Observations using the European Southern Observatories’ Antu telescope in Chile are
helping to shed light on the mystery of star formation. Stars form from interstellar clouds
of gas and dust that gradually contract and heat up until nuclear synthesis starts in their
centre. These central dark clouds are opaque and their structure has until now been a
mystery – a missing link in theories of star formation.
Using the infrared camera on
Antu, astronomers observed the reddening of the light of background stars as it was
absorbed and scattered by dust in the dark cloud B68. This cloud is particularly
interesting because it is on the verge of becoming instable and starting its collapse into a
star. Measuring the reddening of the different background stars gave detailed information
about the internal structure, composition and density of the cloud. Only large telescopes
and very sensitive instruments can observe a sufficient number of stars to produce
significant results.
