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22h ago

ESO Telescope Reveals Bat-Shaped Stellar Nursery 10,000 Light-Years Away

The wide-field portrait combines VPHAS+ visible data with VVV infrared to map RCW 94 and RCW 95 in striking detail.

This image shows a cloud of gas and dust, shaped like a cosmic bat. The image was obtained mostly in visible light with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The intense red glow comes from hydrogen atoms ionised by the intense radiation of young stars within the cloud. The image also includes additional infrared data captured by ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), also at Paranal. The most prominent clouds here are RCW 94, which represents the right wing of the bat, and RCW 95, which forms the body, while the other parts of the bat have no official designation. (Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team/VVV team)
Image

Overview

  • Captured by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, the nebula’s silhouette resembles a bat gliding between Circinus and Norma.
  • The glowing red emission traces hydrogen ionized by radiation from newly formed stars embedded in the cloud.
  • Dense, cooler dust filaments block background starlight, creating the dark, skeletal features seen across the complex.
  • RCW 94 outlines the right wing and RCW 95 forms the body, while other portions of the structure lack official designations.
  • Spanning an area about four full Moons across, the image was made with the 268‑megapixel OmegaCAM on VST, with publicly accessible survey data from VPHAS+ and VVV.