The surroundings of the interacting galaxy NGC 5291
The spectacular aftermath of a 360 million year old cosmic collision is revealed in great detail in this image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory. Among the debris surrounding the elliptical galaxy NGC 5291 at the centre is a rare and mysterious young dwarf galaxy, which...
The colourful star cluster NGC 2367
This rich view of an array of colourful stars and gas 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 young open cluster of stars known as NGC 2367, an infant stellar grouping that lies at the centre of an...
VLT image of the cometary globule CG4
Like the gaping mouth of a gigantic celestial creature, the cometary globule CG4 glows menacingly in this image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Although it looks huge and bright in this image it is actually a faint nebula and not easy to observe. The exact nature of CG4 remains a mystery.
The giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and its strange globular clusters
This huge elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (also known as Centaurus A) is the closest such galaxy to the Earth, at a distance of about 12 million light-years. Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered a new class of “dark” globular star clusters around this galaxy. These...
A newly formed star lights up the surrounding cosmic clouds to create the blue reflection nebula IC 2631 at the centre of this striking panorama of gas and dust clouds in the southern constellation of Chameleon. This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
The Rho Ophiuchi star formation region in the constellation of Ophiuchus
This wide-field view shows a spectacular region of dark and bright clouds, forming part of a region of star formation in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer). This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
Nova Centauri 2013
This image from the New Technology Telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory shows Nova Centauri 2013 in July 2015 as the brightest star in the centre of the picture. This was more than eighteen months after the initial explosive outburst. This nova was the first in which evidence of lithium has...
Wide-field view of the sky around the planetary nebula Henize 2-428
This picture shows the sky around the planetary nebula Henize 2-428. The object itself is visible as a small curving nebula at the centre of the picture, surrounded by huge number of faint stars in the Milky Way. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
The star forming cloud RCW 34
This richly coloured cloud of gas called RCW 34 is a site of star formation in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). This image was taken using the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in northern Chile.
Wide-field view of the sky around the red giant star L2 Puppis
This image shows the region of sky in the southern constellation of Puppis surrounding the red giant star L2 Puppis. This rich area of the Milky Way includes glowing red clouds of hydrogen as well as some dusty clouds known as cometary globules. This picture was assembled from images in the...
The Einstein Ring SDP.81 seen with ALMA
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...
MUSE view of the ram-pressure stripped galaxy ESO 137-001
The MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope has provided researchers with the best view yet of a spectacular cosmic crash. Observations reveal for the first time the motion of gas as it is ripped out of the galaxy ESO 137-001 as it ploughs at high speed into a vast galaxy cluster. The...
Wide-field image of the sky around the Sculptor dwarf galaxy
This image of the sky around the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy was created from pictures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The galaxy appears as a small faint cloud close to the centre of the picture.
Wide-field view of the sky around VY Canis Majoris
This wide-field view shows the sky around the very brilliant red hypergiant star VY Canis Majoris, one of the largest stars known in the Milky Way. The star itself appears at the centre of the picture, which also includes clouds of glowing red hydrogen gas, dust clouds and the bright star...
The sky around the young star MWC 480
This image shows the sky around the young star MWC 480 in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull). This picture was assembled from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
Image of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428 from the Very Large Telescope
This image of the unusual planetary nebula was obtained using ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. In the heart of this colourful nebula lies a unique object consisting of two white dwarf stars, each with a mass a little less than that of the Sun. These stars are...
Wide-field view of the sky around the galaxy ESO 137-001
This wide-field view shows the sky around the galaxy ESO 137-001, which appears near the bottom-right of this picture. This part of the sky is in the southern Milky Way and huge numbers of stars are visible in the foreground. This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized...
MUSE view of the ram-pressure stripped galaxy ESO 137-001
The MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope has provided researchers with the best view yet of a spectacular cosmic crash. Observations reveal for the first time the motion of gas as it is ripped out of the galaxy ESO 137-001 as it ploughs at high speed into a vast galaxy cluster. The...
Wide-field view of the giant galaxy Centaurus A
This huge elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (also known as Centaurus A) is the closest such galaxy to the Earth, at a distance of about 12 million light-years. Observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered a new class of “dark” globular star clusters around this galaxy.
Wide-field view of the sky around Nova Vul 1670
This wide-field view shows the sky around the location of the historical exploding star Nova Vul 1670. The remains of the nova are only very faintly visible at the centre of this picture. New observations made with APEX and other telescopes have now revealed that the star that European...
Wide-field view of the sky around the nearby star AU Microscopii
This image shows the sky around the nearby young star AU Microscopii. It was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. AU Mic appears just below the centre of the image as an orangish star of moderate brightness. Because the photographs through different coloured filters...
