The Lobster Nebula seen with ESO’s VISTA telescope

This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope captures a celestial landscape of vast, glowing clouds of gas and tendrils of dust surrounding hot young stars. This infrared view reveals the stellar nursery known as NGC 6357 in a new light. It was taken as part of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey, which is currently scanning the Milky Way in a bid to map our galaxy’s structure and explain how it formed.

Credit:

ESO/VVV Survey/D. Minniti. Acknowledgement: Ignacio Toledo

About the Image

Id:eso1309a
Type:Observation
Release date:20 February 2013, 12:00
Related releases:eso2413, eso1309
Size:16000 x 16000 px

About the Object

Name:NGC 6357
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Distance:8000 light years
Constellation:Scorpius
Category:Nebulae

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Coordinates

Position (RA):17 25 4.43
Position (Dec):-34° 18' 40.00"
Field of view:90.92 x 90.92 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 56.0° left of vertical