Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2018

MAY-JUNE 2018 data from which this image was cre- ated were studying these filaments to learn more about their structure and make-up. They used ALMA to look for signatures of diazenylium gas, which makes up part of these structures. Through doing this study, the team managed to identify a net- work of 55 filaments. The Orion Nebula is the nearest re- gion of massive star formation to Earth, and is therefore studied in great detail by astronomers seeking to better understand how stars form and evolve in their first few million years. ESO’s telescopes have observed this interesting region multiple times.This image combines a total of 296 separate individual datasets from the ALMA and IRAM telescopes, making it one of the largest high-resolution mosaics of a star formation region produced so far at millimetre wavelengths. Ear- lier mosaics of Orion at millimetre wavelengths had used single-dish telescopes, such as APEX. The new observations from ALMA and IRAM use interferometry to combine the signals from multiple, widely-sepa- rated antennas to create images showing much finer detail. T his video starts with a broad view of the sky and zooms in on the familiar con- stellation of Orion (The Hunter). We then get a closeup view of the Orion Neb- ula star formation region. In the final sequence we see the strange red filaments of cool gas that ALMA has revealed. [ESO, N. Risinger (skysurvey.org ), H. Drass, A. Hacar, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Music: Johan B. Monell] at both optical and infrared wave- lengths, making ALMA one of the only instruments available for as- tronomers to study them. This gas gives rise to newborn stars — it gradually collapses under the force of its own gravity until it is suffi- ciently compressed to form a proto- star — the precursor to a star. The scientists who gathered the ! ESO/H. Drass/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/A. Hacar