The NGC 4254 galaxy as seen with ALMA
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 4254, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the distribution of cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form. NGC 4254 is a grand-design spiral galaxy...
NGC 6188 glows crimson
An image of the emission nebula NGC 6188 taken by ESO's 3.6-meter Telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile in 1986. The nebula is located in the southern constellation Ara and is about 4,000 light-years away. Radiation from stars within the nebula heats up the surrounding gases, making...
The NGC 3627 galaxy as seen with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 3627, taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), combines green, red and infrared filters to reveal the distribution of stars. NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 31 million light-years from...
The NGC 3627 galaxy as seen with ALMA
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 3627, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the distribution of cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form. NGC 3627 is a spiral galaxy located...
Distorted galaxy NGC 2442
The distorted galaxy NGC 2442, also known as the Meathook Galaxy, is located some 50 million light-years away in the constellation of Volans (the Flying Fish). The galaxy is 75,000 light-years wide and features two dusty spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar that give it a...
The galactic glory of NGC 2280
This new image of the galaxy NGC 2280 shows the extent of its massive spiral arms that reach far into the surrounding space. These star-filled tentacles taper off into wispy blue clouds of illuminated and glowing gas well away from the central, bright bulge of the galaxy. Found towards the...
A cosmic embrace
In this image, two spiral galaxies, similar in looks to the Milky Way, are participating in a cosmic ballet, which, in a few billion years, will end up in a complete galactic merger — the two galaxies will become a single, bigger one. Located about 150 million light-years away in the...
The globular cluster NGC 3201
Colour-composite image of the globular cluster NGC 3201, obtained with the WFI instrument on the ESO/MPG 2.2-m telescope at La Silla. Globular clusters are large aggregates of stars, that can contain up to millions of stars. They are among the oldest objects observed in the Universe and were...
NGC 2081
NGC 2074 and NGC 2081, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, are open cluster of stars swaddled by ionized, glowing gases. The little red nebula at the bottom of the image is known as SUMSS J053917-693329.
Ballet of interacting galaxies
The pair of galaxies NGC 1531/2, engaged in a spirited waltz, is located about 70 million light-years away towards the southern constellation Eridanus (The River). The deformed foreground spiral galaxy laced with dust lanes NGC 1532 is so close to its companion — the background galaxy with a...
A supernova duet in NGC 1448
Portrayed in this beautiful image is the spiral galaxy NGC 1448, with a prominent disc of young and very bright stars surrounding its small, shining core. Located about 60 million light-years away from the Sun, this galaxy has recently been a prolific factory of supernovae, the dramatic...
Warm gas clouds and stars in NGC 1300 mapped with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300 was taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The bright reddish glows map warm clouds of hydrogen (Hα), marking the presence of newly born stars, while the bluish regions (a combination of green, red...
Warm gas clouds in NGC 1300 mapped with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300 was taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and it shows the distribution of warm gas clouds of ionised hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars. NGC 1300 is a spiral...
A cosmic bubble: NGC 3132
NGC 3132, also referred to as the Eight-Burst or the Southern Ring Nebula, glows at a distance of about 2,000 light years in the constellation Vela, making it one of the nearest so-called planetary nebulae. These phenomena are the result of the shedding of the outer gaseous layers of a star...
The NGC 1300 galaxy as seen with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300, taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), combines green, red and infrared filters to reveal the distribution of stars. NGC 1300 is a spiral galaxy, with a bar of stars and gas at its centre, located...
The NGC 1300 galaxy as seen with ALMA
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the distribution of cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form. NGC 1300 is a spiral galaxy, with a bar of...
Warm gas clouds and stars in NGC 1087 mapped with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1087 was taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The bright reddish glows map warm clouds of hydrogen (Hα), marking the presence of newly born stars, while the bluish regions (a combination of green, red...
The NGC 1087 galaxy as seen with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1087, taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), combines green, red and infrared filters to reveal the distribution of stars. NGC 1087 is a spiral galaxy located approximately 80 million light-years from...
Warm gas clouds in NGC 1087 mapped with MUSE on ESO’s VLT
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1087 was taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and it shows the distribution of warm gas clouds of ionised hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars. NGC 1087 is a spiral...
The globular cluster NGC 104
A colour-corrected image of the the second largest and second brightest globular cluster, or tight grouping of stars, seen in Earth's night sky. Called NGC 104 or 47 Tucanae, the light for this image was gathered in 1986 by ESO's 1-m Schmidt Telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The...
