This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,
This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity Wolf-Rayet binary star system. The VISIR instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) captured this image of a massive binary star system in the constellation of Norma. Named Apep after an ancient Egyptian deity, it is thought to be the first gamma-ray burst progenitor to be found in our galaxy. Its powerful stellar winds have created the dust cloud surrounding the system. The reddish pinwheel in this image is data from the VISIR (VLT imager and spectrometer for mid-infrared) instrument on ESO's VLT, and shows the plumes of dust. The blue sources at the centre of the image are a triple star system, which consists of a binary star system and a companion single star bound together by gravity. The lower source is the binary Wolf-Rayet star. This triple star system was imaged by the NACO (NAOS-CONICA) adaptive optics instrument on the VLT. Image published in 2018.
Size: 3000px × 3000px
Photo credit: © Callingham et al./EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 2018, apep, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, binary, dust, imager, infrared, interstellar, large, mid-infrared, naco, naos-conica, norma, space, spectrometer, star, system, telescope, triple, universe, visir, vlt, wolf-rayet
