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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 Sky Survey 2.
Distance:1,500 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
This close-up pan video shows the most detailed image ever taken of the Medusa Nebula (also known Abell 21 and Sharpless 2-274). It was captured using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. As the star at the heart of this nebula made its final transition into retirement, it shed its outer layers into space, forming this colorful cloud. The image foreshadows the final fate of the Sun, which will eventually also become an object of this kind.
This video zoom takes you from a wide view of the sky deep into the constellation of Gemini (The Twins). There we see a strange object—the Medusa Nebula. As the star at the heart of this nebula made its final transition into retirement, it shed its outer layers into space, forming this colorful cloud. The image foreshadows the final fate of the Sun, which will eventually also become an object of this kind. The final very detailed image was captured using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.
Distance:1,500 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has captured a detailed image 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 colorful cloud. The image foreshadows the final fate of the Sun, which will eventually also become an object of this kind.
This pan video gives a close-up look at a spectacular group of young stars—the open star cluster NGC 3766 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur).
Distance:7,000 light years
Very careful observations of these stars by a group from the Geneva Observatory using the Swiss 1.2-meter Leonhard Euler Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile have shown that 36 of the stars are members of a new and unknown class of variable star.
This zoom video starts with a wide view of the Milky Way and ends with a close-up look at a spectacular group of young stars—the open star cluster NGC 3766 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur).
Distance:7,000 light years
Very careful observations of these stars by a group from the Geneva Observatory using the Swiss 1.2-meter Leonhard Euler Telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile have shown that 36 of the stars are members of a new and unknown class of variable star.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Nick Risinger/Hiro
This spectacular group of young stars is the open star cluster NGC 3766 in the constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). Very careful observations of these stars by a group from the Geneva Observatory using the Swiss 1.2-meter Leonhard Euler Telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have shown that 36 of the stars are of a new and unknown class of variable star.
Distance:7,000 light years
This image was taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory.
ESOcast 238 Light: When Betelgeuse, a bright orange star in the constellation of Orion, became visibly darker in late 2019 and early 2020, the astronomy community was puzzled. A team of astronomers have now published new research done with ESO's Very Large Telescope and Very Large Telescope interferometer that solves the mystery of Betelgeuse's dimming. This ESOcast Light summarizes the discovery.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Herbert Zodet and Martin Wallner
Editing: Herbert Zodet
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Written by: Thea Elvin, Anna Purdue, Giulio Mazzolo and Bárbara Ferreira
Footage and photos: ESO, P. Kervella, M. Montargès et al., L. Calçada, Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: E. Pantin, N. Risinger and P. Horálek
Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova
ESO Telescope Sees Surface of Supergiant Star Betelgeuse
ESOcast 217 Light: Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have captured the unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the constellation Orion.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Herbert Zodet
Editing : Herbert Zodet
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Written by: Caitlyn Buongiorno and Bárbara Ferreira
Footage and photos: ESO, Kervella/M. Montargès et al., acknowledgement: Eric Pantin, Digitized Sky Survey 2, M. Zamani and P. Horálek
Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova
This video takes the viewer from the constellation of Orion to the surface of the supergiant star Betelgeuse, which underwent an unprecedented dimming in late 2019 and early 2020. As we zoom closer to the star, we see the star's "flames"—clouds of dust captured in a dramatic image taken with the VISIR instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The dot appearing at the end of the zoom is a March 2020 image taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope showing Betelgeuse’s visible surface, which has a size close to that of the orbit of Jupiter.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/P. Kervella/M. Montargès et al., Digitized Sky Survey 2
Red Supergiant Betelgeuse | European Southern Observatory
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant of spectral type M1-2 and one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye. It is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. This image is a color composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The field of view is approximatelly 2.0 x 1.5 degrees.
Distance:650 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System—the ageing red giant π1 Gruis. This remarkable new image from the PIONIER instrument reveals the convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star’s diameter and measures about 120 million kilometers across.
π1 Gruis: Giant Bubbles on Red Giant Star’s Surface | ESO
ESOcast 144 Light: Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System—the ageing red giant π1 Gruis.
A remarkable image from the PIONIER instrument reveals the convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star, which is 350 times larger than the Sun. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star’s diameter and measures about 120 million kilometers across.
The ESOcast Light is a series of short videos bringing you the wonders of the Universe in bite-sized pieces.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Nico Bartmann
Editing: Nico Bartmann
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida
Written by: Rosa Jesse and Richard Hook
Footage and photos: ESO, B. Lazareff (LAOG), Digitized Sky Survey 2, N. Risinger, NASA, SDO, M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada, H. Boffin, ESA
This sequence takes the viewer towards the southern constellation of Grus (The Crane). We zoom in on the pair of stars π1 Gruis (red) and π2 Gruis (bluish-white), and the bright spiral galaxy IC 5201 is also visible. The final shot shows a very detailed view of the surface of the red giant star π1 Gruis from the PIONIER instrument on the VLT Interferometer.
Distance: about 530 light-years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger
This colorful image shows the sky around the bright pair of stars π1 Gruis (center-right, very red) and π2 Gruis (center-left, bluish-white). Just right of center the bright spiral galaxy IC 5201 is also visible and many other fainter galaxies are scattered across this wide-field image from the Digitized Sky Survey 2.