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The European South Observatory (ESO) has released this magnificent image of the giant stellar nursery surrounding NGC 3603 taken at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility in Chile. NGC 3603 is an open cluster of stars situated in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way around 20,000 light-years away from our solar system. It was discovered by John Frederick William Herschel in 1834.

NGC 3603 is a starburst region: a cosmic factory where stars form frantically from the nebula’s extended clouds of gas and dust - Credit: ESA

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The central cluster of stars inside NGC 3603 harbors thousands of stars of all sorts: the majority have masses similar to or less than that of our Sun, but most spectacular are several of the very massive stars that are close to the end of their lives. One star in NGC 3603, namely Sher 25, was found to have thrown off matter in a pattern similar to that found for the supernova 1987A.

NGC 3603 was selected at the best target to investigate collective, massive star formation, in particular the coalescence of high- and low-mass stars in the violent environments of starburst regions. NGC 3603 is the only massive, galactic HII-region in which a central cluster of strongly UV-radiating stars of types “O” and “B” that ionize the nebula can be studied at visual and near-infrared wavelengths. Because of NGC3603’s location relative to Earth, the line-of-sight to the cluster is relatively free of interstellar dust that dims the near-infrared radiation due to matter interaction. Because enough infrared (IR) light reaches the Earth, the Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC) at VLT can study the densest part of the cluster resolvable only in very sensitive IR instruments.

These images of the NGC 3603 region were obtained in three near-IR filter bands (Js, H and Ks) with the ISAAC instrument at the ANTU telescope at the VLT at Paranal - Credit: ESO

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Previously, an international group of astronomers used the ESO Very Large Telescope to perform unique observations of an interstellar nebula in which stars are currently being born. Thanks to the excellent imaging properties of the first of the four 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescopes, ANTU, they were able to demonstrate, for the first time, the presence of large numbers of small and relatively light, new-born stars in NGC 3603.

Source – ESO: The Stars behind the Curtain & Lots of Small Stars Born in Starburst Region

If you are from the Netherlands, I’m sorry for the confusion. I don’t mean princess Ariane who would not really like having been made almost 28 years older. I’m really referring to the series of space launch vehicles used by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Ariane 1 was first launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on December 24, 1979, marking the beginning of 30 years of success and giving Europe a guaranteed independent access to Space. The video below is a short recapitulation of 30 years of Ariane 1-5 launches, their contribution to science and space exploration.

Thanks to the superior sensitivity at the longest wavelength of infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the Herschel Space Observatory unveiled a previously unseen stellar nursery, located within a dark could 1000 light years away in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle). No other infrared satellite could see the interior of this cloud through its dust shroud before.

A previously unseen stellar nursery in constellation Aquila - Credit: ESA and the SPIRE & PACS consortia, P. André (CEA Saclay) for the Gould’s Belt Key Programme Consortia

The image (click here for high-resolution version) was taken on 24 October 2009 using two of Herschel’s instruments: the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE). The two bright regions are areas where large newborn stars are causing hydrogen gas to shine.

Some 700 newly-forming stars are estimated to be crowded into these colourful filaments of dust. The complex is part of a mysterious ring of stars called Gould’s Belt. Embedded within the dusty filaments are 700 condensations of dust and gas that will eventually become stars. Astronomers estimate that about 100 are protostars, celestial objects in the final stages of formation. Each one just needs to ignite nuclear fusion in its core to become a true star. The other 600 objects are insufficiently developed to be considered protostars, but these too will eventually become another generation of stars.

This cloud is part of Gould’s Belt, a giant ring of stars that circles the night sky – the Solar System just happens to lie near the center of the belt. For more than a hundred years, astronomers have puzzled over the origin of this ring, which is tilted to the Milky Way by 20º. The first to notice this unexpected alignment, in the mid-19th century, was England’s John Herschel, the son of William, after whom ESA’s Herschel telescope is named. But it was Boston-born Benjamin Gould who brought the ring to wider attention in 1874.

Source: ESA

Composite image of the Crab Nebula using data from three of NASA's Great Observatories. - Source: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/F.Seward; Optical: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. Minn./R.Gehrz

The amazing picture of the 1054 supernova remnant above (1920×1080 version) is a composite of NASA’s three great space observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope (red and yellow), the Spitzer Space Telescope (purple) and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (blue).

The X-ray image is smaller than the others because extremely energetic electrons emitting X-rays radiate away their energy more quickly than the lower-energy electrons emitting optical and infrared light. Along with many other telescopes, Chandra has repeatedly observed the Crab Nebula over the course of the mission’s lifetime. The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the sky, truly making it a cosmic icon.

The lights of North American cities taken by Rosetta OSIRIS Imaging System's Narrow-Angle Camera at 04:44 GMT - Source: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

After yesterday’s marvelous crescent of the Earth from 633,000 km, the Rosetta spacecraft delivered another beauty today. At 04:44 GMT, just about 3 hours before its closest approach to Earth, the Narrow-Angle Camera of the OSIRIS Imagining System took a 10-second exposure of Northen American cities at night (click here for a high-resolution version).

Image of the Earth acquired with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 633 000 km on 12 November 2009 at 12:28 GMT - Source: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The spectacular image above (large version available here) was taken from the distance of 633,000 km by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera aboard the Rosetta spacecraft as it is heading towards the Earth for the third and final gravity assist. The slingshot maneuver will place Rosetta on the fly-by trajectory to the asteroid 21 Lutetia (in March 2010) and ultimately to a rendezvous with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014. In November 2014, after months of comet mapping and characterization, a lander will be released from the height of about 1km to attempt a first every landing on a nucleus of a comet.