Mexican wins the prize for the most beautiful astronomical image

Mexico City – Joel Sánchez Bermúdez, a Mexican researcher from the European Southern Observatory (ESO, for his acronym in English), won with his team, composed of the Spanish Antxón Alberdi and Rainer Schödel, the prize for the reconstruction of a more beautiful and accurate astronomical image, this prize was awarded at the Congress of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

The Interferometric Imaging Beauty Contest is a contest which aims to put test software and methodological capabilities for the reconstruction of interferometric images in the infrared spectrum. The reconstruction of this type of images is fundamental in modern astronomy to understand the phenomena that occur every day in the universe.

The dynamic of the competition is that expert teams and participants from around the world receive a series of data obtained from simulations made by the organizers according to the parameters of the instruments and telescopes. From there, the teams process the interferometric data and create an image; the most beautiful and accurate according to the data is chosen as winner.

The winning image recreates a central star with an elongated dust disk and asymmetric brightness, with a planet in formation. This type of young stars is common in the universe and it is thought that our solar and solar system has had a similar training process.

"This competition serves as a reference to establish the limits and scope of the technology that exists in the field of infrared interferometry," said Joel Sánchez Bermúdez in an interview with the Agencia Informativa Conacyt [19659002]

In addition to the image, the physical parameters of the observed object must be delivered, that is why experts from the universities of Cambridge, Lyon and Leuven. The results were presented at the SPIE Congress on June 14 in Austin, Texas

The competition was held every two years for 16 years, in previous editions, teams and researchers reconstructed interferometric data. star images, star clusters, disks around stars and planets.

Astronomical interferometry is an observational technique that allowed astronomers to observe stars and galaxies with as much detail as possible. This technique allows you to combine two or more telescopes at the same time to observe an astronomical object. The resolution obtained is proportional to the separation between the different telescopes combined.

"For an interferometer such as Very Large Telescope Interferometer located in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the level of detail achieved is equivalent to seeing a five peso coin on the surface of the Moon, "explains Sánchez Bermúdez

This is the second time that Joël Sánchez Bermúdez has won this competition, which places him among the most innovative astronomers recognized worldwide for the quality and precision of their work. The first time was in 2014 and he was still a doctoral student.

In this edition of the competition, international specialists had to rebuild a star in formation with a dust disk from interferometric data and a planet is a phenomenon similar to the way astronomers think that the solar system was formed.The data used by the participants were obtained from two of the most important interferometers in the world, the High Angular Resolution Astronomy Center (CHARA) in the United States and the Interferometer Very Large Telescope in Chile

The line of research of Dr. Joel Sánchez Bermúdez revolves around the badysis of interferometric data for the study of high-mbad stars, which are the stars that produce virtually all the ingredients which makes the universe, by "The study of this type of stars with interferometry is important to understand their evolution and their effect on the chemical evolution of galaxies," he concludes. (CONACYT)