You thought you had already had the fireworks for this year? Then take a look at this photo!

ESO has released a stunning new image of the Flame Nebula; an emission nebula located in the constellation Orion. And the images are spectacular. The photo shows beautiful yellow-orange colors, making the image absolutely true to the name of the nebula.

flame spray

Orion is one of the most famous areas in the night sky. Here are the closest, gigantic molecular clouds — colossal cosmic complexes composed mainly of hydrogen, in which new stars and planets are formed. These clouds are located between 1,300 to 1,600 light-years from Earth and include not only the most active stellar nursery in the vicinity of our solar system, but also the Flame Nebula pictured below. At the center of this emission nebula is a collection of young stars that illuminate the surrounding gas with their high-energy radiation.

Ice cold

Contrary to what the ‘fire’ in this photo would suggest, the clouds photographed are icy cold; their temperatures are only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. The Orion ‘fireplace’ is therefore not as warm as on earth, but ice cold!

The Flame Nebula is the large spot on the left of the large yellow rectangle. The smaller blob to the right is the reflection nebula NGC 2023. To the upper right NGC 2023, the famous Horsehead Nebula appears to emerge heroically from the ‘flames’. The three objects are part of the Orion cloud, a giant gas complex located 1,300 to 1,600 light-years away.
The different colors indicate the speed of the gas. The Flame Nebula and its surroundings are moving away from us, with the red clouds in the background moving faster than the yellow ones in the foreground. Image: ESO/Th. Stanke & ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

In addition to the Flame Nebula, the spectacular photo also shows some smaller nebulae, including the well-known Horsehead Nebula; one of the highlights of the constellation Orion. The reflection nebula NGC 2023 can also be admired in the photo.

New nebula

In addition to the beautiful Flame Nebula and its surroundings, the team has also discovered a new nebula. It is a small object that stands out because of its almost perfect circular shape. The new nebula has been given the name Cow’s Skin.

Observations
The new image was taken by the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), which is stationed on the cold Chajnantor Plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The Flame Nebula was captured at radio wavelengths and photographed as part of the APEX Large CO Heterodyne Orion Legacy Survey (ALCOHOLS). This involves looking at radio waves emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) in the Orion cloud. Using this molecule to scan large swaths of the sky is SuperCam’s main goal, as it allows astronomers to map large gas clouds from which new stars form.

The stunning image is based on observations by former ESO astronomer Thomas Stanke and his team. They wanted to test the then newly installed SuperCam instrument on APEX and aimed it at the constellation Orion. “Astronomers know: when a new telescope or a new instrument becomes available, you have to look at Orion: there is always something new and interesting to discover!” said Stanke. Several years and many observations later, Stanke and his team’s results have now been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.