Full-scale images can be seen by clicking on their small versions. The bluish stars are presumably foreground objects. The yellow and reddish stars form a young star cluster in which G339.88-1.26 is situated. The position of this source is indicated by the red arrow. The bright star left to this arrow is included in the USNO catalogue and provides an accurate astrometric reference.
Dark lanes cross the image and represent dense dust filaments.
The diffuse red emission may be scattered light from this object. 1.26 has been imaged during two runs in the wavelength range around 10 micron. The orientation of the major axis is almost identical to that of the maser chain. During the second observation, special care has been taken to establish an accurate astrometry which is not an easy task at these wavelengths due to the small field of view and the lack of reference objects. Nevertheless, the position of the mid-infrared source was verified to be within one arcsecond of that of the radio continuum peak.