The aptly named Very Large Telescope captured a colorful new portrait of the Triangulum Galaxy, revealing complex clouds of gas in between the galaxy’s 40 billion stars.
What is it?
This image was captured by the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert and depicts clouds of gas in the Triangulum Galaxy, found some 3 million light-years away from Earth.
Astronomers used the VLT’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument to separate light from the Triangulum Galaxy (also known as Messier 33, or M33) into its constituent wavelengths, revealing the presence of different elements in clouds of gas between the galaxy’s young stars.
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In the image, blue represents oxygen, green represents hydrogen, and red denotes the presence of sulfur.
Why is it amazing?
According to Anna Feltre, a postdoctoral researcher at the INAF-Astrophysical Observatory and author of a new study about the Triangulum Galaxy, this new image is a reminder that the space between stars is far from empty.
“This cosmic interplay produces a spectacular and dynamic landscape, revealing that the birthplaces of stars are far more beautiful and complex than we ever imagined,” Feltre said in an ESO statement accompanying the new image.
Stars — particularly young, still-forming ones like those found in the central region of the Triangulum Galaxy — shape their surrounding environments with radiation, ionizing clouds of gas and causing those clouds to glow. This process is what’s seen in the highlighted VLT image.