The sky around the star formation region RCW 106 (annotated)

In this huge image of part of the southern constellation of Norma (The Carpenter’s Square) wisps of crimson gas are illuminated by rare, massive stars that have only recently ignited and are still buried deep in thick dust clouds. The vast nebula where these giants were born, known as RCW 106, is captured here in fine detail by ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST), at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Many other interesting objects are also captured in this wide-field image. For example the filaments to the right of the image are the remnants of an ancient supernova (SNR G332.4-00.4, also known as RCW 103), and the glowing red filaments at the lower left surround an unusual and very hot star (RCW 104, surrounding the Wolf–Rayet star WR 75). Patches of dark obscuring dust are also visible across the entire cosmic landscape.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso1607c
Type:Collage
Publicatiedatum:2 maart 2016 12:00
Gerelateerde berichten:eso1607
Grootte:30650 x 18517 px

Over het object

Naam:RCW 103, RCW 104, RCW 106, WR 75
Type:Milky Way : Star : Type : Wolf-Rayet
Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Categorie:Nebulae

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
89,4 MB