All quiet in the nursery?

Eso_potw1612a_1024

eso_potw1612a March 21st, 2016

Credit: ESO

The dark patch snaking across this spectacular image of a field of stars in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent-bearer) is not quite what it appears to be. Although it looks as if there are no stars here, they are hidden behind this dense cloud of dust that blocks out their light. This particular dark cloud is known as LDN 1768. Despite their rather dull appearance, dark nebulae like LDN 1768 are of huge interest to astronomers, as it is here that new stars form. Inside these vast stellar nurseries there are protostars — stars at the earliest stage of their lives, still coalescing out of the gas and dust in the cloud. Protostars are relatively cold and have not yet begun to produce enough energy to emit visible light. Instead, they emit radiation at submillimetre wavelengths, which human eyes cannot see. Luckily, unlike visible light, light at submillimetre wavelengths is not absorbed by the surrounding dust. By using special telescopes that are sensitive to submillimetre radiation, like the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory, we can see through the dust and find out more about the protostars within the cloud. Eventually, the protostars will become dense and hot enough to start the nuclear reactions that will produce visible light and they will start to shine. When this happens, they will blow away the cocoon of dust surrounding them and cause any remaining gas to emit light as well, creating the spectacular light show known as an HII region.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1612a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
ldn 1768
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Appearance > Dark
Eso_potw1612a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 17h 20m 13.2s
DEC = -26° 51’ 12.1”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
35.0 x 33.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Ophiuchus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (I) -
Green MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (V) -
Cyan MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (B+V) -
Blue MPG-2.2m (WFI) Optical (B) -
Eso_potw1612a_1280
×
ID
potw1612a
Subject Category
B.4.2.3  
Subject Name
ldn 1768
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2016-03-21T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1612a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
Instrument
WFI, WFI, WFI, WFI
Color Assignment
Red, Green, Cyan, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, V, B+V, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
260.055161502, -26.8533674625
Reference Dimension
8831.0, 8418.0
Reference Pixel
4415.5, 4209.0
Scale
-6.61073705653e-05, 6.61073705653e-05
Rotation
0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1612a
Metadata Date
2015-06-17T12:11:44+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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