Nebula of Many Names Revealed in Beautiful New Image

By Nancy Atkinson - January 4, 2012 at 3:13 PM UTC | Milky Way
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The Omega Nebula goes by many names, depending on who observed it when and what they thought they saw. So, what do you see in this new image from the Very Large Telescope? This is one of the sharpest images of this nebula ever taken from the ground, and it reveals incredible detail in the smoky-pink gas clouds and dark dust, highlighted with brilliant newborn stars.

Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory said the "seeing" — a term astronomers use to measure the distorting effects of Earth's atmosphere — on the night of the observations this image was taken was very good, thus this incredibly vivid image.

A common measure for seeing is the apparent diameter of a star when seen through a telescope. In this case, the measure of seeing was an extremely favorable 0.45 arcseconds, meaning little blurring and twinkling occurred while the VLT stared at this nebula.

The other names given to the Omega Nebula include the Swan Nebula, the Horseshoe Nebula and the Lobster Nebula. It also has the official catalog names of Messier 17 (M17) and NGC 6618. The nebula is located about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. It is a popular target of astronomers, and is one of the youngest and most active stellar nurseries for massive stars in the Milky Way.

The gas and dust visible in the Omega Nebula provides the raw materials for creating the next generation of stars. The newborn stars shine brightly in blue-white light, illuminating the entire nebula. , The gas appears in pink hues, as the hydrogen gas glows from the intense ultraviolet rays from the hot young stars.

The image was taken with the FORS (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph) instrument on Antu, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the VLT.

Source:

ESO

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com