Credits: ESO/VPHAS+ team
Inside the bright but unassuming Gum 55 nebula lies a dark nebula – a rift of dust grains that absorb visible light – creating a sample of darkness against the glow of bright gas. Named for its shape, the Dark Wolf Nebula is no mere pup: it spans an area about four times larger than the Full Moon.
Gum 55 is even larger, a massive stellar nursery actively creating new stars that burn ferociously, their radiation pushing away the material that formed them, creating shells and pillars of denser material. These complex layers create the beautiful and evocative shapes that so fascinate astronomers and the public, including the piles of dark dust that make up the Dark Wolf Nebula.
The Dark Wolf and Gum 55 reside in Scorpius, near the heart of the Milky Way, approximately 5,300 light-years away. The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal, Chile, resolved the image above, released on October 31.
