RCW-38

Size: 189 K

Star-Forming Region RCW38 in the Milky Way

          ESO PR Photo 46b/98

          [Preview - JPEG: 800 x 945 pix - 696k]

          [High-Res - JPEG: 3000 x 3545 pix - 3.6Mb]

          PR Photo 46b/98 displays a spectacular three-colour
          composite image of RCW38, obtained through three
          near-infrared filters. This is a region in the Milky Way at
          a distance of about 5,000 light years, where stars which
          have recently formed in clouds of gas and dust are still
          heavily obscured and cannot be observed in the visible part
          of the spectrum. Contrarily, as this image shows, they are
          very well seen at infrared wavelengths where the obscuration
          is substantially lower. The diffuse radiation is a mixture
          of starlight scattered by the dust and gas in the area, and
          atomic and molecular hydrogen line emission.

 Technical Information: The photo is a combination of three exposures
 through Z (centred at 0.90µm), H (1.65µm) and Ks filters
 (2.16µm) and with exposure times of 160, 320 and 210 seconds,
 respectively, The field measures 2.5 x 2.5 arcmin with North at the
 top and East to the left. The seeing was 0.4 arcsec.