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RCW 36
A cosmic hawk and its baby stars
Today’s Picture of the Week, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), seems to have captured a cosmic hawk as it spans its wings. While the dark clouds in the middle of the image make up the head and body of the bird of prey, the filaments extending away from the body to the left and right...
NGC 1269
The Cosmic Steering Wheel NGC 1269
This Image of the Week of NGC 1269 was taken utilizing the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. NGC 1269...
Central Molecular Zone
Location of the Central Molecular Zone in the Milky Way
This image shows the location of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), a region at the core of our galaxy rich in dense and intricate gas clouds. This zone has been mapped with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), as part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey or ACES. The inset is...
Central Molecular Zone
Largest ALMA image ever shows the molecular gas in the centre of the Milky Way
This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. It was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. This map is as long as three full Moons side-by-side in the sky, and it is in...
Central Molecular Zone
Different molecules in the centre of the Milky Way observed with ALMA
This montage shows the distribution of different molecules in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. The observations were made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), as part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey or ACES. ACES has mapped the distribution of...
Chamaeleon
Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula
A wide-field view of the area around the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula.
AFGL 4106
Two's company
We humans are strongly influenced by the presence of companions over the course of our lives, shaping each other emotionally, culturally, or intellectually. This shaping effect is made literal in the case of stellar companions, which is the topic of today's Picture of the Week. The pair of...
1RXS J052832.5+283824
VLT image of a dead star creating a shock wave as it moves through space
The central square image, taken with the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows shock waves around the dead star RXJ0528+2838. When a star moves through space it can push away nearby material creating a so-called bow shock, which in this image is glowing in red, green and blue....
1RXS J052832.5+283824
Wide-field view (PanSTARRS) of the area of the sky around the star RXJ0528+2838
This image from the PanSTARRS survey shows the region of the sky around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, which is located at the very centre of the image.
1RXS J052832.5+283824
Wide-field view (DSS) of the area of the sky around the star RXJ0528+2838
This image from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) shows the region of the sky around the dead star RXJ0528+2838, which is located at the very centre of the image.
HD 121617
The precious rings of space
Not all rings are forged in fantasy, my precious! For astronomers, they are found in space. The ones in today’s Picture of the Week are debris discs: the leftovers of planet formation around other stars. Even our Solar System has a debris disc, known as the Kuiper Belt, where numerous asteroids...
Ve 7–27
Young or old? — There’s both
Today’s Picture of the Week represents an unexpected full circle moment. The depicted object, known as Ve 7–27, was long believed to be a planetary nebula — the end phase of a sun-like star’s life. But ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has shown that it’s actually a still-forming baby star. ...
Featured from the Archive
NGC 7331
Spitzer Mid-Inrared View of NGC 7331
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured a nearby spiral galaxy that resembles our own Milky Way. The galaxy, known as NGC 7331 and sometimes referred to as our galaxy's twin, is found in the constellation Pegasus at a distance of 50 million light-years.
