The little man and the cosmic cauldron

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This new image of the luminous blue variable Eta Carinae was taken with the NACO near-infrared adaptive optics instrument on ESOs Very Large Telescope yielding an incredible amount of detail. The images clearly shows a bipolar structure as well as th ...
This new image of the luminous blue variable Eta Carinae was taken with the NACO near-infrared adaptive optics instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope, yielding an incredible amount of detail. The images clearly shows a bipolar structure as well as the jets coming out from the central star. Credit: ESO

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Very Large Telescope's First Light, ESO is releasing two stunning images of different kinds of nebulae, located towards the Carina constellation. The first one, Eta Carinae, has the shape of a 'little man' and surrounds a star doomed to explode within the next 100 000 years. The second image features a much larger nebula, whose internal turmoil is created by a cluster of young, massive stars.


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All News summaries for May 27, 2008

Report: NASA studies extending shuttle to 2015

4 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- NASA's staff will study whether the space shuttle program could continue operating past its scheduled retirement in 2010, according to an internal e-mail sent this week.

Gustav headed for current that fuels big storms

Aug 29, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- The difference between a monster and a wimp for Gulf of Mexico hurricanes often comes down to a small patch of warm deep water that's easy to miss. It's called the Loop Current, and hurricane trackers say Gustav ...

Integral locates origin of high-energy emission from Crab Nebula

Aug 29, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Thanks to data from ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory, scientists have been able to locate where particles in the vicinity of the rotating neutron-star in the Crab Nebula are accelerated ...

Katrina and Rita provide glimpse of what could happen to offshore drilling if Gustav hits Gulf

Aug 29, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Shortly after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the U.S., Rice University civil and mechanical engineering professor Satish Nagarajaiah studied damage done to offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. If tropical storm ...

Deadly Gustav lashes Jamaica, eyes Cuba, US

Aug 29, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Tropical Storm Gustav regained hurricane strength as it churned toward Cuba Friday, leaving 78 people dead in its wake, as New Orleans began voluntary evacuations ahead of the storm's projected arrival next ...