Carved by massive stars

This image, captured by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal, shows a small part of the well-known emission nebula, NGC 6357, located some 8000 light-years away, in the tail of the southern constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). The image glows with the characteristic red of an H II region, and contains a large amount of ionised and excited hydrogen gas.

The cloud is bathed in intense ultraviolet radiation — mainly from the open star cluster Pismis 24, home to some massive, young, blue stars — which it re-emits as visible light, in this distinctive red hue.

The cluster itself is out of the field of view of this picture, its diffuse light seen illuminating the cloud on the centre-right of the image. We are looking at a close-up of the surrounding nebula, showing a mesh of gas, dark dust, and newly born and still forming stars.

Oikeudet:

ESO

Kuvasta

Tunnistus:potw1334a
Tyyppi:Havainto
Julkaisupäivä:26. elokuuta 2013 10:00
Koko:1807 x 1807 px

Kohteesta

Nimi:NGC 6357
Tyyppi:Local Universe : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Etäisyys:10000 valovuotta
Constellation:Scorpius
Kategoria:Nebulae
Stars

Kuvaformaatit

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Koordinaatit

Position (RA):17 26 28.86
Position (Dec):-34° 12' 0.26"
Field of view:7.61 x 7.61 arcminutes
Suuntaus:Pohjoinen on 30.0° oikea pystysuuntaan nähden