February - The Cat’s Paw and the Lobster Nebulae

This spectacular image from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) shows the Cat’s Paw (upper right) and the Lobster (lower left) Nebulae. These vivid displays are sites of active star formation: photons from hot young stars excite surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow red. Patches of dark dust clouds obscure parts of the picture, preventing the light from ever reaching us. With around two billion pixels, this is one of the largest images ever released by ESO. Note that the circular features around the bright stars in the image are not real, but are due to reflections within the optics of the telescope and the camera.