Astronomers using VLT ESO Survey Telescope captured a beautiful image of a large nebula, the mesmerizing appearance of which resembles the silhouette of a bat.
This VST image shows a cloud of gas and dust shaped like a cosmic bat. The intense red glow comes from hydrogen atoms ionized by intense radiation from young stars inside the cloud. The most notable objects here are RCW 94, which represents the right wing of the bat, and RCW 95, which forms the body, while the rest of the bat has no official designation. Image credit: ESO/VPHAS+ Team/VVV Team.
“Located about 10,000 light-years away, this 'cosmic bat' is flying between the southern constellations Circulus and Norma,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“Spanning an area of the sky equal to four full moons, it looks like it's trying to hunt the glowing patch above it for food.”
“This nebula is a stellar nursery, a huge cloud of gas and dust from which stars are born.”
“The young stars within it release enough energy to excite the hydrogen atoms around them, causing them to glow with the intense red hue seen in this eye-catching image.”
“The dark filaments in the nebula look like the skeleton of our cosmic bat.”
“These structures are cooler, denser clumps of gas than their surroundings, with dust particles that block visible light from the stars behind.”
“Named after the large catalog of bright star-forming regions in the southern sky, the most prominent clouds here are RKV 94which represents the right wing of the bat, and RKV 95which forms the body, while the rest of the bat has no official designation.”
This new image was taken by ESO's VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.
“VST is ideally positioned to capture these large, creepy creatures,” the astronomers said.
“On board is OmegaCAM, a state-of-the-art 268-megapixel camera that allows the VST to capture large areas of the sky.”
“This image was composed by combining observations through different filters that are transparent to different colors or wavelengths of light.”
“Much of the bat's shape, including the red glow, was imaged in visible light by the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Ledge (VPHAS+).”
“Additional infrared data adds vibrant color to the densest parts of the nebula and was obtained with ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) within the VISTA variables of the Via Láctea (VVV) survey.”
“Both surveys are open to anyone who wants to take a deep dive into this endless pool of space photography.”
