IC 2944 with FORS2

This raw image, straight from the instrument, was used, together with many others, to produce the main photo at the top of this page. The images taken with astronomical instruments are always monochromatic: the information on the colours is obtained by taking exposures through different glass filters. The thick black line cutting the field is the gap between the two detectors in the camera. Long “bleeds” caused by bright stars saturating the detector are also visible.