A Universe Aglow

Deep observations made with the MUSE spectrograph on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have uncovered vast cosmic reservoirs of atomic hydrogen surrounding distant galaxies. The exquisite sensitivity of MUSE allowed for direct observations of dim clouds of hydrogen glowing with Lyman-alpha emission in the early Universe — revealing that almost the whole night sky is invisibly aglow.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO/ Lutz Wisotzki et al.

About the Image

Id:eso1832a
Type:Observation
Release date:1 October 2018, 17:00
Related releases:eso1832
Size:2154 x 2145 px

About the Object

Type:Early Universe : Cosmology : Morphology : Deep Field
Constellation:Fornax
Category:Cosmology

Image Formats

Large JPEG
801.7 KB
Screensize JPEG
189.3 KB

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1600x1200
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1920x1200
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2048x1536
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Coordinates

Position (RA):3 32 38.65
Position (Dec):-27° 46' 44.31"
Field of view:1.07 x 1.07 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.0° left of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
B
435 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Ultraviolet
Lyman-alpha
121 nmVery Large Telescope
MUSE
Optical
i
775 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical
V
606 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Optical
I
814 nmHubble Space Telescope
ACS
Infrared
Z
1.05 μmHubble Space Telescope
WFC3
Infrared
H
1.6 μmHubble Space Telescope
WFC3
Infrared
J
1.25 μmHubble Space Telescope
WFC3