A curled snake in the sky? Check out this new image by European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has shared a new image that shows NGC 1087, a spiral galaxy that lies approximately 80 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cetus. In this image, the spiral galaxy resembles a curled sleeping snake.

The image is a combination of observations conducted at different wavelengths of light, which reveal the physical properties of stars, gas and dust within galaxies, and by comparing them astronomers study what activates, boosts or hinders the birth of new stars.

Sharing the image, ESA said that the apparent menacing red glow actually corresponds to clouds of cold molecular gas, the raw material out of which stars form. These clouds were imaged using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile.

The bluish regions in the background reveal the pattern of older, already formed stars, imaged by the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) also in Chile.

The images were taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies with telescopes operating across a wide range of wavelengths.

Resembling a curled sleeping snake, this Picture of the Week shows NGC 1087. This spiral galaxy is captured here by a combination of observations conducted at different wavelengths –– or colours –– of light. 🔗 https://t.co/XrKxvF1U7mCredit: @ESO /ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/PHANGS pic.twitter.com/Kiev7AvQ5c

— ESO (@ESO) June 6, 2022