MUSE view of the surroundings of a hidden neutron star in the Small Magellanic Cloud
This new picture from the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile shows how an elusive missing object was found amid a complex tangle of gaseous filaments in one of our nearest neighbouring galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud.
The wisps of gas forming the supernova remnant 1E 0102.2-7219 show up in blue, but the red ring in the MUSE data, revealing glowing neon and oxygen forms, is perfectly centred on an X-ray source — an isolated neutron star with a weak magnetic field, the first identified outside the Milky Way.
Credit:ESO/F. Vogt et al.
About the Image
| Id: | eso1810c |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 5 April 2018, 17:00 |
| Related releases: | eso1810 |
| Size: | 909 x 909 px |
About the Object
| Name: | 1E 0102.2-7219 |
| Type: | Local Universe : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Neutron Star |
| Constellation: | Tucana |
| Category: | Stars |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 1 4 3.11 |
| Position (Dec): | -72° 1' 52.12" |
| Field of view: | 1.01 x 1.01 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is 0.0° left of vertical |
View in WorldWide Telescope:
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Optical OIII | 495 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical OI | 777 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical OIII | 500 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical V | 547 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical R | 634 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical I | 879 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |
| Optical NeI | 640 nm | Very Large Telescope MUSE |