IC 2944, nicknamed the Running Chicken Nebula
This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows the Running Chicken Nebula, a cloud of gas and newborn stars that lies around 6500 light-years away from us in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Officially called IC 2944, or the Lambda Centauri...
Pandora’s Cluster — Hubble view of Abell 2744
This image from the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the central regions of the remarkable merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744. This object has been nicknamed Pandora’s Cluster because of the many different and strange phenomena that were unleashed by a...
Close-up of the drama of star formation
This very detailed enhanced-colour image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the dramatic effects of very young stars on the dust and gas from which they were born in the star-forming region NGC 6729. The baby stars are invisible in this picture, being hidden behind dust clouds at the upper...
Pandora’s Cluster (combined Hubble and VLT view)
This image of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 combines data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, with an image taken with the ESO VLT. Hubble provides the central, most detailed part of the image, while the VLT offers a wider field of view. This object has been...
The COSMOS field (unannotated)
This very deep image shows the COSMOS field imaged by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Huge numbers of very faint galaxies are visible. A new study of this field, combining data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory has turned up a big...
Highlights from the VST image of Omega Centauri
This montage shows nine small cutouts from the VST image of Omega Centauri. Although each of them only shows about 0.3% of the full image they are still richly detailed and display the exquisite image quality of the telescope and camera. The upper left panel shows the core of Omega Centauri,...
The brilliant star VFTS 682 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (annotated)
This view shows part of the very active star-forming region around the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbour of the Milky Way. At the upper left is the brilliant but isolated star VFTS 682 and at the lower right is the very rich star cluster R 136. The origins of...
Wide-field view of the sky around the star HD 85512
This image shows the sky around the star HD 85512. The picture was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star lies close to the centre of the image, at first glance resembling many others in this rich field. The ...
Wide Field Imager view of a Milky Way look-alike, NGC 6744
This picture of the nearby galaxy NGC 6744 was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla. The large spiral galaxy is similar to the Milky Way, making this image look like a picture postcard of our own galaxy sent from extragalactic space. The picture was...
Highlights from the VST image of Messier 17
This montage shows six cutouts from the new VST image of the star-forming region Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula. Although the wide field encompasses the entire nebula and its surroundings, the VST and OmegaCAM deliver sharp images that show many fascinating details.
Close-up of the drama of star formation (annotated)
This very detailed image of the star-forming region NGC 6729 from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the dramatic effects of very young stars on the dust and gas from which they were born. The baby stars are invisible in this picture, being hidden behind dust clouds at the upper left of the...
X-rays, dark matter and galaxies in the cluster Abell 2744
This image combines visible light exposures of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, with X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and a mathematical reconstruction of the location of dark...
Comparison of the field of view of VST/OmegaCAM and other telescopes
This image compares the field of view of OmegaCAM on the VST and several other telescope/camera combinations. The VST field is about four times the area of that of the Wide Field Imager and covers an area of sky more than 300 times greater than the imager on Hubble with the widest field, the...
Wide Field Imager view of the spiral galaxy NGC 247
This picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 247 was taken using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 247 is thought to lie about 11 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus (The Whale). It is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way and a member of...
Wide-field view of the sky around the brown dwarf binary CFBDSIR 1458+10
This visible light wide-field image of the region around the brown dwarf binary CFBDSIR 1458+10 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The very cool brown dwarf double lies at the centre of the picture, but is too faint in...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 3521
This visible light wide-field image of the region around NGC 3521 was created from photographs taken through blue, red and infrared filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears close to the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.9 degrees across.
Digitized Sky Survey image of Eta Carinae Nebula
This image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximately 4.7 x 4.9 degrees.
Wide-field view of the region around the Antennae Galaxies
This image is a wide-field colour composite of region of sky around the Antennae Galaxies made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is 2.8 x 2.8 degrees.
Wide-field view of the sky around a giant space blob
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the giant Lyman-alpha blob LAB1 was created from photographs taken through blue and red filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The blob itself lies at the centre of the image but, despite being huge and very ...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 3169 and NGC 3166
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around NGC 3169 and NGC 3166 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The disturbed galactic pair appears close to the centre and several other galaxies are visible in the...
Wide-field view of the sky around the most remote quasar
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around ULAS J1120+0641, the most distant quasar found so far, was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The object itself lies very close to the centre and is not visible in...
