Huge nebula photo shows the beauty of over 1 million stars

Space images always have a certain magic, don't they? We are able to spend a great deal of time admiring every bit of this priceless universe of which we are a part, and it is precisely this immensity and complexity that surrounds us that makes our minds enchanted without much difficulty when it comes to galaxies, moons, stars., planets and the like.

The European Southern Observatory released an impressive image of the Catherine Nebula, and just to give you an idea, the original photo is 140 megapixels, which would result in a 344MB download, which we don't recommend you do.

Immense portrait

It is estimated that the photo captured about 1 million stars, and according to astronomer Phil Plait, “the colors you see here are not what you would see with your eyes, since it's all infrared. What is shown as blue is actually 0.88 microns, or a wavelength beyond what your eyes can see. Green is actually 1.25 microns and red is 2.15, so both are fine in near infrared. Even in infrared, a lot of gas and dust is still visible. ”

Plait also explained that this kind of image is not only made for the undeniable beauty it has, but also so that astronomers can perform a kind of census of stars, both in quantity and age. In the photos below, you can get a better idea of ​​the density of stars recorded in the larger image. Is it or isn't it amazing?

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