VST Captures New Image of Dark Wolf Nebula

Astronomers using the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have taked a 283-million-pixel image of the Dark Wolf Nebula.

The Dark Wolf Nebula is located approximately 5,300 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius.

“Dark nebulae are cold clouds of cosmic dust, so dense that they obscure the light of stars and other objects behind them,” the ESO astronomers said in a statement.

“As their name suggests, they do not emit visible light, unlike other nebulae.”

“Dust grains within them absorb visible light and only let through radiation at longer wavelengths, like infrared light.”

“Astronomers study these clouds of frozen dust because they often contain new stars in the making.”

The new image of the Dark Wolf Nebula was created using data from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

“This image takes up an area in the sky equivalent to four full Moons, but is actually part of an even larger nebula called Gum 55,” the astronomers said.

“If you look closely, the wolf could even be a werewolf, its hands ready to grab unsuspecting bystanders.”

“Of course, tracing the wolf’s ghost-like presence in the sky is only possible because it contrasts with a bright background.”

“This image shows in spectacular detail how the dark wolf stands out against the glowing star-forming clouds behind it.”

“The colorful clouds are built up mostly of hydrogen gas and glow in reddish tones excited by the intense UV radiation from the newborn stars within them.”

The image was captured as part of the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), which has studied some 500 million objects in our Milky Way.

“Surveys like this help scientists to better understand the life cycle of stars within our home Galaxy,” the researchers said.