Dark Energy Camera Captures ‘Lobster Nebula’ located 8000 light-years from Earth

The Lobster Nebula, a bright star-forming region located 8000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Scorpius, has been captured in a stunning image by the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera built by the US Department of Energy at NOIRLab's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. It was released by NOIRLab on September 12.

The open star cluster Pismis 24, made up of several startlingly luminous, massive stars, is located at the nebula's core, around 400 light-years across. A region teeming with young stars, protostars still encased in their star-forming cocoons, and thick cores of gas and dust that will one day become new stars around this clump. Interstellar winds, radiation, and strong magnetic fields combine to create the turbulent pressure that gives rise to the twisted braiding of dark clouds and intricate structures inside the nebula.

The intricate colour scheme that highlights various nebula features is one of this image's most remarkable features. This high-resolution, wide-field image demonstrates the DECam's ability to create spectacular photos while helping astronomers in studying the fundamental rules regulating the Universe.

The same celestial object is seen numerous times using various filters to produce a vibrant image. Every observation offers a single-colour image that covers a particular gamut of light wavelengths. Then, imaging specialists take distinct photos and give each one a corresponding colour. The images can then be combined to form a mix closely resembling how objects could seem if they were much brighter.

The image was released at the conference, “DECam at ten years: Looking Back, Looking Forward”, which emphasised the remarkable DECam science results of the previous ten years as well as the additional intriguing potential.