The nearby nebula Monoceros R2 explodes into color in this new infrared image from the VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Located about 2,700 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), Monoceros R2 is an active stellar nursery in the Milky Way galaxy where young stars condense from a dark cloud of dust, gas and molecules. In previous visible-light images, the nebula glowed blue with scattered starlight. But most of the infant stars, and their spectacular effects on the matter between them, were hidden by a shroud of dark dust.

Infrared light, however, can pierce the dust cloud and allow young stars and their outflows to shine through. The new image reveals folds, loops and filaments sculpted by intense particle winds and radiation emitted by the hot young stars.

"When I first saw this image, I just said 'Wow!'" said VISTA consortium leader Jim Emerson of Queen Mary, University of London in a press release.

Images: Infrared: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Visible: Digitized Sky Survey 2.

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