Embark on a Cosmic Exploration

Welcome to our detailed information, where we dive deep into the mysteries of the universe and the exploratory craft or Earth-based equipment that collect the data to analyse. Our mission is to educate and inspire you about the wonders of the cosmos. Join us in exploring the vast expanse of space and uncovering the latest cosmic discoveries.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy, in order to enable important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research.

ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in the Atacama Desert region of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. ESO's first site is at La Silla, a 2400 m high mountain 600 km north of Santiago de Chile. It is equipped with several optical telescopes with mirror diameters of up to 3.6 metres. The 3.5-metre New Technology Telescope broke new ground for telescope engineering and design and was the first in the world to have a computer-controlled main mirror, a technology developed at ESO and now applied to most of the world's current large telescopes. The ESO 3.6-metre telescope is now home to the world's foremost extrasolar planet hunter: HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher), a spectrograph with unrivalled precision.

While La Silla remains at the forefront of astronomy, and is still the second most scientifically productive ground-based astronomical observatory, the 2600 m high Paranal site — home to the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) — is the flagship facility of European astronomy. Paranal is situated about 130 km south of Antofagasta in Chile, 12 km inland from the Pacific coast, in one of the driest areas of the world. Scientific operations began at Paranal in 1999 and have resulted in many extremely successful research programmes.

The VLT is a most unusual telescope which is based on the latest technology. It is not just one, but an array of four Unit Telescopes, each with a main mirror measuring 8.2 metres in diameter. With one Unit Telescope, images of celestial objects as faint as magnitude 30 have been obtained in a one-hour exposure. This corresponds to observing objects that are four billion times fainter than those seen with the naked eye.

The Marvels of Space

Did you know that the Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest neighbour to our Milky Way? The cosmos is a fascinating structure that holds billions of stars within the Milky Way, our home galaxy. From the Big Bang to the expanding universe connected by a giant Cosmic Web of hydrogen and dark matter, the mysteries of space continue to intrigue us and need exploratory space craft to collect information.

 

Voyager 2

Voyager 2 successfully fulfilled its primary mission of visiting the Jovian system in 1979, the Saturnian system in 1981, Uranian system in 1986, and the Neptunian system in 1989. The spacecraft is now in its extended mission of studying the interstellar medium. It is at a distance of 136.1 AU (20.4 billion km) from Earth as of June 2024 - outside the solar system!

Self-portrait of Perseverance and Ingenuity flying rover

Perseverance has a similar design to its predecessor rover, Curiosity, although it was moderately upgraded. It carries seven primary payload instruments, nineteen cameras, and two microphones. The rover's goals include identifying ancient Martian environments capable of supporting life, seeking out evidence of former microbial life existing in those environments, collecting rock and soil samples to store on the Martian surface, and testing oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere to prepare for future crewed missions.

Ingenuity, nicknamed Ginny, is an autonomous NASA helicopter that operated on Mars from 2021 to 2024 as part of the Mars 2020 mission. Ingenuity made its first flight on April 19, 2021, demonstrating that flight is possible in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, and becoming the first aircraft to conduct a powered and controlled extra-terrestrial flight.

Unveiling Cosmic Discoveries

We are witnessing a new renaissance in science, leading to a deeper understanding of our universe. From the intricate construction of matter with atoms to the discovery of intergalactic gas filaments stretching over 50 million light-years, each cosmic revelation opens new doors to further exploration.

Galaxy clusters A3391 and A3395 are located in the constellation Carina, SSE15 of the bright star Canopus. The region is about SW26 from the galactic plane and about 10 from the Large Magellanic Cloud. The system has as its members the galaxy clusters 3391, 3395, and S 0584, along with the galaxy group ESO 161-IG 006. Together, they cover a square degree in the sky. A likely member of the system is MS 0620.6-5239, located 1 to the northwest of A3391, adjacent to Canopus. The proximity of Canopus makes optical studies difficult. Consequently, little information exists in the literature on this cluster. A further 4 to the northwest lies Abell 3380.  

The Abell 3391/95 galaxy cluster system: A 15 Mpc intergalactic medium emission filament, a warm gas bridge, infalling matter clumps, and (re-) accelerated plasma discovered by combining SRG/eROSITA data with ASKAP/EMU and DECam data. Also used in the search for dark matter. The connecting  filaments are now clearly visible with the more sensitive equipment.

eROSITA is the primary instrument on-board the Russian-German "Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma" (SRG) mission which was successfully launched from Baikonur on July 13, 2019 and placed in a halo orbit around the L2 point. eROSITA will perform the first imaging all-sky survey in the medium energy X-ray range up to 10 keV with an unprecedented spectral and angular resolution.

The nature of the mysterious Dark Energy, which is driving the Universe apart, is one of the most exciting questions facing astronomy and physics today. It could be the vacuum energy, corresponding to the Cosmological Constant in Einstein's theory of General Relativity, or it could be a time-varying energy field. Answering this question could be the starting point of a fundamental revolution in physics. We think that Dark Energy is not driving the universe apart but is, in fact, creating our virtual particle 'space' and matter which has the same effect. As Casimir's experiment showed us that that two metal plates placed in what we thought was a 'vacuum' are attracted to each other.  Particles constantly appear and disappear there as a result of their interaction with the plates and this is due to quantum vacuum fluctuations (which would need energy, perhaps dark energy to do this). Casimir realised that between two plates, only those virtual photons whose wavelengths fit a whole number of times into the gap should be counted when calculating the vacuum energy. The energy density decreases as the macroscopic gap between plates are moved closer together, which implies that there is a small force drawing them together. 

Clusters of galaxies are the largest collection of objects in the Universe. Their formation and evolution is dominated by gravity, i.e. Dark Matter, while their large scale distribution and number density depends on the geometry of the Universe, i.e. Dark Energy. X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies provide information on the rate of expansion of the Universe, the fraction of mass in visible matter, and the amplitude of primordial fluctuations which are the origin of clusters of galaxies and the whole structure of the universe.

Journey Through the Solar System

Our cosmic exploration extends to the Solar System, where the Sun, planets, and endless possibilities await. With missions like the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter observing the Sun's activities, we are constantly learning more about our celestial neighbourhood. Explore the eight planets, categorised into inner rocky, outer gassy, and the Kuiper belt, where Pluto resides as a 'moon' type object. 

See the following video about the planets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUxxDNfju3g

Expand Your Cosmic Knowledge

Join us to expand your cosmic knowledge and be part of the cosmic exploration journey. Discover the latest cosmic findings, marvel at the wonders of the universe, and ignite your curiosity about the vast expanse of interstellar space beyond our Solar System. 

James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Other Earth-like Planets

30 years ago, we didn’t have any scientific proof of a planet outside our solar system. Today, thanks to advances in technology and scientific research, we've discovered over 5,300 exoplanets - alien worlds that are out there waiting to be explored. At first, these discoveries mostly involved large gas giants, but as our capabilities have expanded, we've started to uncover smaller, Earth-like exoplanets. Scientists have already found more than 50 exoplanets with masses similar to Earth, and over 800 worlds with radius less than one half times that of Earth. We don’t know of many such planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their parent stars - where the conditions are just right to support life. But that's already starting to change. As our search for habitable planets continues, we're beginning to discover entire planetary systems with more than one potentially habitable world. And we already know about at least one such system in our cosmic neighborhood.