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This sequence takes the viewer from a wide view of the Milky Way deep into the central regions, where many bright star forming regions and star clusters can be seen. The final view is a close-up of the sky around the bright star cluster Messier 18 taken with the VLT Survey Telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory.
Credit: European Southern Observatory/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinge
Star Cluster Messier 18 and its surroundings | ESO
The small smattering of bright blue stars upper left of center 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 and dust. This image was captured by the OmegaCAM camera attached to the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) located at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300: Warm Gas Clouds & Stars | ESO
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300 was taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the European Southern Observatory’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 and infrared filters) reveal the distribution of slightly older stars.
NGC 1300 is a spiral galaxy, with a bar of stars and gas at its center, located approximately 61 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus.
The images were taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/PHANGS
Galaxy NGC 1300: Views in Multiple Wavelengths | ESO
This video shows images of NGC 1300, a spiral galaxy with a bar of stars and gas at its center located approximately 61 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus, taken at many different wavelengths of light. The observations were conducted with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner.
The first two images are from the MUSE data. The first one, revealing the distribution of young stars, fades to a combined image that includes clouds of ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars.
The next image shows the ALMA data only. ALMA was used to map cold clouds of molecular gas, which provide the raw material from which stars form. Thousands of stars can form in just one of these molecular clouds, yet these stellar nurseries are invisible to the human eye—they can only be observed via the radio waves emitted by carbon monoxide (CO).
The following image is a combination of all the MUSE and ALMA data, forming a colorful cosmic firework, which is helping astronomers to unlock the secrets of star formation.
The images were taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300 in Multiple Light Wavelengths | ESO
This image of the nearby galaxy NGC 1300 was obtained by combining observations taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. NGC 1300 is a barred spiral galaxy, with a bar of stars and gas at its center, located approximately 61 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars.
This image is a combination of observations conducted at different wavelengths of light to map stellar populations and gas. ALMA’s observations are represented in brownish-orange tones and highlight the clouds of cold molecular gas that provide the raw material from which stars form. The MUSE data show up mainly in gold and blue. The bright golden glows map warm clouds of mainly ionized hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas, marking the presence of newly born stars, while the bluish regions reveal the distribution of slightly older stars.
The image was taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS
On Sunday, September 4, 2022, at 10:09 p.m. ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 51 Starlink satellites and Spaceflight’s Sherpa-LTC, an orbital transfer vehicle, to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This was the seventh flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, KPLO, and now three Starlink missions.
The Bright Star Cluster IC 4651: Wide-field View | ESO
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 in the constellation of Ara (The Altar).
Distance:3,000 light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
This pan video gives a close-up view of a rich array of colorful stars known as IC 4651. It was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.
This video starts with a view of the southern Milky Way and takes us on a journey towards the open star cluster IC 4651, in the constellation of Ara (The Altar). The MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile captured the final rich and colorful close-up view.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger
This rich view of a tapestry of colorful stars was captured by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera, on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory’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).
This compilation shows a few of the many highlights in an enormous three gigapixel image from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) VLT Survey Telescope (VST) that includes the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula, and the Omega Nebula.
Two of the sky’s more famous residents share the stage with a lesser-known neighbor in this enormous three gigapixel image from the European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). On the right lies the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) is in the center, and the Omega Nebula (Messier 17) to the left. This cosmic trio makes up just a portion of a vast complex of gas and dust within which new stars are springing to life and illuminating their surroundings.
Highlights of Three Nebulae: Sharpless 2-54, Eagle Nebula & Omega Nebula | ESO
This pan video shows a few of the many highlights in an enormous three gigapixel image from the European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) that includes the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula.
Three Nebulae: Sharpless 2-54, Eagle Nebula, Omega Nebula | ESO
Three spectacular nebulae in one image
Two of the sky’s more famous residents share the stage with a lesser-known neighbor in this enormous three gigapixel image from the European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST). On the right lies the faint, glowing cloud of gas called Sharpless 2-54, the iconic Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) is in the center, and the Omega Nebula (Messier 17) to the left. This cosmic trio makes up just a portion of a vast complex of gas and dust within which new stars are springing to life and illuminating their surroundings.
This wide-field view is centered on the spiral galaxy NGC 1187 in the constellation of Eridanus (The River). It is a color composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2). The distorted companion galaxy ESO 480-G020 can be seen to the upper-right of NGC 1187, close to a star. The bright star at the bottom of the picture is Tau3 Eridani.
Distance:60 million light years
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1187: Location of Supernova 2007Y | ESO
This picture taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) shows the galaxy NGC 1187. This impressive spiral lies about 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus (The River). NGC 1187 has hosted two supernova explosions during the last thirty years, the latest one in 2007. Type Ib supernova 2007Y is still faintly visible in this picture and is marked with a circle.
A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star. Type Ib supernovae are formed when a massive star collapses under its own gravity. This star must have had its outer envelope of hydrogen stripped away, because we observe no hydrogen in the spectra of these objects. However, we do observe the second ‘onion layer’ of helium.
