ALMA Reveals Inner Web of Stellar Nursery
Several telescopes have worked together to create this stunning new image of part of the magnificent Orion Nebula.
ESO’s HAWK-I instrument on the VLT observed the familiar blue haze of gas as well as picking up stars and dust.
But the orange filaments were imaged by ALMA and IRAM. They may appear red-hot and fiery in this dramatic image...
...but in reality they are so cold that ALMA is one of the only telescopes that can observe them.
The wispy, fibre-like structures in this gaseous region are stretched-out filaments of cold gas...
...which will one day collapse to form newborn stars!
Transcribed by ESO; Translated by —