Beware the eerie Halloween shapes today, they haunt not just our streets but the vast depths of space! 🎃
One example? The Dark Wolf Nebula 🐺, featured in this "spooktacular" video and creating the illusion of a wolf-like silhouette against a colourful cosmic backdrop. Volume up if you dare! 🔊
And if you look closely, the wolf could even be a werewolf, its hands ready to grab unsuspecting bystanders…
Discover more and download the image: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2416/
📹 ESO/VPHAS+ team. Music: Mylonite – Champ Magnétique (Intro)
Wonders of the Universe – Planetary nebulae
What’s in store for stars like our Sun? 🌞
As they reach their final stage, they shed their outer layers, creating a breathtaking planetary nebula.
Discover these cosmic wonders in our video 🎬 👇
📹 ESO, H. Boffin, J. Walsh. Images: Image Archive: Nebulae. Music: Mylonite – Champ Magnétique (Intro), Mylonite – Tacitus Theme (Aaron Kane Variation)
Coating the Extremely Large Telescope mirrors with silver
Discover the place where engineers work their magic to ready ESO's Extremely Large Telescope to capture light from the farthest reaches of the cosmos!
Enter the ELT Technical Facility. This giant facility is used for the integration and coating of the 798 segments of the telescope's primary mirror, among other things. Each day after the ELT starts operating, two segments will be stripped of their old coating, washed and recoated, before being taken up the mountain.
The sun is rising in Cerro Armazones in Chile, and ESO's ELT with it! 🤩
In particular, the steel dome, in which the telescope will be encased to protect it from the harsh desert weather, is steadily taking shape! 🏗️👷
Discover more: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2439a/
📹 B. Häußler/ESO
📣 Astronomers track gas bubbles on the surface of a star, other than our Sun, in most detailed video yet, check it out! 👇
They achieved this feat with the ALMA Observatory 📡, in which ESO is a partner. Over the course of a month, the scientists observed these hot bubbles of gas, 75 times the size of the Sun, appearing on the surface ⬆️ and sinking back ⬇️ into the star’s interior. They are the result of convection motions inside the star.
The star in question is R Doradus 🌟, a red giant star with a diameter roughly 350 times that of the Sun. Located about 180 light-years away from Earth, it is likely relatively similar to how our Sun will look like in five billion years, once it becomes a red giant 😯
Discover more: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2412/
📹 ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/W. Vlemmings et al.
The steel backbone of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is up. And now, we are hiding it! 😬
Discover why in our latest ELT video update 🎥 👇
Can stars kiss?
Today is #InternationalKissingDay 😘 and the celebration might even be happening in the depths of space!
We are not talking about aliens. We are talking about kissing stars! ⭐️⭐️
🤨 Learn more about them with this #ChasingStarlight video 👇
March of progress
While we work on bringing our webcams back online, why not dive into some exciting drone footage to catch up on the recent construction strides of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope?
Go here for an extended video and info about some of the ELT components featured in this footage 👇
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2427a/
Video by G. Hüdepohl ( atacamaphoto.com )/ESO. Music: Jon Kennedy. Acknowledgements: CIMOLAI
A MUSE view of the 177-341 W young stellar object
Let's enjoy this multi-colour view of 177-341 W, a young stellar object in the Orion Nebula 🤩
🌈 Each colour corresponds to a different wavelength of light. At certain wavelengths, emitted by elements like hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and iron, the nebula shines brightly 🌟 revealing intricate structures.
This video is based on observations carried out with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) 🔭
Read more about 177-341 W and its peculiar teardrop shape:
https://orlo.uk/2dDM2
Video by ESO/M. L. Aru et al./L. Calçada
A night at the ELT
Sit back, relax, and enjoy this time-lapse, showing the dome of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) from sunset on 3 April 2024 to sunrise the next day.
The Milky Way band 🌌 and the Magellanic Clouds grace the night sky over the telescope. And towards the end of the clip, the Moon 🌝 rises in the east, before a new day begins.
📷 B. Häußler/ESO
A galactic fountain
What’s this colourful animation about?
Based on data captured with the MUSE instrument on our Very Large Telescope 🔭 it shows the galaxy NGC 4383 in a myriad of colours or wavelengths of light 🌈
Since different elements like hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen emit light at very specific wavelengths, it helps astronomers to analyse the chemical composition and motion of gas and stars at different locations within the galaxy 🔍
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw2417a/
Animation by ESO/A. Watts et al.
