Selection of VISTA Images
The first released image (left) shows the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), a spectacular star-forming cloud of gas and dust in the familiar constellation of Orion (the Hunter) and its surroundings. In visible light the core of the object is hidden behind thick clouds of dust, but the VISTA image, taken at infrared wavelengths, can penetrate the murk and reveal the cluster of hot young stars hidden within. The wide field of view of the VISTA camera also captures the glow of NGC 2023 and the ghostly form of the famous Horsehead Nebula.
Other stunning nebula images include the VISTA views of the Orion Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula. The picture on the right is a wide-field view of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), lying about 1350 light-years from Earth, taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The telescope’s huge field of view allows the whole nebula and its surroundings to be imaged in a single picture and its infrared vision also means that it can peer deep into the normally hidden dusty regions and reveal the curious antics of the very active young stars buried there. An image of the "Blue Lagoon" is seen on the left (below the Flame Nebula picture) — it is an infrared image taken as part of the VVV survey. It shows the stellar nursery called the Lagoon Nebula (also known as Messier 8), which lies about 4000–5000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer).
VISTA can also stare far beyond our galaxy. In the example on the left (below the image of the Orion Nebula) the telescope took a family photograph of a cluster of galaxies in the constellation of Fornax (the Chemical Furnace). The wide field allows many galaxies to be captured in a single image including the striking barred-spiral NGC 1365 and the big elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. The image was constructed from images taken through Z, J and Ks filters in the near-infrared part of the spectrum and has captured many of the cluster members in a single image. At the lower-right is the elegant barred-spiral galaxy NGC 1365 and to the left the big elliptical NGC 1399, surrounded by a swarm of faint globular clusters. The image is about 1 degree by 1.5 degrees in extent and the total exposure time was 25 minutes.
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