SINFONI "first light" spectrum of HD 130163
"First Light" "data cube" spectrum obtained with SINFONI on the bright star HD 130163 on July 9, 2004, as seen on the science data computer screen. This 7th-magnitude A0 V star was observed in the near-infrared H-band with a moderate seeing of 0.8 arcsec. The width of the slitlets in this image...
Small part of the K20 Field showing the z=1.9 elliptical galaxy
Small region in the K20 field centred on a z=1.9 redshift galaxy. The image is based on frames acquired by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the Hubble Space Telescope in the framework of the GOODS Public HST Treasury Program (P.I. M. Giavalisco, STScI, Baltimore, USA). They show the...
Turn-off stars A0228 and A2111 in NGC 6397
Two stars in the globular cluster NGC 6397 for which spectra were obtained with the UVES spectrometer on the VLT (at the centre of the fields shown). The photos have been extracted from an image of NGC 6397 taken by the Wide-Field-Imager (WFI) camera at the 2.2-m ESO/MPI telescope at the ESO La...
Cluster of galaxies RXCJ1131.9-1955
Very massive galaxy cluster RXCJ1131.9-1955 at redshift z = 0.306 in a very rich galaxy field with two major concentrations. It was originally found by George Abell and designated "Abell 1300". The image was obtained with the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope and the WFI camera at La Silla.
The Orion Nebula (M42)
The individual images of the Orion Nebula where obtained with WFI at the ESO/MPG 2.2m telescope on the night of Dec.10-11, 2001. Several images were obtained in the following filters: U (363.690 nm; 15 images for a total exposure time of 1.25 hour); B (456.252 nm; 14 images; total exp.: 21...
High-resolution spectrum of the Ant Planetary Nebula around 12.8μm
Reproduction of a high-resolution spectrum of the Ne II line (ionised Neon) at 12.8135 microns of the Ant Planetary Nebula, also known as Mz-3. The total integration time was 120 sec.
Globular cluster NGC 6397
The globular cluster NGC 6397, located at a distance of approx. 7,200 light-years in the southern constellation Ara. It has undergone a "core collapse" and the central area is very dense. It contains about 400,000 stars and its age (based on evolutionary models) is 13,400 ± 800 million years....
High-resolution spectrum of G333.6-0.2 around 12.8μm
Reproduction of a high-resolution spectrum of the Ne II line (ionised Neon) at 12.8135 μm of the star-forming region G333.6-0.2. This spectrum reveals the complex motions of the ionized gas in this region. The images are 256 x 256 frames of 50 x 50 micron pixels. The "field" direction is...
Images of the silhouette disc and the bipolar reflection Nebula
Collection of images of the silhouette disc and, perpendicular to that, the bipolar reflection nebula of a young, massive star in M 17. These images were obtained in different optical and near-infrared wavebands with different instruments: EMMI at the ESO New Technology Telescope on La Silla...
Colour composite of the Galactic Centre
Colour composite image of the Galactic Centre at a distance of about 30,000 light-years. It was made by combining images in filters centred at 8.6μm (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecular feature - coded blue), 12.8μm ([NeII] - coded green) and 19.5μm (coded red). Each pixel subtends 0.127...
Cluster of galaxies RXCJ0937.9-2020
Nearby galaxy group RXCJ0937.9-2020 at a redshift of z = 0.034. It is dominated by the massive elliptical galaxy seen at the top of the image. The photo covers only the southern part of this group. Such galaxy groups with typical masses of a few 1013 solar masses constitute the smallest objects...
Colour composite of the star forming region G333.6-0.2
Colour composite image of the visually obscured G333.6-0.2 star-forming region at a distance of nearly 10,000 light-years in our Milky Way galaxy. This image was made by combining three digital images of the intensity of the infrared emission at wavelengths of 11.3μm (one of the Polycyclic...
Silhouette disc seen in M 17
Ks-band image of the silhouette disc obtained with the NACO Adaptive Optics camera at the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN telescope at Paranal. White contours delineate the densest part of the disc (inner torus). The visible stars (slightly elongated due to the adaptive optics technique) are embedded within...
The starburst galaxy He2-10 at 11.3μm
Image at wavelength 11.3 μm of the "nearby" (distance about 30 million light-years) blue compact galaxy He2-10, which is actively forming stars. The scale is 0.127 arcsec per pixel and the full field covers 15 x 15 arcsec with North at the top and East on the left. The total integration time...
