Over the past decades, countless photographs of galaxies have been published. Fortunately, thanks to increasingly modern imaging technology, real images can be preserved and viewed.
Thanks to telescopes like the Hubble and many others, we have been able to see amazing images of distant objects and structures in the universe. And images like these gain in quality every year thanks to the continuous advancements in science and technology.
However, the last image that may surprise you is taken from a telescope used to observe the sky in a space study project. Now he has completed this main mission and continues to serve humans for observable targets.
The DECam video recording telescope, short for “Dark Energy Camera”, studied a large area of space for about six years. After the mission was completed, it was still able to perform well, so researchers used it to observe the Southern Crown Galaxy. And may the results of the work prove the incredible capabilities of this telescope.
The Southern Garland galaxy, also known as Messier 83, is located approximately 15 million light years from Earth. It’s a pretty big distance, but DECam is designed to unravel the mysteries of the universe, so it captures those really beautiful moments.
DECam was built by the US Department of Energy and mounted on a 4-meter-tall telescope called Víctor M. Blanco, located in Chile. It is a state-of-the-art camera, using 74 Ultra-High Sensitivity (CCD) Combo Charging (CCD) cameras to take photos. CCD sensors are also the same devices used to take pictures, built into our cell phones.
Of course, DECam’s CCD is much larger and is specially designed to capture extremely faint red light emitted from distant galaxies. It is a remarkable strength of DECam so that it can perform the basic task of the initial dark energy investigation.
DECam’s 74 sensors captured a spectacular and incredible image of the Messier 83 galaxy. The beautiful spiral branches as well as the luminous core of the galaxy were clearly visible. Although it has completed its initial mission of monitoring dark energy, DECam continues to be an extremely valuable source of space information.
The images provided by this telescope not only give a great sense of sight, but are also useful for researchers to better understand the universe.
Scientists are still deciphering the information that DECam collects. While waiting for these interesting results, we also take advantage of a beautiful image of the distant and mysterious universe.
