Astronomers using ESO’s 4.1-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy have captured a new view of two bright nebulae: NGC 3603 and NGC 3576.
This image from the VISTA InfraRed CAMera (VIRCAM) instrument on ESO’s 4.1-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) shows NGC 3603 (left) and NGC 3576 (right) nebulae. Image credit: ESO / VVVX Survey.
NGC 3603 and NGC 3576 are 22,000 and 9,000 light-years away from us, respectively, in the constellation of Carina.
“The two nebulae were catalogued by John Frederick William Herschel in 1834 during a trip to South Africa, where he wanted to compile stars, nebulae and other objects in the sky of the southern hemisphere,” ESO astronomers said in a statement.
“This catalogue was then expanded by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888 into the New General Catalogue, hence the NGC identifier in these and other astronomical objects.”
NGC 3603 is the most massive visible cloud of glowing gas and plasma, known as a HII region, in our Milky Way Galaxy.
Also known as Bran 348b and Gum 38b, it contains a very compact open cluster with the densest concentration of very massive stars known in the Galaxy.
NGC 3576 is a bright emission nebula in the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way.
Otherwise known as Bran 348a and Gum 38a, and nicknamed ‘The Statue of Liberty Nebula,’ the object has a diameter of 100 light-years.
“Inside these extended clouds of dust and gas, new stars are born, gradually changing the shapes of the nebulae via intense radiation and powerful winds of charged particles,” the researchers said.
“Given their proximity, astronomers have the opportunity to study the intense star formation process that is as common in other galaxies but harder to observe due to the vast distances.”
The new image of NGC 3603 and NGC 3576 was captured by the VISTA InfraRed CAMera (VIRCAM) instrument on ESO’s 4.1-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).
“This infrared image peers through the dust in these nebulae, revealing details hidden in optical images,” the scientists said.
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