Dark and towering

Astronomers are well-known for naming objects with odd conventions, and the cometary globule GN 16.43.7.01 seen in this Picture of the Week is no exception. Cometary globules have nothing to do with comets aside from appearance: they are named for their dusty head and elongated, dark tail, as seen in this image taken with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.

This globule, dubbed the Dark Tower — astronomers compensate with obvious names — lies about 5000 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Scorpius (the Scorpion). It contains dense clumps of collapsing gas and dust out of which stars will be born.

The curious shape of this object is carved out from an intense bombardment of radiation from a cluster of young, bright stars located off-camera to the upper-left. This radiation has swept around and outlined the cometary globule with the characteristic pink glow of hot, excited matter.

Credit:

ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU

Over de afbeelding

Id:potw2411a
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:11 maart 2024 06:00
Grootte:13615 x 12674 px

Over het object

Naam:GN 16.43.7.01
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Bok Globule
Afstand:5000 lichtjaren
Constellation:Scorpius
Categorie:Stars

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Coordinates

Position (RA):16 46 39.28
Position (Dec):-41° 12' 12.54"
Field of view:174816.60 x 162734.16 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 296.0° left of vertical