Press Release
Star cluster reveals its colours in stunning 80-million-pixel ESO image
13 February 2025
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a stunning 80 million-pixel image of the star cluster RCW 38, as captured by ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), operating in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Meet the colourful extravaganza of the RCW 38 stellar nursery, located some 5500 light-years away from us, in the constellation Vela. With its bright streaks and swirls, this birthplace of stars is not afraid to flaunt its colours. From the vivid pink of gas clouds to the multi-coloured dots, which are young stars, this image has it all.
Compared to our Sun, which at about 4.6 billion years old is in a stable phase of its life, the stars in RCW 38 are still very young. At less than a million years old, RCW 38 contains some 2000 stars, creating this psychedelic landscape. This young star cluster is bustling with activity, which makes it an interesting target for astronomers to observe.
Star clusters are like giant pressure cookers, containing all the ingredients for star formation: dense gas clouds and opaque clumps of cosmic dust. When this mixture of gas and dust collapses under its own gravity, a star is born.
The strong radiation coming from these newborn stars makes the gas that encompasses the star cluster glow brightly, creating the pink hues we see here in RCW 38. It’s truly a spectacular sight! Yet in visible light many stars in the RCW 38 cluster remain hidden from us, because dust blocks our view of them.
That is where the VISTA telescope, at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, comes in: its VIRCAM camera observes infrared light which, unlike visible light, can go through dust almost unimpeded, revealing the true riches of RCW 38. Suddenly, we also see young stars within dusty cocoons, or cold ‘failed’ stars known as brown dwarfs.
This infrared image was taken during the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) survey, which has produced the most detailed infrared map of our home galaxy ever made. Surveys like this reveal as yet unknown astronomical objects, or give us a new view of known ones.
Since this image was taken, VISTA’s faithful VIRCAM camera, which has conducted numerous imaging surveys since 2008, has retired after an impressive run. Later this year, the telescope will receive a brand new instrument called 4MOST, which will gather the spectra of 2400 objects at once over a large area of the sky. As VISTA is born again, the future looks bright.
More information
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.
Links
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Contacts
Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6176
Email: press@eso.org
About the Release
| Release No.: | eso2503 |
| Name: | RCW 38 |
| Type: | Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster |
| Facility: | Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy |
| Instruments: | VIRCAM |
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