OmegaCAM Sees Three Nebulae in Sagittarius

There are two different types of nebulae in this new image from the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal Observatory in Chile.

“The large, bright emission nebula at the center is the star-forming region IC 1284,” ESO astronomers said.

Located in the constellation of Sagittarius, IC 1284 is composed primarily of hydrogen.

“Its rosy glow comes from electrons within the hydrogen atoms,” the astronomers explained.

“They’re excited by the radiation from young stars, but then they lose energy and emit a specific color or wavelength of light.”

The new image of this star-forming region was taken with the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope.

The observation was part of a large ESO public survey called the VST Photometric H alpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+).

“One of the filters on OmegaCAM lets through the particular reddish color, hence IC 1284’s look,” the researchers said.

“Another color filter on the camera highlights the blue reflection nebulae NGC 6589 and NGC 6590 (lower right corner of the image).”

“The dust in a reflection nebula preferentially scatters shorter, bluer wavelengths of light from nearby stars, which is what gives these nebulae their eerie glow.”

“It’s the same reason why the sky is blue,” they noted.

“The frame of this image covers an area roughly equivalent in the sky to a full Moon.”