The image shows stringy clouds of hot pink and golden orange, nested together all over the frame, almost like the messy fragments of a spider’s web. Close to these colourful clouds, we find bright blue massive stars. In between the clouds there are gaps, revealing stars in blue and yellow, almost like sparklers.

This image shows a spectacular view of the orange and pink clouds that make up what remains after the explosive death of a massive star — the Vela supernova remnant. This detailed image consists of 554 million pixels, and is a combined mosaic image of observations taken with the 268-million-pixel OmegaCAM camera at the VLT Survey Telescope, hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory.

OmegaCAM can take images through several filters that each let the telescope see the light emitted in a distinct colour. To capture this image, four filters have been used, represented here by a combination of magenta, blue, green and red. The result is an extremely detailed and stunning view of both the gaseous filaments in the remnant and the foreground bright blue stars that add sparkle to the image.

Credit:

ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Coordinates
Position (RA):	8 31 25.99
Position (Dec):	-43° 59' 12.28"
Field of view:	83.95 x 83.95 arcminutes
Orientation:	North is 0.0° left of vertical

Colours & filters      Band	Telescope
Infrared u	350 nm	VLT Survey Telescope OmegaCAM
Optical g	480 nm	VLT Survey Telescope OmegaCAM
Optical r	625 nm	VLT Survey Telescope OmegaCAM
Optical H-alpha	659 nm	VLT Survey Telescope OmegaCAM
Infrared i	770 nm	VLT Survey Telescope OmegaCAM