Colour composite view of the Pillars of Creation from MUSE data
This colour view was created from observations of the Pillars of Creation made with the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The parts of the three-dimensional MUSE data cube that correspond to emission from different chemical elements in the clouds have been extracted and combined to...
Hubble image of the surroundings of the young star HL Tauri
This image was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and shows the tumultuous region around HL Tauri, a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disc.
Wide-field view of the sky around the interacting galaxy NGC 5291
This wide-field view shows the sky around the galaxy NGC 5291. This system has interacted with other galaxies and is surrounded with debris from earlier encounters. Some of this material is now forming dwarf galaxies rich in young stars. This picture was created from images forming part of the...
Beta Pictoris as seen in infrared light
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...
The distant dusty galaxy A1689-zD1 behind the galaxy cluster Abell 1689
This spectacular view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the rich galaxy cluster Abell 1689. The huge concentration of mass bends light coming from more distant objects and can increase their total apparent brightness and make them visible. One such object, A1689-zD1, appears in...
Wide-field view of the sky around the bright star cluster NGC 3532
This wide-field view of the sky around the cluster NGC 3532 was created from photographic material forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cluster itself is at the centre of the picture and the bright star to its lower left is x Carinae — a very brilliant yellow hypergiant star that is...
Hubble and Chandra composite of ESO 137-001
This image combines NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations with data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. As well as the electric blue ram pressure stripping streaks seen emanating from ESO 137-001, a giant gas stream can be seen extending towards the bottom of the frame, only visible in...
Elliptical galaxy IC 2006
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows an elliptical galaxy known as IC 2006. Massive elliptical galaxies like these are common in the modern Universe, but how they quenched their once furious rates of star formation is an astrophysical mystery. Now, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space...
Wide-field view of the sky around the cometary globule CG4
This wide-field image shows a rich region of the sky in the constellation of Puppis (The Poop). At the centre lies the strange cometary globule CG4. Other interesting objects are also seen, including several much more distant spiral galaxies. This colour view was produced from images forming...
Part of the Coalsack Nebula
This image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope shows part of the huge cloud of dust and gas known as the Coalsack Nebula. The dust in this nebula absorbs and scatters the light from background stars.
Wide-field view of the sky around the bright star cluster NGC 2367
This wide-field view of the sky around the cluster NGC 2367 was created from photographic material forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The cluster itself is the tight knot of blue stars at the centre of the picture.
Wide-field view of the bright star clusters Messier 47 and Messier 46
This wide-field image shows part of the constellation of Puppis (The Poop). This region of the sky includes some bright star clusters, chief amongst them Messier 47, in the centre, and its contrasting sister cluster Messier 46, near the left-hand edge, which is richer in stars but more distant....
Composite views of HK Tauri from Hubble and ALMA
This image of the binary system HK Tauri combines visible light and infrared data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope with new data from ALMA. The ALMA observations of this system have provided the clearest picture ever of protoplanetary discs in a double star. The new result demonstrates...
Wide-field view of the sky around the Medusa Nebula
This wide-field view shows the sky around the large but faint planetary nebula known as the Medusa Nebula. The full extent of the object can be seen, as well as many faint stars and, far beyond them, numerous distant galaxies.This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized...
The dark nebula LDN 483
The Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile snapped this image of the dark nebula LDN 483. The object is a region of space clogged with gas and dust. These materials are dense enough to effectively eclipse the light of background stars....
Hubble Deep Field South — Multiple windows on the Universe
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is one of the deepest visible/ultraviolet light images of the Universe ever taken. It shows a tiny region in the southern constellation of Tucana (The Toucan) called the Hubble Deep Field South. The image was taken with the Wide Field...
Wide-field view of part of the Coalsack Nebula
This rich landscape is part of the small constellation of Crux (The Southern Cross). The very bright star is Alpha Crucis, also known as Acrux, one of the four stars that make up the famous cross shape. Most of the upper left part of this image is filled with dark dusty clouds that form part of...
The Wild Duck cluster
The Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile has taken this beautiful image of the open Wild Duck Cluster, Messier 11, or NGC 6705. The blue stars in the centre of the image are the young, hot stars of the cluster. The surrounding redder...
The star cluster Messier 47
This spectacular image of the star cluster Messier 47 was taken using the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This young open cluster is dominated by a sprinkling of brilliant blue stars but also contains a few...
The planetary nebula ESO 378-1
This extraordinary bubble, glowing like the ghost of a star in the haunting darkness of space, may appear supernatural and mysterious, but it is a familiar astronomical object: a planetary nebula, the remnants of a dying star. This is the best view of the little-known object ESO 378-1 yet...