The Ant Nebula at 12.8 μm
Image of the Ant Nebula (Mz3) in the narrow-band filter centred at wavelength 12.8 μm. The scale is 0.127 arcsec/pixel and the total field-of-view is 33 x 33 arcsec, with North at the top and East to the left. The total integration time was 200 seconds. Note the diffraction rings around the...
Sky field with OGLE-TR-132
Sky field in the southern constellation Carina (The Ship Keel) with the images of the star OGLE-TR-132, around which a transiting extra-solar planet (exoplanet) has been identified. The field measures 10 x 10 square arcmin; North is up and East is left. This image has been reproduced from the...
Stellar cluster and star-forming region M 17 (annotated)
Three-colour composite of the sky region of M 17, a H II region excited by a cluster of young, hot stars. A large silhouette disc has been found to the south-west of the cluster centre. The present image was obtained with the ISAAC near-infrared instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at...
Sky Field with OGLE-TR-113
Sky field in the southern constellation Carina (The Ship Keel) with the images of the star OGLE-TR-113, around which a transiting exoplanet has been identified. The field measures 10 x 10 square arcmin; North is up and East is left. This image has been reproduced from the Digitized Sky Survey...
Titan observed through nine different filters on November 26, 2002
Images of Titan taken on November 26, 2002 through nine different filters to probe different altitudes, ranging from the stratosphere to the surface. On this night, a stable "seeing" (image quality before adaptive optics correction) of 0.9 arcsec allowed the astronomers to attain the...
Cosmic ballet or devil's mask - galaxy triplet NGC 6769-71 (VLT MELIPAL + VIMOS)
Colour-composite image showing the triplet of galaxies NGC 6769, 6770 and NGC 6771, as observed with the VIMOS instrument on Melipal, one of the four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope. The images were obtained on the morning of April 1, 2004 during twilight in three different...
Titan surface projections
Titan images obtained with NACO on November 26th, 2002. Left : Titan's surface projection on the trailing hemisphere as observed at 1.3 μm, revealing a complex brightness structure thanks to the high image contrast of about 40%. Right : a new, possibly meteorological, phenomenon observed at...
Images of Titan on November 20, 25 and 26, 2002 Through Five Filters (VLT YEPUN + NACO)
Titan (apparent visual magnitude 8.05, apparent diameter 0.87 arcsec) as observed with the NAOS/CONICA instrument at VLT Yepun (Paranal Observatory, Chile) on November 20, 25 and 26, 2003, between 6.00 UT and 9.00 UT. The median seeing values were 1.1 arcsec and 1.5 arcsec respectively for the...
The nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Composite image of the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (the point of light at the centre), recorded on February 26, 2004, at 6:15 UT with the SUSI-2 camera on the 3.5-m New Technology Telescope. It is based on fifteen series of exposures seen in three different wavebands and since...
Stellar cluster and star-forming region M 17
Three-colour composite of the sky region of M 17, a H II region excited by a cluster of young, hot stars. A large silhouette disc has been found to the south-west of the cluster centre. The present image was obtained with the ISAAC near-infrared instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at...
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's motion in the sky
Composite image of the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (the trail of light at the centre), recorded on February 26, 2004, at 6:15 UT with the SUSI-2 camera on the 3.5-m New Technology Telescope. It is based on fifteen series of exposures seen in three different wavebands. Because the...
Two-dimensional spectra of Abell 1835 IR1936
Reproduction from two-dimensional spectra around the emission line at 1.33745 μm showing the detected emission line of Abell 1835 IR1916 (circle above). If identified as Ly-alpha (0.1216 μm), this leads to a redshift z=10. The line has been observed in two independent spectra corresponding to...
The starburst spiral galaxy NGC 1792
Colour composite image of the starburst spiral galaxy NGC 1792 obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively). Its optical appearance of NGC 1792 is quite chaotic, due to the patchy distribution of dust throughout the disc of this galaxy. It is...
N44C in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Part of the central nebula, known as N44C, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The green colour indicates areas that are particularly hot. The nature of the exciting source that delivers the necessary energy has been the subject of studies during two decades but is still not known with certainty.