A wide-field view of the sky around the young star T Cha (annotated)
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the young star T Cha was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star appears close to the centre. Some of the dust associated with this star-forming region is...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 3582
This visible light wide-field image of the region around NGC 3582 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star formation region appears close to the centre and is just one part of a vast complex of gas and dust in the...
McNeil's Nebula in Messier 78
In these images we compare a colour picture of the Messier 78 region taken in 2006 with the 4-metre Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona (below) with a new image that was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile (above)....
The most remote mature cluster of galaxies yet found
This image is a composite of very long exposures taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and the NAOJ’s Subaru telescope on Hawaii. Most of the visible objects are very faint and distant galaxies. The clump of faint red objects to the right of centre is the most remote mature cluster of...
Wide-field view of the Meathook galaxy
This picture of the Meathook Galaxy (NGC 2442) was taken by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile. It shows a much broader view than the Hubble image, although less detailed. This view includes the whole galaxy and the surrounding sky, and clearly shows the...
Hubble image of the Meathook galaxy
This close-up Hubble view of the Meathook Galaxy (NGC 2442) focuses on the more compact of its two asymmetric spiral arms as well as the central regions. The spiral arm was the location of a supernova that exploded in 1999. These observations were made in 2006 in order to study the aftermath of...
The brilliant star VFTS 682 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
This view shows part of the very active star-forming region around the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbour of the Milky Way. At the exact centre lies the brilliant but isolated star VFTS 682 and to its lower right the very rich star cluster R 136. The origins of...
The brown dwarf binary CFBDSIR 1458+10
This image of the brown dwarf binary CFBDSIR 1458+10 was obtained using the Laser Guide Star (LGS) Adaptive Optics system on the Keck II Telescope in Hawaii. Adaptive optics cancels out much of Earth’s atmospheric interference, improving the image sharpness by a factor of ten and enabling the...
Comparison of visible-light and infrared images of the galaxy NGC 1365
This comparison shows a visible-light image of the barred spiral NGC 1365 taken with the FORS1 camera on ESO’s VLT, along with the new infrared view obtained with the HAWK-I camera. In the infrared the dust in the galaxy is much less prominent and the new data is ideal for studying the complex...
Highlights of Messier 78: a reflection nebula in Orion
This panel highlights three regions from a new image of the reflection nebula Messier 78 that was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. The upper panel covers the most northerly part of the nebula and reveals the...
Hubble infrared image of the most remote mature cluster of galaxies yet found
This image from the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows CG J1449+0856, the most distant mature cluster of galaxies found. The image was taken in infrared light, with colour data added from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and...
Wide-field view of the sky around the remarkable star SDSS J102915+172927
This visible light wide-field image of the region around SDSS J102915+172927 was created from photographs taken through blue, red and infrared filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The star is faint and appears very close to the centre. The field of view is approximately...
The star cluster and nebula NGC 371
This picture of the star cluster and surrounding nebula NGC 371 was taken using the FORS1 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. NGC 371 lies in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.
The globular star cluster Messier 107
The globular cluster Messier 107, also known as NGC 6171, is located about 21 000 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. Messier 107 is about 13 arcminutes across, which corresponds to about 80 light-years at its distance. As is typical of globular clusters, a population of...
HAWK-I image of NGC 1300
This image is of NGC 1300, a spiral galaxy with arms extending from the ends of a spectacularly prominent central bar. It is considered a prototypical example of barred spiral galaxies and lies at a distance of about 65 million light-years, in the constellation of Eridanus (the River). The...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 1929
This visible-light wide-field image of the area around the star-forming region LHA 120–N 44 surrounding the cluster NGC 1929, was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The superbubble appears close to the centre and several...
The disturbed galactic duo NGC 3169 and NGC 3166
This image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile captures the pair of galaxies NGC 3169 (left) and NGC 3166 (right). These adjacent galaxies display some curious features, demonstrating that each member of the duo is close enough to...
Wide Field Imager image of Westerlund 1 (annotated)
This image of the young star cluster Westerlund 1 was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This remarkable cluster contains hundreds of very massive stars, some shining with a brilliance of almost one million suns. Although...
VISTA's infrared view of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8)
This new infrared view of the star formation region Messier 8, often called the Lagoon Nebula, was captured by the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. This colour picture was created from images taken through J, H and Ks near-infrared filters, and which were acquired as part...
