The orbit of Theta1 Orionis C
The first VLTI image is that of the double star Theta1 Orionis C in the Orion Nebula Trapezium. From these, and several other observations, the team of astronomers, led by Stefan Kraus and Gerd Weigelt from the Max-Planck Institute in Bonn, could obtain the full orbit of the two stars in the...
Centaurus A
Colour composite image of Centaurus A, revealing the lobes and jets emanating from the active galaxy’s central black hole. This is a composite of images obtained with three instruments, operating at very different wavelengths. The 870-micron submillimetre data, from LABOCA on APEX, are shown in...
The star T Leporis as seen with VLTI
This image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer is one of the sharpest colour images ever made. It shows the Mira-like star T Leporis in great detail. The central disc is the surface of the star, which is surrounded by a spherical shell of molecular material expelled from the star. In...
The star T Leporis to scale
Comparison between the VLTI image of the Mira-like star T Leporis and the size of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The VLTI observations reveal the presence of a spherical molecular shell surrounding the star, which is about 100 times as large as the Sun. Also marked is the resolution of...
The centre of NGC 253
Close-up of the central regions of the starburst galaxy NGC 253. This image is based on data obtained with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the ACS on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to the VLT's sharp eye, astronomers have identified 37 bright regions, a...
The Helix Nebula*
This colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) was created from images obtained using the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix...
The Carina Nebula *
Colour-composite image of the Carina Nebula, revealing exquisite details in the stars and dust of the region. Several well known astronomical objects can be seen in this wide field image : to the bottom left of the image is one of the most impressive binary stars in the Universe, Eta Carinae,...
The Einstein Cross
Close-up of the Einstein Cross, as observed with the SINFONI instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. SINFONI makes use of the adaptive optics technique and so, allows astronomers to overcome the blurring effect of the atmosphere, thereby providing very sharp images. The central blob is the...
The Einstein Cross
The Einstein Cross and the galaxy that causes this 'cosmic mirage', as seen with the FORS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. This cross-shaped configuration consists of four images of a single very distant source. The multiple images are a result of gravitational lensing by a foreground...
The starburst galaxy NGC 253
NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the sky, and also one of the dustiest. The whole galaxy is shown here as observed with the WFI instrument, while the insert shows a close-up of the central parts as observed with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and the ACS on...
Beta Pictoris as seen in infrared light - annotated
This composite image represents the close environment of Beta Pictoris as seen in near infrared light. This very faint environment is revealed after a very careful subtraction of the much brighter stellar halo. The outer part of the image shows the reflected light on the dust disc, as observed...
Spiral galaxy NGC 253*
Measuring 70 000 light-years across and laying 13 million light-years away, the nearly edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 253 is revealed here in an image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. The image is based on data obtained through four...
Glowing stellar nurseries*
Colour composite image of RCW120. It reveals how an expanding bubble of ionised gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps where new stars are then formed. The 870-micron submillimetre-wavelength data were taken with the LABOCA camera on...
The Gum 29 nebula
Marked in the image is a double stellar system. The two stars have masses of 82 and 83 times that of our Sun and rotate around each other in approximately 3.7 days. They are amongst the most massive stars known to astronomers.
A pool of distant galaxies
The Chandra Deep Field South, observed in the U-, B-, and R-bands with ESO''s VIMOS and WFI instruments. The U-band VIMOS observations were made over a period of 40 hours and constitute the deepest image ever taken from the ground in the U-band. The image covers a region of 14.1 x 21.6...
The globular cluster Omega Centauri*
The globular cluster Omega Centauri — with as many as ten million stars — is seen in all its splendour in this image captured with the WFI camera from ESO's La Silla Observatory. The image shows only the central part of the cluster — about the size of the full moon on the sky (half a degree)....
Star-forming region NGC 346
This new portrait of the bright star-forming region NGC 346, in which different wavelengths of light swirl together like watercolours, reveals new information about how stars form. NGC 346 is located 210,000 light-years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring dwarf galaxy of the...
NGC 2264 and the Christmas Tree cluster*
This colour image of the region known as NGC 2264 — an area of sky that includes the sparkling blue baubles of the Christmas Tree star cluster and the Cone Nebula — was created from data taken through four different filters (B, V, R and H-alpha) with the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla...
The Circinus galaxy
Colour image of the Circinus Galaxy based on ESO SuSI New Technology Telescope data obtained in April 1993, that is, about three years before the supernova exploded. The observations were made through different narrow-band filters (ionised hydrogen, ionised oxygen, and ionised iron).
The Circinus Galaxy and the position of SN 1996cr
The SuSI New Technology Telescope image as shown in eso0832b is shown again with a blow-up of the location of SN 1996cr. The data obtained in April 1994 of the supernova is not yet visible in this image. However, a small, powerful region of ionised gas is apparent and may be linked with the...
SN 1996cr in Circinus galaxy
This composite image shows the central regions of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located about 12 million light years away. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in blue and data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope is shown in yellow ("I-band"), red (hydrogen emission), cyan...
