Dark energy camera takes hyper-detailed images of nearby dwarf galaxies

[Judi Lynn]

By Kasandra Brabaw - Space.com Contributor 17 hours ago

An international team of astronomers revealed exquisite images of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, taken by a dark energy camera.



New images explore the deepest, widest view we've ever seen of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
(Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/SMASH/D. Nidever/Travis Rector/Mahdi Zamani/Davide de Martin)

New, stunningly detailed images of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds may revolutionize our understanding of the stars making up these two dwarf galaxies.

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are a pair of dwarf galaxies that neighbor our Milky Way. Their proximity means these satellite galaxies allow astronomers to investigate how such galaxies are formed, particularly since the Magellanic Clouds are still actively and rapidly forming stars.

These new images and videos are part of the second data drop from the Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History (SMASH), the most extensive survey of the Magellanic Clouds yet. The data include roughly 4 billion measurements of 360 objects using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.



With a dark energy camera, astronomers now have the best wide-angle view of the Small Magellanic Cloud to date.
(Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/SMASH/D. Nidever/Travis Rector/Mahdi Zamani/Davide de Martin)

"These are beautiful multicolor images of the Milky Way's nearest neighboring galaxies," Glen Langston, National Science Foundation program officer, said in a statement from the NSF. "Through the care the dedicated team has taken, they give us a remarkable view of the 13-billion-year history of star formation in these galaxies."

More:
https://www.livescience.com/magellanic-clouds-photo-dark-energy-camera.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LST_Newsletter&utm_content=LST_Newsletter+&utm_term=3403514

[Tommymac]

1. So cool. Thanks for posting. nt

[alfredo]

2. One of the first sites I visited was APOD, and I'm still visiting it daily

[Marcus Pullarius]

3. How intriguing,

to name the device a dark energy camera. After all, a camera doesn't capture dark. So I went here: https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/the-des-project/instrument/the-camera/ It further elucidates the camera and project and has some cool links.

[burrowowl]

4. Thanks for links!