Wide Field Imager view of the spiral galaxy NGC 3621
This picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 3621 was taken using the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 3621 is about 22 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra (The Sea Snake). It is comparatively bright and can be well seen in moderate-sized...
HAWK-I image of NGC 1232
NGC 1232 is a spiral galaxy some 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus (the River). The galaxy is classified as an intermediate spiral galaxy — somewhere between a barred and an unbarred spiral galaxy. An image of this galaxy and its small companion galaxy NGC 1232A in...
HAWK-I image of NGC 2997
This image, NGC 2997, is a spiral galaxy roughly 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Antlia (the Air Pump). NGC 2997 is the brightest member of a group of galaxies of the same name in the Local Supercluster of galaxies. Our own Local Group, of which the Milky Way is a member, is...
Wide-field view of the COSMOS field
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the COSMOS field was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The extent of the COSMOS field, one of the most studied parts of the sky with telescopes on the ground...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 247
This visible light wide-field image of the region around NGC 247 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears close to the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.8 degrees across.
The star cluster Westerlund 1
This image of the young star cluster Westerlund 1 was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Although most stars in the cluster are hot blue supergiants, they appear reddish in this image as they are seen through interstellar...
Wide-field view of the sky around NGC 6744
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around NGC 6744 was created from photographs taken through blue, red and infrared filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears close to the centre. The field of view is approximately 2.9 degrees across.
Atoms-for-Peace: a galactic collision in action*
This new image shows the results of a vast collision between two galaxies. This strange object is known as NGC 7252, or Arp 226, and has the odd nickname Atoms-for-Peace. The picture was taken by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It...
The Orion Nebula*
This new image of the Orion Nebula was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. This image is a composite of several exposures taken through a total of five different filters. Light that passed through a red filter, as...
HAWK-I infrared image of the spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365*
This striking new image, taken with the powerful HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile, shows NGC 1365. This beautiful barred spiral galaxy is part of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, and lies about 60 million light-years from Earth. The picture was...
Close-up view of the sky around the star HD 10180
This image shows a close-up of the sky around the star HD 10180. The picture was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The field of view is approximately eleven arcminutes across. The blue and orange halos around the star,...
HAWK-I image of NGC 4030
This spiral galaxy, NGC 4030, lies about 75 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Virgo. In 2007 Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut who doubles as an amateur astronomer, spotted a supernova — a stellar explosion that is briefly almost as bright as its host galaxy — going off in...
VST’s view of the Leo Triplet and beyond
Triplet of bright galaxies in the constellation of Leo (The Lion), together with a multitude of fainter objects: distant background galaxies and much closer Milky Way stars. The image hints at the power of the VST and OmegaCAM for surveying the extragalactic Universe and for mapping the ...
The young cluster RMC 136a
Using a combination of instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have discovered the most massive stars to date, some weighing at birth more than 300 times the mass of the Sun, or twice as much as the currently accepted limit of 150 solar masses. The most extreme of these stars was...
Infrared/visible light comparison of views of a stellar nursery in Monoceros
This image compares infrared and visible views of the Monoceros R2 star-forming region. The visible light image (left) was created from digitised photographs through red and blue filters forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The new infrared image (right) was taken with the VISTA...
The young cluster RMC 136a
A new near-infrared image of the R136 cluster, obtained at high resolution with the MAD adaptive optics instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope, provides unique details of its stellar content. At birth, the three brightest stars each weighed more than 150 times the mass of the Sun. The most...
A wide-field view of the sky around the young star T Cha
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the young star T Cha was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. T Cha is the upper right of the two faint stars very close to the centre of the picture. Some of the dust...
Wide-field view of the sky around the remote cluster CL J1449+0856
This visible light wide-field image of the region around the most remote mature galaxy cluster yet found was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cluster lies at the centre of the picture but is too faint to be seen. The...
Wide-field view of Abell 2744
This ground-based view shows the area of sky around the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2744, which has been given the nickname Pandora’s Cluster. This remarkable object seems to be the result of the collision of at least four separate galaxy clusters. In this picture the cluster itself is faintly...
Wide-field view of the sky around the Meathook galaxy
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the deformed spiral galaxy NGC 2442 was created from photographs taken through red and blue filters and forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The object itself, nicknamed the Meathook Galaxy, is close to the centre and many other...
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