Nebulae near the hot binary star BAT99-49 in the LMC

The nebula around the hot double star BAT99-49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), obtained in January 2002 with the FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT MELIPAL telescope at the Paranal Observatory (Chile). It is based on three exposures through narrow-band optical (interference) filters that isolate the light from specific atoms and ions. In this rendering, the blue colour represents the light from singly ionized Helium (He II; wavelength 468.6 nm; exposure time 45 min), green corresponds to doubly ionized oxygen ([O III]; 495.7 + 500.7 nm; 5 min) and red to hydrogen atoms (H; H-alpha line at 656.2 nm; 5 min). Of these three ions, He II is the tracer of high excitation, i.e. the bluest areas of the nebula are the hottest. The sky field measures 400 x 400 square arcsec ; the original pixel size on the 2k x 2k CCD is 0.23 arcsec. North is up and east to the left.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso0310c
Type:Observation
Release date:9 April 2003
Related releases:eso0310
Size:1914 x 1917 px

About the Object

Name:BAT99-49
Type:Local Universe : Nebula
Distance:180000 light years
Constellation:Mensa
Category:Nebulae

Image Formats

Large JPEG
927.2 KB
Screensize JPEG
579.5 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
571.2 KB
1280x1024
844.0 KB
1600x1200
1.0 MB
1920x1200
1.1 MB
2048x1536
1.4 MB

Coordinates

Position (RA):5 29 33.72
Position (Dec):-70° 59' 26.94"
Field of view:6.64 x 6.64 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.1° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
Heii
468 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
Oiii
500 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
Oiii
495 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS1
Optical
H-alpha
656 nmVery Large Telescope
FORS1