Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have just released an image of a giant cloud of gas and dust, shaped like a bat spreading its wings, soaring into space. This unique image was obtained with the VLT survey telescope located at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert.
This unusual nebula is located about 10 thousand light years from Earth, between the southern constellations Circulus and Norma. In terms of area, it occupies an area of the sky equal to four full Moons and appears to be “hunting” for the bright light of a star directly above.
This area is the star factory, where new stars are born. Young stars emit energy, causing surrounding hydrogen atoms to glow deep red. The dark filaments that form the space mouse's “skeleton” are made up of denser, cooler clouds of dust and gas that block visible light behind them.
The brightest parts of this nebula are known as RCW 94 (the bat's right “leg”) and RCW 95 (“its body”). The remaining parts do not have official names.
The photo was taken using the wide field of view of the VST telescope, owned by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics. It is equipped with a modern 268-megapixel OmegaCAM camera, which allows you to obtain detailed images of large areas of the sky.
