Using the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, astronomers have produced a spectacular image of GN 16.43.7.01, a cometary globule located 5,000 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius.
This VST image shows the cometary globule GN 16.43.7.01. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / CASU.
Cometary globules are faint, small interstellar clouds of gas and dust with comet-like morphology.
These objects were first recognized in 1976 on pictures taken with the UK Schmidt Telescope in Australia.
Unlike most dark clouds, cometary globules are isolated neutral globules surrounded by a hot ionized medium.
They consist of compact, dusty, and opaque heads and long, faintly luminous tails.
Their faintness makes cometary globules particularly challenging targets for color photography.
“Cometary globules have nothing to do with comets aside from appearance,”
“They are named for their dusty head and elongated, dark tail, as seen in this VST image.”
“This globule, dubbed the Dark Tower, lies about 5,000 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Scorpius.”
“It contains dense clumps of collapsing gas and dust out of which stars will be born.”
“The curious shape of this object is carved out from an intense bombardment of radiation from a cluster of young, bright stars located off-camera to the upper-left.”
“This radiation has swept around and outlined the cometary globule with the characteristic pink glow of hot, excited matter.”
Source : Breaking Science News