New 1.5-billion-pixel image shows Running Chicken Nebula in unprecedented detail

Whereas many vacation traditions contain feasts of turkey, soba noodles, latkes or Pan de Pascua, this yr, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is bringing you a vacation hen. The so-called Operating Hen Nebula, dwelling to younger stars within the making, is revealed in spectacular element on this 1.5-billion-pixel picture captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at ESO’s Paranal website in Chile.

This huge stellar nursery is positioned within the constellation Centaurus (the Centaur), at about 6,500 light-years from Earth. Younger stars inside this nebula emit intense radiation that makes the encircling hydrogen fuel glow in shades of pink.

The Operating Hen Nebula really contains a number of areas, all of which we are able to see on this huge picture that spans an space within the sky of about 25 full moons. The brightest area inside the nebula is known as IC 2948, the place some individuals see the hen’s head and others its rear finish. The wispy pastel contours are ethereal plumes of fuel and dust. In direction of the middle of the picture, marked by the brilliant, vertical, nearly pillar-like construction, is IC 2944. The brightest twinkle on this explicit area is Lambda Centauri, a star seen to the naked eye that’s a lot nearer to us than the nebula itself.

There are, nevertheless, many young stars inside IC 2948 and IC 2944 themselves—and whereas they is perhaps vivid, they’re most actually not merry. As they spit out huge quantities of radiation, they carve up their atmosphere very like, nicely, a hen. Some areas of the nebula, often called Bok globules, can face up to the fierce bombardment from the ultraviolet radiation pervading this area. In the event you zoom in to the picture, you would possibly see them: small, darkish, and dense pockets of dust and fuel dotted throughout the nebula.

Different areas pictured right here embody, to the higher proper, Gum 39 and 40, and to the decrease proper, Gum 41. Except for nebulae, there are numerous orange, white and blue stars, like fireworks within the sky. General on this picture, there are extra wonders than might be described—zoom in and pan throughout, and you will have a feast for the eyes.

This picture is a big mosaic comprising tons of of separate frames fastidiously stitched collectively. The person pictures have been taken by means of filters that permit by means of gentle of various colours, which have been then mixed into the ultimate outcome introduced right here.

The observations have been carried out with the wide-field digicam OmegaCAM on the VST, a telescope owned by the Nationwide Institute for Astrophysics in Italy (INAF) and hosted by ESO at its Paranal website in Chile’s Atacama Desert that’s ideally suited to mapping the southern sky in visible light. The info that went into making this mosaic have been taken as a part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Airplane and Bulge (VPHAS+), a mission geared toward higher understanding the life cycle of stars.