DEM L 159 nebula and KMHK 840 and 831 star clusters in the LMC
The ionised region DEM L 159 and two clusters with hot stars named KMHK 840 (top left) and KMHK 831 (bottom right). The colours have been enhanced compared to ESO Press Photo eso0332a to clearly show the different shades.
N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (central region)
The centre of the associated nebular complex N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud in more detail. The field size is 8.5 x 8.5 square arcminutes. North is up and East is left.
NGC 613
This image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 613 was obtained with the FORS1 and FORS2 multi-mode instruments (at VLT MELIPAL and YEPUN, respectively) on December 16-18, 2001. It is a composite of three exposures in different wavebands, cf. the technical note below. The full-resolution version...
DEM L 144 near N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Region in the Large Magellanic Cloud towards the South of N44 with pink-green shades that has been designated DEM L 144. It is a region of ionised hydrogen. The colours have been enhanced compared to ESO Press Photo eso0332a to clearly show the different shades.
Near-infrared flare from Galactic Centre
Detection of a powerful flare from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. These and other adaptive optics (AO) images (with resolution 0.040 arcsec in the near-infrared H-band at wavelength 1.65 µm) of the central region of the Milky Way were obtained with the NACO imager on the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN...
Sky field in which comet Halley was observed
Sky field in which Comet Halley was observed with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory on March 6-8, 2003. 81 individual exposures with a total exposure time of 32284 sec (almost 9 hours) from three of the four 8.2-m telescopes were cleaned and combined to produce this...
A dusty beauty
NGC 3627, also known as Messier 66, i.e. it is the 66th object in the famous catalogue of nebulae by French astronomer Charles Messier (1730 - 1817). It is located in the constellation Leo (The Lion). NGC 3627 is a beautiful spiral with a well-developed central bulge. It also displays...
N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Southern part of the spectacular N44 H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The green colour indicates areas that are particularly hot. The field measures 27.5 x 26.5 square arcminutes. North is up and East is left. #L
Comet Halley at 28 AU heliocentric distance
Faint, star-like image of Comet Halley (centre), observed with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory on March 6-8, 2003. 81 individual exposures from three of the four 8.2-m VLT telescopes with a total exposure time of about 9 hours were combined to show the magnitude...
Shift-added composite photo with comet Halley image
This image of the Comet Halley was produced by adding 81 individual frames with a total exposure time of 32284 seconds, while shifting their positions according to the motion of the comet. The faint, star-like image of Comet Halley is now visible (in circle, at centre); all other objects...
Colour-composite of the sky field with several High-Redshift galaxies
Sky region imaged with the multi-mode FORS2 instrument on the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN telescope, in which a number of galaxies in the redshift range from 4.8 to 5.8 were discovered. They are accordingly located at a distance of about 12,600 million light-years from the Earth. This is a composite image...
Close-up images of some of the most distant galaxies known
Close-ups of some of the most distant galaxies. Each of the high-redshift galaxies is highlighted by a white circle. The redshift of the object is indicated at the lower left corner of each image. All objects appear green in this image because they are not seen in the blue image and most of...
Colour composite of W49A
Composite near-infrared colour image from NTT/SofI of the Giant Molecular Cloud W49A. It covers a sky area of 5 x 5 arcmin 2 and the red, green and blue colours correspond to the Ks- (wavelength 2.2 µm), H- (1.65 µm) and J-band (1.2 µm), respectively. North is up and East is to the left. The...
Newly discovered gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231
Image of the newly discovered gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231 recorded by the EFOSC2 instrument on the ESO 3.6-m telescope (left panel). Deconvolution ("image sharpening", right panel) allows a better view of the four star-like components (the four images of the same distant quasar),...
Radio and near-infrared composite of W49A
Three-colour composite of the central region of the star-forming region W49A, based on a radio emission map (wavelength 3.6 cm ; here rendered as red) as well as two SofI images in the Ks- (green) and J-bands (blue). The red-only features in this image represent regions of ionized hydrogen so...
Image of afterglow of GRB 030329
The fading image of the optical afterglow of GRB 030329, as seen on April 3 (four days after the GRB event) and May 1, 2003. The images were obtained with the FORS 1 and 2 multi-mode instruments at the 8.2-m VLT telescopes.
Spectra of the RXS J1131-1231 lensing system
The spectra of two of the star-like images in the gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231 (labeled A and D in the top panel) are very similar and are therefore from the same object, i.e., the lensed quasar. The emission lines identified in these spectra are typical of a quasar and the redshft...
