Nebula around star cluster RCW 38

The wider region surrounding the star cluster RCW 38, located about 5,500 light years away in the direction of the constellation Vela (the Sails). RCW 38 is an "embedded" cluster, in that the nascent cloud of dust and gas still envelops its stars. There, young, titanic stars bombard fledgling suns and planets with powerful winds and large amount of light, helped in their devastating task by short- lived, massive stars that explode as supernovae. In some cases, this energetic onslaught cooks away the matter that may eventually form new planetary systems. Scientists think that our own Solar System emerged from such a dramatic environment.

This image was obtained with the Wide Field Imager instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla, using data collected through four filters (B, V, R and H-alpha). The field of view is 30 arcminutes.

Bildnachweis:

ESO

Über das Bild

ID:eso0929c
Typ:Beobachtung
Veröffentlichungsdatum:19. August 2009
Dazugehörige Veröffentlichungen:eso0929
Größe:8426 x 8332 px

Über das Objekt

Name:RCW 38
Typ:Milky Way : Nebula
Solar System : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Entfernung:5500 Lichtjahre
Constellation:Vela
Kategorie:Nebulae
Star Clusters

Bildformate

Großes JPEG
12,1 MB

Skalierbar


Bildschirm-Hintergrundbilder

1024x768
337,1 KB
1280x1024
521,5 KB
1600x1200
704,8 KB
1920x1200
790,5 KB
2048x1536
1,0 MB

Koordinaten

Position (RA):8 59 47.23
Position (Dec):-47° 31' 57.27"
Field of view:33.43 x 33.05 arcminutes
Orientierung:Die Nordrichtung liegt 0.0° rechts zur Vertikale

Farben & Filter

SpektralbereichTeleskop
Optisch
B
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
Pseudogreen (B+R)
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
H-alpha
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
R
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI