ESO

The ESA Finds Champagne Nebula And Brighter Sets of Stars

Medicine & Technology May 29, 2015

This stunning nebula, called RCW 34 and visualized by the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), is home to young stars that heat gases, causing them to expand outward. In this brightest area of the nebula heated hydrogen bursts into the vacuum outside the gas cloud, "uncorking" the nebula. This kind of process is called a champagne flow, and the entire area provides rich fodder for astronomers as it continuously produces new, brilliant stars.

Astronomers Capture the Most Detailed Images Yet of the Beautiful Medusa Nebula

May 22, 2015

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) are proudly displaying what is the most detailed image ever captured of the vast planetary nebula, Medusa. And what their powerful telescopes have revealed are the beautiful death throes of a dying star.