This video from ESO's VLT zooms in on the Cone Nebula - a star factory that lies about 2500 light-years away

On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, the European Southern Observatory today shared a spectacular new image and video of the Cone Nebula captured with the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on its Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The Cone Nebula is part of the larger star-forming region NGC 2264, about 2500 light-years away. This horn-shaped nebula lies in the constellation Monoceros (The Unicorn) and is relatively close to Earth, which makes it a well-studied object.

In the above image obtained by VLT's FORS2, the hydrogen gas is represented in blue while sulphur is in red. The use of these filters, according to ESO, makes the otherwise bright blue stars, which indicate the recent star formation, appear almost golden, contrasting with the dark cone-like sparklers.

Sharing the image, ESO said that this view is more dramatic than any obtained before.

"This image is just one example of the many stunning and awe-inspiring observations ESO telescopes have made in the past 60 years. While this one was obtained for outreach purposes, the overwhelming majority of ESO's telescope time is dedicated to scientific observations that have allowed us to capture the first image of an exoplanet, study the black hole at the centre of our home galaxy, and find proof that the expansion of our Universe is accelerating," ESO said in a statement.

Check out this video of the Cone Nebula shared by ESO. The video begins with our location in the Milky Way galaxy. Zooming in towards it, we move to the constellation Monoceros, next to Orion, where the large star-forming region of the NGC 2264 cluster can be found. Within this cluster, the pillar-like shape of the Cone Nebula can be seen.

Video Credit:ESO/L.Calçada, ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: D. De Martin. Music: Azul Cobalto