Journey to Bat-shaped Nebulae RCW 94/95 in Vela | Happy Halloween!

Journey to Bat-shaped Nebulae RCW 94/95 in Vela | Happy Halloween!

This video zooms into a nebula shaped like a spooky bat. It is a sequence of images taken with different telescopes, at distinct times and a range of wavelengths. The journey begins with a wide view of the night sky in visible light. The final image of the nebula combines data taken in visible and infrared light, with two telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory: the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).

This image shows a cloud of gas and dust, shaped like a cosmic bat. The image was obtained mostly in visible light with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), hosted at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile. The intense red glow comes from hydrogen atoms ionized by the intense radiation of young stars within the cloud. The image also includes additional infrared data captured by the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), also at Paranal.

The most prominent clouds here are RCW 94, representing the right wing of the bat, and RCW 95, forming the body, while the other parts of the bat have no official designation.

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/VMC Survey/Digitized Sky Survey 2/VPHAS+ team/VVV team

Duration: 55 seconds

Release Date: Oct. 31, 2025

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