How do galaxies grow?
The inset in this image obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope shows that the brightest galaxy in group 3 has also a double nucleus. Thus, these galaxies are currently in the process of merging. This discovery provides unique and powerful validation of hierarchical formation as manifested in...
The quiet explosion
The spiral galaxy NGC 2770 and its two supernovae as observed at the Asiago Observatory. The image was obtained on 12 January 2008 and shows the then fading SN 2007uy and the newly discovered SN 2008D.
Spiral galaxy Messier 83*
This dramatic image of the galaxy Messier 83 was captured by the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory, located high in the dry desert mountains of the Chilean Atacama Desert. Messier 83 lies roughly 15 million light-years away towards the huge southern constellation of Hydra (the sea...
A thick belt around a massive star in another galaxy
The position of the supergiant star WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's neighbouring galaxies, is shown in this Spitzer image (left). On the right, an artist's impression is provided of the thick, massive torus of matter surrounding the star as inferred from...
NGC 3576
Located 9,000 light-years away, NGC 3576 is a gigantic region of glowing gas about 100 light-years across, where stars are currently forming. The intense radiation and winds from the massive stars are shredding the clouds from which they form, creating dramatic scenery. The black area in the...
The Gum 29 nebula
This image shows the amazing intricacies of the vast stellar nursery Gum 29. At its centre lies the cluster of young stars Westerlund 2. One object at the bottom of the cluster is in fact a system of two of most massive stars known to astronomers. The image is based on data obtained with the...
Measurements of HD 40307
The HARPS radial velocity measurements of HD 40307 are folded with the orbital periods of the three discovered planets: 4.3, 9.6, and 20.4 days, respectively. In each case, the contribution of the two other planets has been subtracted. The solid line shows the best fit to the measurements,...
A dark filament in scattered light
Part of a filament in the Corona Australis molecular cloud. The image is a composite of J-, H-, and K-band near-infrared observations that were made with the SOFI instrument on ESO's NTT telescope in August 2006. The observations were made to test, how easily the scattered light can be observed...
The planet-host star Iota Horologii
Using HARPS on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, astronomers were able to study in great detail the star Iota Horologii, known to harbour a giant planet, and make a very precise portrait of it: its temperature is 6150 K, its mass is 1.25 times that of the Sun, and its age is 625 million...
Light echoes in RS Pup
The nebula around RS Pup seen at 6 different epochs, corresponding to different phases of its 41.4 day cycle, as indicated in the top left part of each image. By monitoring both the light variation of the star (not visible on these images as it is positioned in the gap between the detectors)...
The Cepheid star RS Pup
The nebula around the Cepheid star RS Pup undoubtedly holds a wealth of information about the mass-loss history of this star. It will thus be instrumental to understand the evolution of Cepheids. Less than five years away from the centenary of the discovery of the Period-Luminosity relation by...
Cosmic interactions
Colour-composite image of the triplet of galaxies, catalogued as NGC 7173 (top), 7174 (bottom right) and 7176 (bottom left), and located 106 million light-years away towards the constellation of Piscis Austrinus (the 'Southern Fish'). This triplet of galaxies makes up part of the Hickson...
Anatomy of a bird
Image taken with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in the K-band. Also indicated are the different parts of the 'Bird'. There is a barred spiral galaxy at the heart of the Bird, and a strongly disturbed massive galaxy just south of it, while the head of the Bird consists of an...
Close-up on MWC 147
Close-up on MWC 147
The region around MWC 147
Wide field image taken by Stéphane Guisard (ESO) with a 200 mm lens from Paranal, showing the region of the sky with the NGC 2247 star forming complex and containing the Herbig Ae/Be object MWC 147. Visible in the image are the rich, colourful Cone nebula region (at the centre-left of the...
A 92-hour long spectrum
Two-dimensional spectrum obtained in 92 hours of exposure time, showing the line emitter candidates. The quasar absorption lines are visible close to the centre of the image.
The Tinker Bell triplet
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed 'The Bird' - although it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral...
Twisted spiral galaxy NGC 134
Image obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the spiral galaxy observed by the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potocnik, when at Paranal. NGC 134 is a barred spiral with its spiral arms loosely wrapped around a bright, bar-shaped central region. The red features...
A disc in the Ant Nebula
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer, astronomers have uncovered a disc in the heart of the Ant Nebula. The disc seems, however, too 'skinny' to explain how the nebula got its intriguing ant-like shape. The image on the right shows a previously taken image of the Ant Nebula, in the...
Neptune's 'hot' south pole (VISIR/VLT)
Thermal images of planet Neptune taken with VISIR on ESO's Very Large Telescope, obtained on 1 and 2 September 2006. These thermal images show a 'hot' south pole on Neptune. These warmer temperatures provide an avenue for methane to escape out of the deep atmosphere. Scientists say Neptune's...
