Serpent in the sky captured with ESO telescope

A myriad of stars is revealed behind the faint orange glow of the Sh2-54 nebula on this new infrared picture. Situated within the constellation Serpens, this beautiful stellar nursery has been captured in all its intricate element utilizing the Seen and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) based mostly at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.

When the ancients appeared up on the evening sky they noticed random patterns within the stars. The Greeks, for example, named one in every of these “constellations” Serpens, due to its resemblance to a snake. What they would not have been capable of see is that on the tail finish of this constellation there’s a wealth of beautiful astronomical objects. These embrace the Eagle, the Omega and the Sh2-54 nebulae; the final of those is revealed, in a brand new mild, on this spectacular infrared picture.

Nebulae are huge clouds of fuel and dust from which stars are born. Telescopes have allowed astronomers to establish and analyze these relatively faint objects in beautiful element. The nebula proven right here, situated about 6000 light-years away, is formally known as Sh2-54; the “Sh” refers back to the US astronomer Steward Sharpless, who cataloged greater than 300 nebulae within the Fifties.

Because the expertise used to discover the Universe progresses, so too does our understanding of those stellar nurseries. Considered one of these advances is the flexibility to look past the sunshine that may be detected by our eyes, resembling infrared mild. Simply because the snake, the namesake of this nebula, advanced the flexibility to sense infrared mild to higher perceive its atmosphere, so too have we developed infrared devices to be taught extra in regards to the Universe.

While visible light is well absorbed by clouds of dust in nebulae, infrared mild can move by way of the thick layers of dust virtually unimpeded. The picture right here subsequently reveals a wealth of stars hidden behind the veils of dust. That is significantly helpful because it permits scientists to check what occurs in stellar nurseries in a lot better element, and thus be taught extra about how stars kind.

This picture was captured in infrared light utilizing the delicate 67-million-pixel digicam on ESO’s VISTA telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile. It was taken as a part of the VVVX survey—the VISTA Variables within the By way of Láctea eXtended survey. This can be a multi-year undertaking that has repeatedly noticed a big portion of the Milky Way at infrared wavelengths, offering key knowledge to know stellar evolution.