Supernova remnant NGC 2060
Located in the direction of the constellation Dorado in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the resplendent object known as NGC 2060 is the aftermath of a supernova. These powerful explosions serve as the death knell for massive stars, blasting heated matter out into surrounding space at great speed.
Spiral galaxy NGC 1232
The striking, large spiral galaxy NGC 1232, and its distorted companion shaped like the greek letter "theta". The pair is located roughly 60 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (The River). Billions of stars and dark dust are caught up in this beautiful gravitational swirl....
The NGC 1087 galaxy as seen with ALMA
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1087, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, shows the distribution of cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form. NGC 1087 is a spiral galaxy located...
The irregular galaxy NGC 55
The irregular galaxy NGC 55, shot by the 3.6 meter telescope at ESO's La Silla observatory.
NGC 1068 and friends
A survey of the sky captured on film by ESO's 1-m Schmidt Telescope. In the left-centre, the galaxy NGC 1068 is visible, among other galactic oases. What looks like the largest object (right-centre) in the picture is actually a star many magnitudes closer than the background galaxies....
N70 superbubble nebula in the LMC
The N70 superbubble nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), imaged with the ESO Schmidt Telescope on La Silla.
A raw image straight from the NACO instrument on the VLT.
Minor planet Tunis
An image of the minor planet, or asteroid, called Tunis, numbered 6362 on the list of minor planets maintained by the International Astronomical Union. A minor planet is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet nor a comet. Many tens of thousands of these objects have been...
VLT Control Room. X-Shooter screen during day time calibrations.
McNeil's Nebula
McNeil's Nebula, discovered by amateur astronomy Jay McNeil on 23 January 2004, is a reflection nebula surrounding a newborn star.
The rich celestial landscape around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431
This colourful image shows the rich celestial landscape in the constellation of Vela (The Sails) around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431, which appears as the moderately bright star at the exact centre of the picture. The image was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky...
The sky around the dwarf galaxy IC 1613
This wide-field view shows the sky around the dwarf galaxy IC 1613 in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears at the centre of the picture as an irregularly shaped clump of faint stars.
Young star lights up reflection nebula IC 2631
A newly formed star lights up the surrounding cosmic clouds in this image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Dust particles in the vast clouds that surround the star HD 97300 diffuse its light, like a car headlight in enveloping fog, and create the reflection nebula IC 2631. Although HD...
The dusty ring around the aging double star IRAS 08544-4431
The Very Large Telescope Interferometer at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile has obtained the sharpest view ever of the dusty disc around the close pair of aging stars IRAS 08544-4431. For the first time such discs can be compared to the discs around young stars — and they look surprisingly...
Inner region of the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disc as imaged by ALMA
This ALMA image of the young nearby star TW Hydrae has a resolution of 1 AU (Astronomical Unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun in the Solar System). It reveals a gap in the disc at 1 AU, suggesting that a planet with a similar orbit to Earth is forming there.
Wide-field view of the sky around the dwarf galaxy WLM
This wide-field view shows the sky around the dwarf galaxy WLM in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears at the centre of the picture as an irregularly shaped clump of faint stars.
The sky around the active galaxy Markarian 1018
This wide-field image shows the sky around the faint active galaxy Markarian 1018. The picture was assembled from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy itself is at the centre of the picture and faint evidence of its recent merger can be seen in the form of tails and loops.
The first results have been released from a major new dark matter survey of the southern skies using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The project, known as the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), uses imaging from the VST and its huge camera, OmegaCAM to analyse...
The glowing gas cloud LHA 120-N55 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
In this image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), light from blazing blue stars energises the gas left over from the stars’ recent formation. The result is a strikingly colourful emission nebula, called LHA 120-N55, in which the stars are adorned with a mantle of glowing gas. Astronomers...
This image superimposes an X-ray image of a distant cluster (the blue image, from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite) on top of a ground-based view of the sky (from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope). Some of the brightest X-ray objects are galaxies with brilliant centres powered by supermassive black...
The first results have been released from a major new dark matter survey of the southern skies using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The project, known as the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), uses imaging from the VST and its huge camera, OmegaCAM to analyse...
The rich star cluster IC 4651
This rich view of a tapestry of colourful stars was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It shows a open cluster of stars known as IC 4651, a stellar grouping that lies at in the constellation of Ara (The Altar).
The star formation region Messier 17
This image of the rose-coloured star forming region Messier 17 was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is one of the sharpest images showing the entire nebula and not only reveals its full size but also retains fine...
