Picture of the Day - The Light and Dark Face of a Star-Forming Nebula

Today, ESO is unveiling an image of the little known Gum 19, a faint nebula that, in the infrared, appears dark on one half and bright on the other. On one side hot hydrogen gas is illuminated by a supergiant blue star called V391 Velorum.

This image shows the area around the star-forming region Gum 19, in the direction of the constellation of Vela (the Sail), as seen by the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The image covers an area of 3 times 3 degrees on the sky. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

New star formation is taking place within the ribbon of luminous and dark material that brackets V391 Velorum’s left in this perspective. After many millennia, these fledgling stars, coupled with the explosive demise of V391 Velorum as a supernova, will likely alter Gum 19’s present Janus-like appearance.