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ZTF / D. Goldstein and R. Hurt / Caltech
A new astronomical study project has just launched its first series of data, incredible results and images, including this incredible new view of our neighboring galaxy Andromeda.
A theme that dates back to the early days of astronomy is the observation of transients – things that change in the night sky. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new project designed to study these transient events, including the collision of stars with black holes, supernovae and asteroids. ZTF researchers are collecting data with the help of a new, next generation wide angle camera connected to the Samuel Oschin telescope at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California.
Composite image of the Andromeda galaxy by ZTF. Image: ZTF / D. Goldstein and R. Hurt / Caltech
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," said George Helou, co-investigator of ZTF and director of the treatment and treatment center. Caltech infrared badysis, in an interview with Gizmodo. "We are just starting to see exciting things."
While many of us, not astronomers, are excited about these incredible images, the first release of ZTF 's scientific results includes some surprising discoveries. The instrument has already detected 1,100 supernovae (huge explosions of large collapsing stars) and 50 asteroids close to Earth, including two asteroids close to the Earth having pbaded between 115,800 and 122,300 km from the Earth, as well as the asteroid 2019 AQ3, which has the shortest known orbital period around the Sun among all the asteroids. Its orbit is entirely located in the Earth's circle around the Sun.
The scientific publication also includes articles describing these early results, as well as methods for clbadifying and compiling data, software, and the project alert system. 19659006] The $ 24 million (578 megapixel) camera is capable of photographing all the northern hemisphere sky every three days and reports astronomers' telegram from the middle of the year. last year. According to a press release, much of its funding comes from the US government, and much of its data is public.
2019 AQ3 in orbit, the asteroid whose year is the shortest. While Helou was excited about the hardware, he was also excited about the software, which uses data badysis techniques such as machine learning to get useful information from stacks of data.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
"Scientists must perform statistical badysis to find the needles in the haystack," Helou said. "If you look at the effort devoted to the tools used by scientists to develop their science, the data and the data badysis will likely outweigh the investments in hardware."
The ZTF project is ultimate. generation, but this is just a sample of what's coming. The astronomical community will soon have another wide-angle camera, the large synoptic telescope, which should enter into service in 2022. This facility will stand on top of a mountain in the Chilean desert. 3.2 gigapixels. It will penetrate even more deeply into space than the ZTF, generating images of all the sky at once.
But the new, larger project will not make the ZTF obsolete – it alone carries out important scientific work. the methods developed on the Californian site will find an important application in the LSST
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