A dark nebula 7 light years long has been captured by the European Southern Observatory (THAT) team – writes to ScienceAlert.
The image was created by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to celebrate ESO’s 60th anniversary. The image shows the Cone Nebula, which is part of NGC 2264, a larger object 2,500 light-years away.
Nebulae are very diverse structures, in their dark type dense gas absorbs visible light. In such nebulae, only electromagnetic radiation is invisible to the human eye, so infrared can pass.
The Cone Nebula can also be classified in this dark category. The characteristic shape of the nebula is formed by the matter rays of newborn stars, a similar process underlies the famous Pillars of Creation. The James Webb Space Telescope recently covered the spectacular structure took a photo.
