Gone with the wind

M1-67 is the youngest wind-nebula around a Wolf-Rayet star, called WR124, in our Galaxy. These Wolf-Rayet stars start their lives with dozens of times the mass of our Sun, but loose most of it through a powerful wind, which is ultimately responsible for the formation of the nebula.

Ten years ago, Hubble Space Telescope observations revealed a wealth of small knots and substructures inside the nebula. The same team, led by Cédric Foellmi (ESO), has now used ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to watch how these structures have evolved and what they can teach us about stellar winds, their chemistry, and how they mix with the surrounding interstellar medium, before the star will eventually blow everything away in a fiery supernova explosion.

The image is based on FORS1 data obtained by the Paranal Science team with the VLT through 2 wide (B and V) and 3 narrow-band filters.

Oikeudet:

ESO

Kuvasta

Tunnistus:wr124
Tyyppi:Havainto
Julkaisupäivä:3. joulukuuta 2009 23:20
Koko:3135 x 2679 px

Kohteesta

Nimi:WR124
Tyyppi:Milky Way : Nebula
Milky Way : Star : Type : Wolf-Rayet
Etäisyys:10000 valovuotta
Constellation:Sagitta
Kategoria:Nebulae
Stars

Kuvaformaatit

Suuri JPEG
3,4 MB
Kokoruudun JPEG
218,8 KB

Taustakuvat

1024x768
271,9 KB
1280x1024
447,9 KB
1600x1200
681,8 KB
1920x1200
866,2 KB
2048x1536
1,2 MB

Koordinaatit

Position (RA):19 11 30.92
Position (Dec):16° 51' 37.95"
Field of view:3.29 x 2.81 arcminutes
Suuntaus:Pohjoinen on 0.2° vasen pystysuuntaan nähden

Värit ja suotimet

KaistaTeleskooppi
Optinen
V
Very Large Telescope
FORS1
Optinen
B
Very Large Telescope
FORS1