Wide-field view of the sky around the gravitationally lensed galaxy merger H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836
This wide-field view of the sky around the gravitationally lensed galaxy merger H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836 was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. This comparatively empty patch of sky features few stars and many faint galaxies — including one that has by chance acted like a...
Merging galaxies in the distant Universe through a gravitational magnifying glass
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and many other telescopes on the ground and in space have been used to obtain the best view yet of a collision that took place between two galaxies when the Universe was only half its current age. The astronomers enlisted the help of a...
Wide-field view of the sky around the dark cloud Lupus 4
This view of the sky around the dark cloud Lupus 4 was created from the images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Lupus 4 is a dense pocket of gas and dust where new stars are expected to form. The cloud is located about 400 light-years away from Earth, on the border between the...
This picture shows the sky around the unusual double star V471 Tauri. The object itself is visible as an unremarkable looking star of moderate brightness at the centre of the image. This picture was created from images in the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
VISTA views the Trifid Nebula and reveals hidden variable stars
This small extract from the VISTA VVV survey of the central parts of the Milky Way shows the famous Trifid Nebula to the right of centre. It appears as faint and ghostly at these infrared wavelengths when compared to the familiar view at visible wavelengths. This transparency has brought its...
Sculptor dwarf galaxy
The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy, pictured in a new image from the Wide Field Imager camera, installed on the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, is a close neighbour of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Despite their proximity, both galaxies have very distinct histories and...
The motions of material in the discs around the young double star HK Tauri
This picture shows the key velocity data taken with ALMA that helped the astronomers determine that the discs in HK Tauri were misaligned. The red areas represent material moving away from Earth and the blue indicates material moving toward us.
The colourful star cluster NGC 3532
The MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile captured this richly colourful view of the bright star cluster NGC 3532. Some of the stars still shine with a hot bluish colour, but many of the more massive ones have become red giants and glow with a rich orange hue.
SPHERE images the dust ring around the star HR 4796A
This infrared image shows the dust ring around the nearby star HR 4796A in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It was one of the first produced by the SPHERE instrument soon after it was installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in May 2014. It shows not only the ring itself with great...
The star cluster Messier 18 and its surroundings
The small smattering of bright blue stars upper left of centre in this huge 615 megapixel ESO image is the perfect cosmic laboratory in which to study the life and death of stars. Known as Messier 18 this open star cluster contains stars that formed together from the same massive cloud of gas...
SPHERE image of Saturn’s moon Titan
This infrared image of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, was one of the first produced by the SPHERE instrument soon after it was installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in May 2014. This picture shows how effective the adaptive optics system is at revealing fine detail on this tiny disc (just 0.8...
Wide-field view of the sky around the globular star cluster Messier 54
This visible-light wide-field image of the region around the globular star cluster Messier 54 was created from photographs forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The globular star cluster Messier 54 cluster appears at the centre.
APEX view of the region around the Spiderweb galaxy
This image shows the APEX view in sub-millimetre light of the region around the Spiderweb Galaxy — a protocluster of galaxies in the early Universe surrounding a radio galaxy containing a supermassive black hole. Some of the blobs in this image correspond to dusty star-forming galaxies in the...
The planetary nebula Abell 33 captured using ESO's Very Large Telescope
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have captured this eye-catching image of planetary nebula Abell 33. Created when an aging star blew off its outer layers, this beautiful blue bubble is, by chance, aligned with a foreground star, and bears an uncanny resemblance to a diamond...
Wide-field view of the sky around the rich galaxy cluster Abell 1689
This view from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 shows the region of sky in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) around the rich galaxy cluster Abell 1689. Many other, much closer, galaxies can also be seen in this picture.
MUSE colour-coded image of NGC 4650A
This colour composite of the unusual polar ring galaxy NGC 4650A was created from data from the new MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. For each part of this spectacular galaxy this new instrument splits the light up into its component colours — revealing in detail the chemical and...
View of the sky around the multiple star system GG Tauri
This wide-field view shows the sky around the young multiple star system GG Tauri, which appears very close to the centre of this picture. This view also shows a dust cloud and evidence of star formation near the top of the picture. This, like GG Tauri itself, is part of the Taurus Dark Cloud...
The colourful star cluster NGC 3590
This colourful new image from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the star cluster NGC 3590. These stars shine brightly in front of a dramatic landscape of dark patches of dust and richly hued clouds of glowing gas. This small stellar gathering gives...
Star formation in the southern Milky Way
This mosaic of images from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile shows two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. The first of these, on the left, is dominated by the star cluster NGC 3603, located about 20 000...
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