Nebula around star cluster RCW 38

The wider region surrounding the star cluster RCW 38, located about 5,500 light years away in the direction of the constellation Vela (the Sails). RCW 38 is an "embedded" cluster, in that the nascent cloud of dust and gas still envelops its stars. There, young, titanic stars bombard fledgling suns and planets with powerful winds and large amount of light, helped in their devastating task by short- lived, massive stars that explode as supernovae. In some cases, this energetic onslaught cooks away the matter that may eventually form new planetary systems. Scientists think that our own Solar System emerged from such a dramatic environment.

This image was obtained with the Wide Field Imager instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla, using data collected through four filters (B, V, R and H-alpha). The field of view is 30 arcminutes.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso0929c
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:19 augustus 2009
Gerelateerde berichten:eso0929
Grootte:8426 x 8332 px

Over het object

Naam:RCW 38
Type:Milky Way : Nebula
Solar System : Star : Grouping : Cluster
Afstand:5500 lichtjaren
Constellation:Vela
Categorie:Nebulae
Star Clusters

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
12,1 MB

Inzoomen


Achtergrond

1024x768
337,1 KB
1280x1024
521,5 KB
1600x1200
704,8 KB
1920x1200
790,5 KB
2048x1536
1,0 MB

Coordinates

Position (RA):8 59 47.23
Position (Dec):-47° 31' 57.27"
Field of view:33.43 x 33.05 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.0° right of vertical

Kleuren & filters

BandTelescoop
Optisch
B
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
Pseudogreen (B+R)
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
H-alpha
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI
Optisch
R
MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope
WFI