Infrared/visible crossfade of the Cat’s Paw Nebula

This sequence compares the new infrared image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula from the VISTA telescope with a picture of the same part of the sky imaged in visible light from ESO’s Wide Field Imager on the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The longer wavelength light observed by VISTA can penetrate the dusty regions of the nebula, and find stars that would otherwise be invisible, despite their energetic burning.