Orion Nebula

This fresh look at the Orion Nebula (Messier 42) is courtesy of the ESO's La Silla Observatory and data unearthed during ESO's Hidden Treasures competition.

Credit: ESO and Igor Chekalin

Compare it with Hubble's highest resolution view from 2006 below.

Credit: NASA,ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team

NGC 6171

Sharp new image of Messier 107 (also known as NGC 6171) by the ESO's Wide Field Imager.

Credit: ESO/ESO Imaging Survey

NGC 7252

New image of the colliding galaxies NGC 7252 taken by ESO's Wide Field Imager in Chile.
Credit: ESO

NGC 300

This La Silla Observatory image of the spiral galaxy NGC 300 is assembled from many different images with a combined exposure time of about fifty hours. NGC 300 is similar in structure to our own Milky Way galaxy.
Credit: ESO

NGC 4666

Visible light image of the starburst galaxy NGC 4666 (center) and neighbouring galaxy NGC 4668 (lower left) from the ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Credit: ESO/J. Dietrich

R Coronae Australis

From the ESO's Wide Field Imager, a stunning new view of the star-forming region around the star R Coronae Australis.
Credit: ESO

Wide field view of the area around R Coronae Australis.
Credit: Loke Kun Tan (StarryScapes.com)

Cat’s Paw Nebula

NGC 6334 is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and has been extensively studied by astronomers. The nebula conceals freshly minted brilliant blue stars — each nearly ten times the mass of our Sun and born in the last few million years. The region is also home to many baby stars that are buried deep in the dust, making them difficult to study. In total, the Cat’s Paw Nebula could contain several tens of thousands of stars. -- Press Release

Credit: ESO

Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

NGC 4755: The Kappa Crucis Cluster or The Jewel Box

The combination of images taken by three exceptional telescopes: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal, the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla observatory has allowed the stunning Jewel Box star cluster to be seen in a whole new light.


This composite image serves as a still "zoom-in", showing the rich star field in which NGC 4755 nestles and then moving in to the detailed Hubble image of the Kappa Crucis Cluster, or Jewel Box, itself. Credit: ESO, NASA/ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2 and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)


This image is a "close-up' view from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 4755, or the Jewel Box cluster. Several very bright, pale blue supergiant stars, a solitary ruby-red supergiant and a variety of other brilliantly coloured stars are visible in the image, as well as many much fainter ones, often with intriguing colours. The huge variety in brightness exists because the brighter stars are 15 to 20 times the mass of the Sun, while the dimmest stars are less than half the mass of the Sun. This is the first image of an open galactic cluster with imaging extending from the far ultraviolet to the near-infrared. Credit: NASA/ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain)


The FORS1 instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO's Paranal Observatory was used to take this exquisitely sharp close up view of the colourful Jewel Box cluster, NGC 4755. The telescopes huge mirror allowed very short exposure times: just 2.6 seconds through a blue filter, 1.3 seconds through a yellow/green filter and 1.3 seconds through a red filter. The field of view spans about seven arcminutes. Credit: ESO


This image of the well-known NGC 4755 cluster or Jewel Box was taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory. It highlights the cluster and its rich surroundings in all their multicoloured glory. The field of view is 20 arcminutes across. The picture is based on images obtained through B, V and I filters. Credit: ESO


A wide-field image of the region around NGC 4755 constructed from the data from Digitized Sky Survey 2. The bright star is Mimosa, one of the main four stars in the Southern Cross. The darkness towards the bottom of the image is part of the Coal Sack, a vast area of obscuring dust easily visible to the unaided eye. The field of view is approximately 2.8 degrees x 2.9 degrees. Credit: ESO, ESA/Hubble and Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)