A tangled heart


Wide-field view of a bright pink nebula filling most of the frame, with a blue halo surrounding bright stars at the nebula’s core. It is a dense central cloud crossed by dark, branch-like dust lanes. A small, very bright white-and-pink knot stands out just right of center, while a separate patch of pink gas and dust sits in the lower left and faint bluish wisps trace along the bottom edge. The entire scene is sprinkled with a rich starfield of white points, including several brighter stars with four-pointed diffraction spikes scattered across the image.

Vikas Chander from New Delhi, India; taken from Río Hurtado, Chile

RCW 27 occupies the center of this frame; classified as a nebula glowing with hydrogen, it is part of a larger H II complex in Vela. Blue reflection nebulae are also visible at its center where dust is reflecting the light of young stars, while oxygen-rich filaments run along the bottom of the frame. The photographer combined 49.5 hours of SHOLRGB data using a 6-inch f/3.3 scope.