Astronomers have captured a striking cloud of gas and dust shaped like a bat high above the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site in Chile. The cosmic bat was imaged by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), whose expansive field of view revealed a nebula spanning four full Moons.
Located roughly 10,000 light-years away, this nebula lies between the southern constellations Circinus and Nor by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 31, 2025
Astronomers have captured a striking cloud of gas and dust shaped like a bat high above the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site in Chile. The cosmic bat was imaged by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), whose expansive field of view revealed a nebula spanning four full Moons.
Located roughly 10,000 light-years away, this nebula lies between the southern constellations Circinus and Norma. It acts as a stellar nursery, giving birth to new stars. Energy released by these infant stars excites surrounding hydrogen atoms, creating the nebula's vivid red glow. Dense filaments within the formation resemble a skeleton, marking regions of colder, denser gas and dust that obscure background starlight.
Catalogued RCW 94 and RCW 95 make up the most apparent features of the nebula, forming the right wing and body. Other sections of the bat-like nebula lack formal designations.
The image was assembled by combining data from multiple filters-showing both visible and infrared light. Visible wavelength data came from the VST Photometric Ha Survey (VPHAS+), while infrared features were collected via the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey. Both datasets are openly available for scientific research.
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