Santiago, Chile), L. R. Bedin (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Padova, Italy [INAF-OAPd]), A. Bellini (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, USA [STScI]), R. A. Benjamin (Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, USA), E. Bica (Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Física, Porto Alegre, Brazil [IF – UFRGS]), C. J. Bonatto (IF – UFRGS), E. Botan (Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Humanas e Sociais, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Sinop, Brazil), V. F. Braga (INAF-OAR), D. A. Brown (Vatican Observatory, Tucson, USA), J. B. Cabral (IATE-CONICET and Gerencia De Vinculación Tecnológica, Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, Córdoba, Argentina), D. Camargo (Colégio Militar de Porto Alegre, Ministério da Defesa, Exército Brasileiro, Brazil), A. Caratti o Garatti (INAF- OACN), J. A. Carballo-Bello (Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile [IAI-UTA]), M.Catelan (Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile [Instituto de Astrofísica UC]; MAS and Centro de Astro-Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile [AIUC]), C. Chavero (OAC and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científica y Técnicas, Ciudad Autónoma de buenos Aires, Argentina [CONICET]), M. A. Chijani (ASTROUNAB), J. J. Clariá (OAC and CONICET), G. V. Coldwell (UNSJ-CONICET), C. Contreras Peña (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea and Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea), C. R. Contreras Ramos (Instituto de Astrofísica UC and MAS), J. M. Corral-Santana (ESO Chile), C. C. Cortés (Departamento de Tecnologías Industriales, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de Talca, Curicó, Chile), M. Cortés-Contreras (Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica & Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos de la UCM, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain), P. Cruz (Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, Madrid, Spain [CAB]), I. V. Daza-Perilla (CONICET; IATE-CONICET and Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía, Física y Computación, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina), V. P. Debattista (University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom), B. Dias (ASTROUNAB), L. Donoso (Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio, San Juan, Argentina), R. D’Souza (VO), J. P. Emerson (Astronomy Unit, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom), S. Federle (ESO Chile and ASTROUNAB), V. Fermiano (UFSC), J. Fernandez (UNSJ-CONICET), J. G. Fernández-Trincado (Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile [IA-UCN]), T. Ferreira (Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, USA), C. E. Ferreira Lopes (Instituto de Astronomía y Ciencias Planetarias, Universidad de Atacama, Copiapó, Chile [INCT] and MAS), V. Firpo (NOIRLab), C. Flores-Quintana (ASTROUNAB and MAS), L. Fraga (Laboratorio Nacional de Astrofísica, Itajubá, Brazil), D.Froebrich (Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom), D. Galdeano (UNSJ-CONICET), I. Gavignaud (ASTROUNAB), D. Geisler (Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Concepción, Chile [UdeC]; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigación y Postgrado, Universidad de La Serena, Chile [IMIP-ULS] and ULS), O. E.Gerhard (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany [MPE]), W. Gieren (UdeC), O. A. Gonzalez (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), L. V. Gramajo (OAC and CONICET), F. Gran (Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Nice, France [Lagrange]), P. M. Granitto (Centro Internacional Franco Argentino de Ciencias de la Información y de Sistemas, Rosario, Argentina), M. Griggio (INAF-OAPd; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy and STScI), Z. Guo (IFA-UV and MAS), S. Gurovich (IATE-CONICET and Western Sydney University, Kingswood, Australia), M. Hilker (ESO Germany), H. R. A. Jones (CAR), R. Kammers (UFSC), M. A. Kuhn (CAR), M. S. N. Kumar (Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal), R. Kundu (Miranda House, University of Delhi, India and Inter University centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India), M. Lares (IATE-CONICET), M. Libralato (INAF-OAPd), E. Lima (Universidade Federal do Pampa, Uruguaiana, Brazil), T. J. Maccarone (Department of Physics & Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA), P. Marchant Cortés (ULS), E. L. Martin (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Spain), N. Masetti (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy and ASTROUNAB), N. Matsunaga (Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan), F. Mauro (IA-UCN), I. McDonald (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, The University of Manchester, UK [JBCA]), A. Mejías (Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile, Las Condes, Chile), V. Mesa (IMIP-ULS; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Chile, Grupo de Astrofísica Extragaláctica-IANIGLA; CONICET, and Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina), F. P. Milla-Castro (ULS), J. H. Minniti (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA), C. Moni Bidin (IA-UCN), K. Montenegro (Clínica Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile), C. Morris (CAR), V. Motta (OAC), F. Navarete (SOAR Telescope/NSF’s NOIRLab, La Serena, Chile), C. Navarro Molina (Centro de Docencia Superior en Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile), F. Nikzat (Instituto de Astrofísica UC and MAS), J. L. NiloCastellón (IMIP-ULS and ULS), C. Obasi (IA-UCN and Centre for Basic Space Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria), M. Ortigoza-Urdaneta (Departamento de Matemática, Universidad de Atacama, Copiapó, Chile), T. Palma (OAC), C. Parisi (OAC and IATE-CONICET), K. Pena Ramírez (NSF NOIRLab/Vera C. Rubin Observatory, La Serena, Chile), L. Pereyra (IATE-CONICET), N. Perez (UNSJ-CONICET), I. Petralia (ASTROUNAB), A. Pichel (Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina [IAFE-CONICET]), G. Pignata (IAI-UTA), S. Ramírez Alegría (CITEVA), A. F. Rojas (Instituto de Astrofísica UC, Instituto de Estudios Astrofísicos, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile and CITEVA), D. Rojas (ASTROUNAB), A. Roman-Lopes (ULS), A. C. Rovero (IAFE-CONICET), S. Saroon (ASTROUNAB), E. O. Schmidt (OAC and IATE-CONICET), A. C. Schröder (MPE), M. Schultheis (Lagrange), M. A. Sgró (OAC), E. Solano (CAB), M. Soto (INCT), B. Stecklum (Thüringer Landessternwarte, Tautenburg, Germany), D. Steeghs (Department of Physics, University of Warwick, UK), M. Tamura (Department of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo; Astrobiology Center, Tokyo, Japan, and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan), P. Tissera (Instituto de Astrofísica UC and AIUC), A. A. R. Valcarce (Departamento de Física, Universidad de Tarapacá, Chile), C. A. Valotto (IATE-CONICET and OAC), S. Vasquez (Museo Interactivo de la Astronomía, La Granja, Chile), C. Villalon (IATE-CONICET and OAC), S. Villanova (UdeC), F. Vivanco Cádiz (ASTROUNAB), R. Zelada Bacigalupo (North Optics, La Serena, Chile), A. Zijlstra (JBCA and School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia), and M. Zoccali (Instituto de Astrofísica UC and MAS).
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