The Dark Wolf Nebula is located in the constellation Scorpius, apparently near the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, and is about 5,300 light-years from Earth.
It was captured using the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in the Chilean part of the Atacama Desert. The ESO group reported about it in press release.
Photo: ESO/VPHAS+ team
The Dark Wolf Nebula occupies an area of the sky equal to about four full moons. It is actually part of an even larger nebula called Gum 55.
Furthermore, what we see in the resulting image is part of an even larger nebula known as Gum 55.
Czech astronomer amazingly captured three planetary nebulae
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The nebula cannot be seen with the naked eye
According to astronomers, it is only possible to observe this “wolf” in the sky because of the contrast with the bright background. The corresponding image shows in detail how the Dark Wolf stands out against the bright clouds in which stars are born. The colored clouds are composed mainly of hydrogen gas and glow with red tones, which are excited by the intense UV radiation of the new stars in their interior.
The VST scans outer space in visible light.
Photo: ESO/Y. Beletsky
VLT Survey Telescope (VST)
In the case of dark nebulae, however, according to scientists, darkness does not mean empty – dark nebulae are cold clouds of cosmic dust so dense that they block out the light of stars and objects others behind them. Unlike other nebulae, they do not emit visible light. The dust particles in them absorb visible light and only emit radiation of longer wavelengths, such as infrared light.
Astronomers study these clouds of frozen dust because they are often home to new stars.
Under the clearest sky in the world, where the nose bleeds and the skin peels off the hands
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2024-11-04 15:14:00
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