Centaurus A – Field 2 (halo)
High-resolution, very deep colour image of a field in the South of the Centaurus A galaxy halo. This image was taken in July 1999 through U- and V-band optical filters with the VLT FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal. Note the great variety of object types...
The galactic starburst region NGC 3603 (annotated)
The region around NGC 3603, a cluster of young, hot O and B-type stars still partly embedded in its natal cloud of gas and dust. A small group of nascent, very massive stars has been found to the south of the cluster centre — here indicated as "IRS9". The image was obtained with the ISAAC...
Centaurus A – Field 1 (shell)
Colour composite of "Field 1" (around the jet) in the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), based on exposures through three near-infrared filters (the J-, H- and K-bands at wavelengths 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 µm, respectively) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope...
Centaurus A – Field 1 (shell)
High-resolution, very deep colour image of a field around the jet in the North-East of the Centaurus A galaxy. This image was taken in July 1999 through U- and V-band optical filters with the VLT FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal. Note the great variety of...
Centaurus A – Field 2 (detail)
Zoomed-in area within "Field 2" (Halo) in Centaurus A, from the ISAAC colour image. Nearly all red stars in this area are of the variable Mira-type.
Centaurus A – Field 2 (halo)
Colour composites of "Field 2" in the halo of the peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128), based on exposures through three near-infrared filters (the J-, H- and K-bands at wavelengths 1.2, 1.6 and 2.2 µm, respectively) with the ISAAC multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope at...
K-band image of the unstable star Eta Carinae
Eta Carinae is one of the heaviest and most luminous stars known. Its mass probably exceeds 100 solar masses, and the star is about 4 million times brighter than the Sun. Such a massive star has a comparatively short lifetime of about 1 million years; when measured in the cosmic timescale,...
Spectrum of the extremely distant galaxy z6VDF J022803-041618
A spectroscopic image (between the horizontal arrows) of the very distant galaxy z6VDF J022803-041618, obtained with the multi-mode FORS2 instrument at the 8.2-m VLT YEPUN telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory. The horizontal axis shows the dispersed light, with wavelengths increasing from...
The star HIC 69495 (AO corrected image)
One of the best images obtained with MACAO-VLTI (logarithmic intensity scale). The seeing was 0.8 arcsec at the time of the observations and three diffraction rings can clearly be seen around the star HIC 69495 of visual magnitude 9.9. This pattern is only well visible when the image resolution...
K-band image of the Galactic Centre
K-band image of the central 6 x 13 square arcsec around the Galactic Centre obtained by MACAO-VLTI under average atmospheric conditions (0.8 arcsec seeing) with an exposure time of 90 seconds. Although the 14.6 magnitude guide star is located roughly 20 arcsec from the field centre - this...
K-band image of the peculiar star "Frosty Leo"
Frosty Leo is a magnitude 11 (post-AGB) star surrounded by an envelope of gas, dust, and large amounts of ice (hence the name). The associated nebula is of "butterfly" shape (bipolar morphology) and it is one of the best known examples of the brief transitional phase between two late...
The star HIC 59206 (uncorrected image)
This image was obtained by the first MACAO-VLTI system at the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN telescope in the infrared K-band (wavelength 2.2 µm). It displays images of the star HIC 59206 (visual magnitude 10) obtained before the adaptive optics system was switched on. Without the adaptive optics, it is...
The Galactic Star OGLE-TR-3
This photograph shows the 16.5-mag star OGLE-TR-3, a solar-like star in the direction of the Galactic Center, discovered during an extensive photometric search for planetary and low-luminosity object transits. The image is reproduced from an I-band CCD frame of a 1 x 1 arcmin 2 sky field. North...
The star HIC 59206 (AO corrected image)
This is the first image obtained by the first MACAO-VLTI system at the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN telescope in the infrared K-band (wavelength 2.2 µm). It displays images of the star HIC 59206 (visual magnitude 10) obtained after the adaptive optics system was switched on, allowing the two stars to be...
Spectrum of OGLE-TR-3
The chart displays a small portion of a high-dispersion spectrum of OGLE-TR-3, obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN telescope at the Paranal Observatory (Chile). It is divided into five adjacent wavelength intervals and represents the mean of ten 1-hour spectral...
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