A stellar graveyard in the sky

What’s left over after a massive star reaches the end of its life I hear you ask? Take a look for yourself. This Picture of the Week shows a small but very intricate portion of the Vela supernova remnant, the violent and yet beautiful aftermath of an explosive stellar death. 

This dramatic scene played out around 11 000 years ago when a massive star in the constellation Vela went supernova. During this violent event, the star would have shined so brightly that it could be seen during the day.

The detailed and stunning view of both the gaseous filaments in the remnant and the bright blue stars in the foreground were captured using the 286-million-pixel OmegaCAM at the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. OmegaCAM can take images through several filters that each let the telescope observe the light emitted in a distinct colour. To capture this image, four filters have been used, represented here by a combination of magenta, blue, green and red.

Crediti:

ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:potw2347a
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:Lunedì 20 Novembre 2023 06:00
Grandezza:6404 x 6578 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:Vela Supernova Remnant
Tipo:Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Supernova Remnant
Constellation:Vela
Categoria:Nebulae

Formati delle immagini

JPEG grande
12,5 MB

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Coordinate

Position (RA):8 30 52.83
Position (Dec):-43° 55' 35.28"
Field of view:23.55 x 24.18 arcminutes
Orientazione:Il Nord è a 0.1° a destra della verticale

Colori e filtri

BandaLunghezza d'ondaTelescopio
Ultravioletto
u
360 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Ottico
g
480 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Ottico
r
625 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Ottico
i
770 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Ottico
H-alpha
659 nmVery Large Telescope
OmegaCAM