Vista Variables in the Via Lactea

The VVV Survey is a public infrared (IR) variability survey of the Milky Way bulge and an adjacent section of the mid-plane where star formation activity is high.

The final products will be: a deep IR atlas in 5 passbands and a catalogue of 106 variable stars.

These will produce a 3-D map of the surveyed region (unlike single-epoch surveys that only give 2-D maps) using well-understood primary distance indicators such as RR Lyrae stars.

[2] The observations will be combined with data from MACHO, OGLE, EROS, VST, SPITZER, HST, CHANDRA, INTEGRAL, and ALMA for a complete understanding of the variable sources in the inner Milky Way.

Several important implications for the history of the Milky Way, for globular cluster evolution, for the population census of the bulge and center, and for pulsation theory would follow from this survey.

The Lobster Nebula seen with ESO 's VISTA telescope , as a part of the VVV survey. [ 1 ]