ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has imaged the Vela-C molecular cloud, revealing the cloud's reservoir of gas and dust in unprecedented detail. Vela-C is a rich stellar nursery where stars of low, intermediate and high mass are forming. The image shows how the raw material from which stars form is organised in tangled nests as well as dense, ridge-like filaments, and suggests that the two environments may be responsible for producing different populations of stars.
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| This image shows Vela-C, a giant molecular cloud where stars are being born, as viewed at far-infrared wavelengths with ESA's Herschel Space Observatory. Vela-C is the most massive component of the Vela Molecular Ridge, a vast star-forming complex in the plane of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. |
