Wispy dark clouds

The dark clouds in this image, taken from ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, almost resemble something supernatural, like the wispy trails of ghosts in the sky. But there is no need to call the ghostbusters! These clouds, known as Barnard 92 (right) and Barnard 93 (left) are dark nebulae: they look pitch black because the dense gas and dust they contain block out the background light, creating these hazy ghostlike features.

These nebulae are stellar nurseries, where new stars are born out of the collapsing dense gas and dust. This whole region of space imaged here is actually part of a much larger stellar complex, called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (or Messier 24, catalogued by Charles Messier in 1764). This area is so rich in stars that it is clearly visible to the naked eye during dark nights, in the constellation of Sagittarius.

This image was taken with an enormous 268 million pixel camera called OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope. OmegaCAM is designed for capturing wide fields like this image, where you could impressively fit four full Moons. This image is part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), which has mapped diffuse nebulae as well as both young and evolved stars in our galaxy.

Credit:

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

About the Image

Id:potw2237a
Type:Observation
Release date:12 September 2022, 06:00
Size:16823 x 16823 px

About the Object

Name:Barnard 92, Barnard 93
Type:Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark
Constellation:Sagittarius
Category:Nebulae

Image Formats

Screensize JPEG
714.1 KB

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1024x768
541.0 KB
1280x1024
878.2 KB
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1.2 MB
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1.4 MB
2048x1536
1.9 MB

Coordinates

Position (RA):18 15 37.20
Position (Dec):-18° 10' 25.21"
Field of view:6.00 x 6.00 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 0.2° right of vertical

Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
g
480 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Optical
r
625 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Optical
H-alpha
659 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM
Optical
i
770 nmVLT Survey Telescope
OmegaCAM