A gigantic coal sack

noviembre 29, 2018

A gigantic coal sack https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmomiiMM6GIjlmcwLmbl9hHXOlpe8Yg8RnZ85A77j5cU8b_qUaE8dR1BJCrF_D9pyMK9xUeAPgS0gjv1nOZ2Rzf7hEoKeBw6-Gm0WctblQdMY3JbcDr9fOIJHTaGqBsj0vBVQvpwUGg8/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/eso1539a.jpg

A gigantic coal sack











In 1499 the Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón brought to Europe the first known testimony of a dark region of the southern sky. He called it "the Coal Sack" and is in the southern constellation of Crux, the cross that serves as a reference to find the south celestial pole. Later it was renamed Dark Cloud of Magellan, as opposed to the brilliant Magellanic Clouds.







Image 1: Aspect of the Coal Sack covered by the WFI (Wide Field Imager) camera installed in the MPG / ESO Telescope. Credits: ESO.








Today we know that this dark region is 600 light-years away from us and, unlike the two Magellanic Clouds, this is not a galaxy but an interstellar cloud of dust soaked with layers of frozen water, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and some other simple organic molecules. The cloud is so thick that it prevents us from reaching the light of the stars that exist behind it.








But within millions of years, darkness will give way to light because the Coal Sack is full of fuel to create new stars. Then the Coal Sack will burn, offering light and heat in the form of new stars.














Image 1 is a composition of shots taken with the WFI camera in the following filters:






- Optical filter in V-band (539 nm)




- Optical filter in Rc band (651 nm)




- Infrared filter in band I (826 nm)




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