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Berlin .- The "nebula skull and crossbones", name given to the star formation region NGC 2467, was observed and photographed by the Southern European Observatory (ESO). its acronym in English), which distributed images of a space "as sinister as beautiful".
"The image of dust, gas and bright, young stars, gravitationally knotted in the form of a smiling skull, was captured with the FORS Instrument of the VLT telescope (very large telescope, very big telescope) of the ESO ", informed this organization.
Since this installation of ESO in Chile, one of the rare occasions when the observation conditions are not sufficient to gather scientific data to capture this image has been used in the part of the "Cosmic Jewelery" program.
"While ESO telescopes are commonly used to collect scientific data, they can also capture such images, which are beautiful in and of themselves," said the observatory.
Center officials estimate that "it is easy to understand why the nickname" skull and crossbones ". This brilliant and juvenile formation clearly resembles a hollow and threatening face of which only the big mouth is visible."
The nebula photographed by the ESO is the cradle of many stars, where the excess of hydrogen contains the raw material necessary for the creation of stars. In reality, it is not a single nebula. Constituent star groups move at different speeds.
"This is only the fortuitous alignment along the line of sight of the Earth that makes the stars and gases form a humanoid face," they explain. . from ESO.
The image is not intended to give new information to astronomers, but "allows you to take a look in the agitated and bright southern sky, with marvels invisible to the human eye, "pointed out the European observatory.
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