This striking image, captured by ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), shows the Orion A molecular cloud, the nearest known massive star factory.
This image of Orion A is composed of near-infrared observations from ESO’s VISTA survey telescope. Image credit: ESO / VISION Survey.
The Orion A molecular cloud is approximately 1,630 light-years away.
It is one of the two giant molecular clouds in the Orion molecular cloud complex.
The other giant molecular cloud is Orion B, which lies east of Orion’s Belt.
This spectacular infrared image of Orion A was taken with the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile.
The image (hi-res version) was produced as part of the VISION (VIenna Survey In Orion) survey.
According to ESO astronomers, it represents a step towards a complete picture of the star formation processes in Orion A.
The image reveals many young stars and other objects normally buried deep inside the dusty clouds.
The most spectacular object is the glorious Orion Nebula, also called Messier 42, seen towards the left of the image.
This region forms part of the sword of the famous bright constellation of Orion.
Elsewhere in the image, we can look into Orion A’s dark molecular clouds and spot many hidden treasures, including discs of material that could give birth to new stars (pre-stellar discs), nebulosity associated with infant stars (Herbig-Haro objects), smaller star clusters and even galaxy clusters lying far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy.
“This impressively detailed image of Orion A establishes a new observational foundation for further studies of star and cluster formation and once again highlights the power of the VISTA telescope to image wide areas of sky quickly and deeply in the near-infrared part of the spectrum,” the astronomers said.
