ESA ESO APEX Telescope Reveals Spectacular 'Fiery Ribbon' in Orion Nebula

This dramatic new image of cosmic clouds in the constellation of Orion reveals what seems to be a fiery ribbon in the sky. 

The orange glow represents faint light coming from grains of cold interstellar dust, at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see. 

CREDIT: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

APEX telescope in Chile has captured stunning new photos of a cosmic ribbon shimmering in the Orion nebula more than 1,000 light-years from Earth.

The new images — released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) today (May 15) — show what scientists described as a "fiery ribbon" of red gas and dust shining in the constellation Orion's belt.

The ribbon is a small part of a huge star-forming region of the universe.

ESO scientists used the APEX telescope in Chile to craft a video tour of the clouds of dust that combine to create new stars.

"The large bright cloud in the upper right of the image is the well-known Orion Nebula, also called Messier 42," ESO officials wrote in a news release.

"It is readily visible to the naked eye as the slightly fuzzy middle 'star' in the sword of Orion. The Orion Nebula is the brightest part of a huge stellar nursery where new stars are being born, and is the closest site of massive star formation to Earth."



Although the clouds of dust and gas in the red-tinted image might look as if they're burning hot, they are actually freezing cold.

ESO's APEX telescope in Chile took the photo in wavelengths invisible to the human eye. In this image, the hottest object glow blue while the coolest have an orange tint.