Astronomers have glimpsed a starry nursery in a new light, thanks to the Visible and Infrared Astronomy Telescope in Chile.
The VISTA telescope, located at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Antofagasta, Chile, observed the Sh2-54 nebula in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.
While the visible light we can see is absorbed by interstellar dust, infrared light can pierce dense clouds of dust in space to reveal never-before-seen details.
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Infrared images of nebulae help astronomers learn more about how stars form. The new image reveals an abundance of stars behind the nebula’s orange glow.
Compare the starlight-filled infrared image with the visible-light image of the Sh2-54 nebula using the slider below.
Numerous nebulae, or clouds of gas and dust that fuel star formation, are located at the tail end of the constellation Serpens – so named for its resemblance to a snake. These hotspots of star birth include the Eagle, Omega, and Sh2-54 nebulae.
Astronomers focused on the Sh2-54 nebula, located about 6,000 light-years from Earth. The “W” in the space object’s name refers to astronomer Stuart Sharpless, who was responsible for cataloging more than 300 nebulae in the 1950s.
The image was taken using the high-sensitivity 67-million-pixel camera on the VISTA telescope as part of the VISTA Variables in the Via Láctea eXtended survey.
The project has repeatedly observed large regions of the Milky Way in infrared light to unlock the mysteries of stellar evolution.
Nebulae and star nurseries were also part of the focus of the James Webb Space Telescope, which began scientific observations of the universe in July 2022.
So far, Webb has revealed brilliant stars nestled in stellar nurseries such as the Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula, and among the famous Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula.
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