Gone with the wind

M1-67 is the youngest wind-nebula around a Wolf-Rayet star, called WR124, in our Galaxy. These Wolf-Rayet stars start their lives with dozens of times the mass of our Sun, but loose most of it through a powerful wind, which is ultimately responsible for the formation of the nebula.

Ten years ago, Hubble Space Telescope observations revealed a wealth of small knots and substructures inside the nebula. The same team, led by Cédric Foellmi (ESO), has now used ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to watch how these structures have evolved and what they can teach us about stellar winds, their chemistry, and how they mix with the surrounding interstellar medium, before the star will eventually blow everything away in a fiery supernova explosion.

The image is based on FORS1 data obtained by the Paranal Science team with the VLT through 2 wide (B and V) and 3 narrow-band filters.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:wr124
Type:Observation
Release date:3 December 2009, 23:20
Size:3135 x 2679 px

About the Object

Name:WR124
Type:Milky Way : Nebula
Milky Way : Star : Type : Wolf-Rayet
Distance:10000 light years
Constellation:Sagitta
Category:Nebulae
Stars

Image Formats

Large JPEG
3.4 MB
Screensize JPEG
218.8 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
271.9 KB
1280x1024
447.9 KB
1600x1200
681.8 KB
1920x1200
866.2 KB
2048x1536
1.2 MB

Coordinates

Position (RA):19 11 30.92
Position (Dec):16° 51' 37.95"
Field of view:3.29 x 2.81 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.2° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
V
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
B
Very Large Telescope
FORS1