The Cone Nebula: 3D Animation | ESO

The Cone Nebula: 3D Animation | ESO

Resembling a nightmarish beast rearing its head from a crimson sea, this celestial object is actually just a pillar of gas and dust. Called the Cone Nebula (in NGC 2264)—so named because in ground-based images it has a conical shape—this monstrous pillar resides in a turbulent star-forming region.

Distance: 2,500 light years in the constellation Monoceros

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. Kornmesser

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: November 27, 2015

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