VLT image of supernova in beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1288
Colour-composite image of the Type Ia supernova SN 2006dr in the spiral galaxy NGC 1288, as observed with ESO's Very Large Telescope. It is based on images acquired through several filters (B, V, R, I and H-alpha) for a total exposure time of 5 minutes. The supernova is the bright object...
Newly found galaxies (SINFONI/VLT)
Images of the region around 14 quasars where a previously hidden galaxy was detected via its hydrogen emission using the SINFONI instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. The contours show the quasars, while the arrow represents 1 arcsecond (~ 26 000 light-years at the distance of these...
Disc around aged star (model)
Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer and its razor sharp eyes to discover a reservoir of dust trapped into a disc that surrounds an elderly star. Here, model images of the disc of dust around the aged star, V390 Velorum, as inferred from observations taken with ESO's...
Peering at Uranus's rings as they swing edge-on to Earth for the first time since their discovery in 1977
The rings of Uranus are shown here captured almost exactly edge-on to Earth. This false-colour image was obtained by the NAOS-CONICA infrared camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. It was taken at 9:00 UT on 16 August 2007, just two hours after Earth had crossed to the lit side...
Nebula in serpens
This image shows a close-up view of detector 1 of HAWK-I. Despite a total exposure time of only 1 minute in each of three infrared filters, the image shows great detail in this million-year old region, revealing red young stars, reflection nebulae and dark clouds of gas and dust very clearly.
The Uranus system (VLT)
The Uranus system seen in November 2002 and in August 2007 when the rings appeared edge-on and are therefore not so visible anymore. The image of 2002 was taken with ISAAC on the VLT while the one of 2007 was taken with NACO and made use of adaptive optics. This explains why the 2007 image is...
The galactic HII region RCW 120
Comparison between an image of the Galactic HII region RCW 120 in the visible (R-band; as obtained by the ESO Schmidt Telescope) and in the submillimetre with LABOCA on APEX, highlighting the need to observe in this wavelength range. The LABOCA image has an exposure of only slightly more than 3...
Serpens star forming region
The figure shows the Serpens star-forming region, as it was imaged during commissioning, on HAWK-I's four large infrared detectors. The gap between them is real, and multiple exposures are required to make a filled-in picture. The colour composite was created from images taken through three...
Clouds around RY Sagittarii
Images of the star RY Sagittarii, member of the class of R Coronae Borealis stars, obtained with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope at two different epochs and at two different wavelengths. The left image was obtained on 24 May 2003 at a wavelength of 2.2 microns, and the right...
The spectrum of the quasar PKS 1251-407
The spectrum of the quasar PKS 1251-407 (in red) is compared to the observations done by GROND in the seven different passbands (in green). The close agreement between the GROND data and the spectrum shows the strength of the photometric redshift technique. The large decrease in the flux in the...
Looking for faint companions
The left side shows a raw image, while the right side shows the result after the newly developed technique was applied. Thanks to this technique it is possible to study the faint AB Doradus C (about 100 times fainter than its host), once the contamination from the brighter AB Doradus A and the...
The distant galaxy K20-ID5
This galaxy is located more than 10.5 billion light years away, at which distance high spatial resolution is needed to trace the different locations of the stars and gas. This near infrared image taken with NACO shows that the stars in this galaxy lie within a quite compact region. In contrast,...
A quasar in different colours
GROND images of the quasar PKS 1251-407. GROND observes simultaneously through 7 different filters in the visible and near-infrared, providing 7 images of the same object. In this case, the quasar appears much fainter in the blue images (the so-called Lyman drop-out), an indication of the...
The active galaxy NGC 4945
K-band image obtained with NACO and the LGS of the active galaxy NGC 4945. The colour-code corresponds to intensity. Lurking in the very heart of this spiral galaxy is a supermassive black hole that is obscured at optical and infrared wavelengths, but which is one of the brightest in the local...
The star Gliese 581
The star Gliese 581.
Uranium in the spectrum of an old star
The observed spectrum (dots) of the old star HE 1523-0901in the region of the uranium (U II) line at a wavelength of 385.96 nm. The origin of some of the other spectral lines in the region is also indicated (e.g. iron, neodymium, samarium, magnesium). The synthetic spectrum (thin and dotted...
The Merging System Arp 220
In this galaxy the nuclei are much closer and cannot be distinguished without high spatial resolution. This was a challenging galaxy to observe because it is very difficult to perform the corrections. Nevertheless, a resolution comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope was achieved, i.e. 0.2...
Comparing AO techniques
Central parts of the globular cluster Omega Centauri, as seen using different adaptive optics techniques. The upper image is a reproduction of ESO Press Photo eso0719, with the guide stars used for the MCAO correction identified with a cross. A box shows a 14 arcsec area that is then observed...
The globular cluster Omega Centauri (MAD/VLT)
Mosaic of images covering the central parts of Omega Centauri, the most luminous globular cluster as seen from Earth. The images were taken with CAMCAO in Br-gamma for a total exposure time of 5 minutes (the original pixel scale is 0.028 arcsec). The stars in the 2 arcmin field of view have a...
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