A rosy red nebula dotted with bright twinkling stars presents a captivating image

The European South Observatory (ESO), in its latest photo, captured a rosy red nebula in its full glow.

The large cloud of gas and dust, which is known as IC1284, is an emission nebula which is a form of diffuse and bright cloud of ionized gas which emits its own light.

The emission nebula, which was captured in the centre of the image, glows red due to the formation of an active star and the fusion of hydrogen in the area.

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"Its rosy glow comes from electrons within the hydrogen atoms: they're excited by the radiation from young stars, but then they lose energy and emit a specific colour or wavelength of light," said ESO officials, in a statement.

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IC1284 was photographed by the astronomers using the wide-field camera of ESO, called OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Nebulaeconsist of enormous clouds of gas and dust which lead to the formation of a new star.

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In the latest image shared by ESO, the nebula's warm red glow is dotted with bright twinkling stars around it. Two blue reflection nebulae, called NGC6589 and NGC6590, also accompanied the IC1284 in the new VST image's lower right corner.

In comparison to emission nebulae, the interstellar dust clouds in nebulae reflect the light emitted by nearby stars or stars, as scientists observed the creation of a distinct blue colour.

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"The dust in a reflection nebula preferentially scatters shorter, bluer wavelengths of light from nearby stars, which is what gives these nebulae their eerie glow," explained ESO officials, in the statement. It added, "It's the same reason why the sky is blue!"

The new image, which was released on October 2, was captured under ESO's organised initiative, known as the VST Photometric H alpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+). The survey is focused on observing nebulae and stars in visible light which will allow astronomers to understand how stars are born, live and die, as per the statement.

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