This distant cluster of galaxies was discovered by the XXL survey. It was found by its telltale X-ray emission coming from hot gas, which was detected by ESA's XMM-Newton satellite. The distances to individual galaxies were found using ESO and other telescopes, to allow a three-dimensional view...
The sky around the location of the planetary nebula ESO 378-1
This image shows the sky around the location of ESO 378-1. This planetary nebula shows up clearly as a blue disc at the centre of the picture. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
The Prawn Nebula in close-up
The rich patchwork of gas clouds in this new image make up part of a huge stellar nursery nicknamed the Prawn Nebula (also known as Gum 56 and IC 4628). Taken using the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, this may well be one of the best pictures ever taken of this...
The sky around the location of Nova Centauri 2013
This image shows the sky around the location of Nova Centauri 2013. The nova itself appears, in its pre-outburst state, as a faint star at the centre of the picture, very similar to thousands of others. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2 that were acquired...
VLT/SPHERE image of the star L2 Puppis and its surroundings
Some of the sharpest images ever made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time revealed what appears to be an ageing star in the early stages of forming a butterfly-like planetary nebula. These observations of the red giant star L2 Puppis from the ZIMPOL mode of the newly...
Wide-field view of the sky around the bright star cluster IC 4651
This wide-field view of the sky around the cluster IC 4651 was created from photographic material forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cluster itself is the clump of faint stars in the central part of the picture. The bright star at the left is Alpha Arae, one of the brightest stars...
ALMA witnesses assembly of galaxy in early Universe
This view is a combination of images from ALMA and the Very Large Telescope. The central object is a very distant galaxy, labelled BDF 3299, which is seen when the Universe was less than 800 million years old. The bright red cloud just to the lower left is the ALMA detection of a vast cloud of...
The lensed galaxy
ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced a spectacularly detailed image of a distant galaxy being gravitationally lensed, revealing star-forming regions — something that has never seen before at this level of detail in a galaxy so remote. The new observations are far more detailed than any...
The Halo of Galaxy Messier 87
The huge halo around giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 appears on this very deep image. An excess of light in the top-right part of this halo, and the motion of planetary nebulae in the galaxy, are the last remaining signs of a medium-sized galaxy that recently collided with Messier 87. The...
Hubble image of the region around SDP.81
ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign has produced a spectacularly detailed image of a distant galaxy being gravitationally lensed, revealing star-forming regions — something that has never seen before at this level of detail in a galaxy so remote. The new observations are far more detailed than any...
VLT/SPHERE and NACO image of the star L2 Puppis and its surroundings
Some of the sharpest images ever made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time revealed what appears to be an ageing star in the early stages of forming a butterfly-like planetary nebula. The observations of the red giant star L2 Puppis from the ZIMPOL mode of the newly installed...
Planetary nebulae in galaxy Messier 87
The red and blue dots mark the position of the planetary nebulae whose motion revealed that Messier 87 has recently been struck by another, smaller galaxy, which has now fully merged with it. Those marked in red are moving away from us, and the blue ones toward us with respect to the galaxy as...
ESO’s Very Large Telescope images the Medusa Nebula
ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile has captured the most detailed image ever taken of the Medusa Nebula (also known Abell 21 and Sharpless 2-274). As the star at the heart of this nebula made its final transition into retirement, it shed its outer layers into space, forming this colourful...
This image superimposes an X-ray image of a distant cluster (the blue pixellated image, from ESA's XMM-Newton satellite) on top of a ground-based view of the sky (from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope). Some of the brightest X-ray objects are galaxies with brilliant centres powered by...
Wide-field view of the sky around the star 51 Pegasi
This image shows the sky around the star 51 Pegasi in the northern constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). In 1995 the first exoplanet to be discovered was detected orbiting this star. Twenty years later this object was also the first exoplanet to be be directly detected spectroscopically...
Hubble image of the galaxy cluster Abell 3827
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the rich galaxy cluster Abell 3827. The strange blue structures surrounding the central galaxies are gravitationally lensed views of a much more distant galaxy behind the cluster. Observations of the central four merging galaxies have...
The remnant of the new star of 1670 seen with modern instruments
This picture shows the remains of the new star that was seen in the year 1670. It was created from a combination of visible-light images from the Gemini telescope (blue), a submillimetre map showing the dust from the SMA (yellow) and finally a map of the molecular emission from APEX and the SMA...
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