Digitized Sky Survey image around NGC 2467
This vivid picture of an active star forming region — NGC 2467, otherwise known as the Skull and Crossbones nebula — is as sinister as it is beautiful. This image of dust, gas and bright young stars, gravitationally bound into the form of a grinning skull, was captured with the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Whilst ESO’s telescopes are usually used for the collection of science data, their immense resolving power makes them ideal for capturing images such as this — which are beautiful for their own sake.
The image is a colour composite made from exposures from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2), and shows the region surrounding NGC 2467. The field of view is approximately 2.4 x 2.0 degrees.
Credit:ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin
About the Image
Id: | eso1834b |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 24 October 2018, 17:00 |
Related releases: | eso1834 |
Size: | 10817 x 10477 px |
About the Object
Name: | NGC 2467 |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region |
Distance: | 4500 light years |
Constellation: | Puppis |
Category: | Nebulae |
Image Formats
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 7 52 23.76 |
Position (Dec): | -26° 26' 50.92" |
Field of view: | 181.75 x 176.04 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 0.9° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical B | 479 nm | Digitized Sky Survey 2 |
Optical R | 649 nm | Digitized Sky Survey 2 |