Supernova Remnant at the Dragon's Head Nebula Captured

The European Southern Observatory using the FORS (FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph) instrument captured a detailed image of NGC 2035 known as the Dragon's Head Nebula. The image shows filaments of gas and dust clouds that resulted from a supernova explosion.

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases.

The Dragon's Head Nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a galaxy 163,000 light years away and contains around 35 million stars. The LMC is smaller than the Milky Way galaxy at 14,000 light years wide compared to the Milky Way's width of 100,000 light years.

Unique Pairing of Star Forming Regions in Large Magellanic Cloud Imaged

By attaching the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) instrument to the ESO's Very Large Telescope, scientists were able to capture a sharp image of NGC 2020 and NGC 2014 side by side. NGC 2020 is the blue cloud in the image while the red colored cloud is NGC 2014.

The two star forming regions contain gas and dust that is essential to forming stars. NGC 2014 is surrounded by hydrogen gas which when exposed to radiation from hot young stars, ionizes the gas and produces a red glow. The bluish color of NGC 2020 is caused also by radiation from hot stars but instead of ionizing hydrogen, NGC 2020 is using oxygen which produces a blue glow.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is an irregular shaped galaxy containing around 35 million stars. It is believed to be a spiral shaped galaxy once but has become misshapen because of the gravitational pull of the Milky Way galaxy. The LMC is 163,000 light years away and is around 14,000 light years wide. By comparison, the Milky Way Galaxy is around 100,000 light years wide.

The distance between the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way Galaxy was accurately measured using light pulses from a binary star system within the LMC.

Eclipsing Binary Star System Accurately Determine Distance To The LMC

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have accurately determined the distance of one of the closest galaxies, The Large Magellanic Cloud, to the Milky Way to be 163,000 light-years.

A binary star system, as the name suggests is composed of two stars. These stars orbit around a common center of mass. The brightest of the two stars is called the primary star while the other is the secondary or companion star.

One of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory searched through its 35 million stars to find a binary star system that would help to accurately determine the distance of the LMC to the Milky Way.

The stars found by ESO are known as Cepheid Variables. These are bright but unstable stars that pulsate and vary in brightness (see embedded video below). The star that pulsates more quickly are fainter than the those that pulsates more slowly. As the stars revolve, they eclipse each other and the observed brightness changes as this happens.

The exact light variations depend on the relative sizes of the stars, their temperatures and colors and the details of the orbit while the colors are measured by the comparing the brightness of the stars at various near-infrared wavelengths (the farther an object is, the closer it is to the infra-red wavelength).

By studying the relationship between the duration and its luminosity (period-luminosity relationship) of the Cepheids found at the Large Magellanic Cloud, astronomers can accurately determine its distance to the Milky Way.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is an irregular galaxy that is believed to be once a spiral galaxy but was pulled out of shape because of the gravitational effect of the Milky Way.

Eclipsing Binary Star System

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of LHC 120-N 11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Hubble Space Telescope captures an image of LHC 120-N 11, a region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy 200,000 light years from Earth. (Image by Hubble/ESA)

The Large Magellanic Cloud is an irregular galaxy but has a clearly visible bar, and a single spiral-arm-like structure. These properties are similar to that of spiral galaxies leading to the belief that the LMC was once a small spiral galaxy but was pulled out of shape by the gravitational effect of the Milky Way.