Discover the new image of stars that was spotted by European Southern Observatory.

The European Southern Observatory Releases New Image Of Stars Trailing Across The Night Sky (Photo: The Atlantic)

A spectacular new image of stars trailing through the night sky was released by European Southern Observatory (ESO) and was captured at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert. 

The European Southern Observatory is the location of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) which is made up of four smaller, mobile Auxiliary Telescopes and four Unit Telescopes. 

Astronomers shot the night sky over several hours using a long exposure technique to capture the motion of the stars as they passed overhead. As a result, starlight appears to arc across the observatory’s ground-based telescopes, producing a brilliant trailing effect. 

Additionally, one of the Unit Telescopes is visible blasting out two extremely powerful orange lasers. 

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According to a statement from the European Southern Observatory, these laser beams, often referred to as laser guide stars, are utilized to rectify the starlight distortion brought on by Earth’s turbulent atmosphere.

According to European Southern Observatory experts, the beams are pointing in different directions since the long exposure technique required many hours to complete and involved moving the telescope to observe various targets in the sky. 

An artificial star is produced by a laser guide star by projecting a laser beam into the sky, which activates sodium atoms in the upper atmosphere and makes them sparkle like stars. 

Ground-based telescopes can use this as a point of reference to offset the effects of atmospheric turbulence and produce better images of the sky. 

In a beam that is roughly 30 centimeters in diameter, each laser emits 22 watts of power, which is about 4000 times more than what is permitted for a laser pointer, according to a statement from European Southern Observatory authorities. 

This amazing display isn’t just for show; the adaptive optics system uses the flashing of these man-made stars to measure and adjust for the Earth’s atmosphere’s effect on image blurring so that the telescope can produce clear images, the European Southern Observatory added.

Individual points of flashing light that make up stars are what we see when we look up at the night sky. 

The new photograph of the star trails over the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory serves as a reminder of the Earth’s continuous rotation or spin around its axis. This magnificent motion of the sky as the Earth spins in relation to the background of stars is captured in long exposure photographs like these.  

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