Stunning view of Andromeda Galaxy captured by new high-resolution instrument The stunning M31 image recently captured by Subaru Telescope’s Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) demonstrates the spacecraft’s ability to fulfill its aim of producing a large-scale survey of the Universe. Using a combination of a large mirror, a wide field of view, and sharp imaging, astronomers have taken a giant step forward into a new era of observational astronomy, which will contribute to existing knowledge about the nature of dark energy and matter. At 2.5 million light years from Earth, M31, more commonly known as the Andromeda Galaxy, is the spiral galaxy nearest to the Milky Way. Since 964 A.D. it has captured the attention of watchers of the night sky. Astronomers find it particularly interesting due to its similarity to the Milky Way Galaxy, believing it can provide valuable information about our own galaxy’s formation. Because the galactic center is visible, astronomers can investigate how star formation varies with distance from this midpoint. One of the most significant details of the HSC image is the consistently high resolution quality of objects throughout the frame. Despite a field of view seven times larger than that of its predecessor, the Subaru Prime Focus Camera (Suprime-Cam), there is no degradation of the image at the edges. Tangible evidence The M31 image provides tangible evidence of features that HSC’s developers predicted as early as 2002. At that time, astronomers at Subaru Telescope were trying to anticipate future demands of cosmology research that could not be handled by existing technology. This foresight led to the establishment of the HSC Project in 2008, which acted as a catalyst for international collaboration among several major research partners. Director of the HSC Project, Dr. Satoshi Miyazaki, was deeply satisfied with HSC’s performance, believing it will be crucial to realizing the scientific objective of completing a “cosmic census.” The sharp resolution demonstrates the instrument’s capability of capturing weak lensing, which will be central to surveying the parameters and properties of dark matter and dark energy, as well investigate reasons for the accelerating expansion of the Universe. A large-scale survey will include detailed measurement of hundreds of millions of galaxy shapes, as well as an assessment into the effects of gravitational lensing. This data will allow researchers to map the distribution of dark matter and constrain the nature of dark energy, while searching for “baby galaxies” born in the early Universe. Astronomers have long dreamed of having the ability to capture images of billions of galaxies across the sky. As the HSC continues along a successful path of testing its capabilities, that dream is quickly becoming a reality.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 15:19:17 +0000
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