ESO’s 60th anniversary image: the Cone Nebula as seen by the VLT

Eso_eso2215a_1024

eso_eso2215a November 10th, 2022

Credit: ESO

The Cone Nebula is part of a star-forming region of space, NGC 2264, about 2500 light-years away. Its pillar-like appearance is a perfect example of the shapes that can develop in giant clouds of cold molecular gas and dust, known for creating new stars. This dramatic new view of the nebula was captured with the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), and released on the occasion of ESO’s 60th anniversary. 

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2215a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, None, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Cone Nebula NGC 2264
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Eso_eso2215a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 6h 41m 13.4s
DEC = 9° 24’ 3.9”
Orientation
North is 10.4° CCW
Field of View
6.9 x 7.1 arcminutes
Constellation
Monoceros

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange VLT (FORS2) Optical (SII) 677.0 nm
Cyan VLT (FORS2) Optical (H-alpha) 660.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Orange
Cyan
Eso_eso2215a_1280
×
ID
eso2215a
Subject Category
B.4.1.2  
Subject Name
Cone Nebula, NGC 2264
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2022-11-10T14:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2215a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Orange, Cyan
Band
Optical, Optical
Bandpass
SII, H-alpha
Central Wavelength
677, 660
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
None, None
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
100.305873461, 9.4010969904
Reference Dimension
1639.0, 1682.0
Reference Pixel
819.5, 841.0
Scale
-7.00054057027e-05, 7.00054057027e-05
Rotation
10.359999999999998
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
https://www.eso.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
None
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso2215a
Metadata Date
2022-06-02T14:00:54+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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