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10h ago

ESO Unveils VST Image of ‘Cosmic Bat’ Nebula for Halloween

A wide-field composite reveals a stellar nursery about 10,000 light-years away, combining VST visible data with VISTA infrared observations.

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)

Overview

  • The most prominent clouds in the complex are catalogued as RCW 94 forming the right wing and RCW 95 forming the body.
  • The feature spans an area of sky roughly equal to four full Moons between the southern constellations Circinus and Norma.
  • Radiation from infant stars ionizes hydrogen to produce the intense red Hα glow, while colder dust filaments block background starlight.
  • OmegaCAM’s 268‑megapixel imager on the VLT Survey Telescope supplied the VPHAS+ visible-light data, complemented by VISTA’s VVV infrared views.
  • ESO highlights that the VPHAS+ and VVV survey datasets are publicly accessible for further exploration and research.