ESO images a wondrous star factory to mark 60 years of collaboration

For the previous 60 years the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has been enabling scientists worldwide to find the secrets and techniques of the universe. We mark this milestone by bringing you a spectacular new picture of a star manufacturing facility, the Cone Nebula, taken with ESO’s Very Massive Telescope (VLT).

On October 5, 1962, 5 international locations signed the conference to create ESO. Now, six a long time later and supported by 16 Member States and strategic companions, ESO brings collectively scientists and engineers from throughout the globe to develop and function superior ground-based observatories in Chile that allow breakthrough astronomical discoveries.

On the event of ESO’s sixtieth anniversary we’re releasing this outstanding new picture of the Cone Nebula, captured earlier this 12 months with one in all ESO’s telescopes and chosen by ESO workers. That is a part of a marketing campaign marking ESO’s 60^th anniversary and happening in late 2022, each on social media beneath the #ESO60years hashtag, and with native occasions within the ESO Member States and different international locations.

On this new picture, we see center-stage the seven-light-year-long pillar of the Cone Nebula, which is a part of the bigger star-forming area NGC 2264 and was found within the late 18th century by astronomer William Herschel. Within the sky, we discover this horn-shaped nebula within the constellation Monoceros (The Unicorn), a surprisingly becoming title.

Situated lower than 2,500 light-years away, the Cone Nebula is comparatively near Earth, making it a well-studied object. However this view is extra dramatic than any obtained earlier than, because it showcases the nebula’s darkish and impenetrable cloudy look in a manner that makes it resemble a mythological creature.

The Cone Nebula is an ideal instance of the pillar-like shapes that develop within the big clouds of chilly molecular fuel and dust, identified for creating new stars. One of these pillar arises when huge, newly fashioned vibrant blue stars give off stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation that blow away the fabric from their neighborhood. As this materials is pushed away, the fuel and dust additional away from the young stars will get compressed into dense, darkish and tall pillar-like shapes. This course of helps create the darkish Cone Nebula, pointing away from the sensible stars in NGC 2264.

On this picture, obtained with the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) on ESO’s VLT in Chile, hydrogen fuel is represented in blue and sulfur fuel in pink. Using these filters makes the in any other case vibrant blue stars, that point out the latest star formation, seem nearly golden, contrasting with the darkish cone like sparklers.

This picture is only one instance of the numerous gorgeous and awe-inspiring observations ESO telescopes have made previously 60 years. Whereas this one was obtained for outreach functions, the overwhelming majority of ESO’s telescope time is devoted to scientific observations which have allowed us to seize the first image of an exoplanet, study the black hole on the heart of our house galaxy, and find proof that the enlargement of our universe is accelerating.