This image shows Gum 46, a stunning pink gas cloud 5,500 light-years away, revealing new details thanks to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).
At the heart of Gum 46 is a young, hot, blue star called HD311999. Their intense radiation excites atoms in the surrounding gas, which then re-emit this energy in very specific colors or wavelengths. The pink color that dominates this image is due to hydrogen atoms, the most abundant element in this nebula and in the universe as a whole.
As NASA explains, the dark, wispy clouds surrounding the nebula are also an impressive sight. These clouds are not dark in nature: they are very dense areas of dust that prevent light from passing through them, enveloping the bright core of Gum 46.
This image was created as part of ESO’s Cosmic Jewels programme, an initiative aimed at producing images of interesting, mysterious or visually appealing objects using ESO’s telescopes, for educational and informational purposes. The program uses telescope time that cannot be used for scientific observations.
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