Only then, by analysing all these data, will it become possible to determine the masses, ages, and motions of the very faintest members of the Trapezium Cluster , and to provide a solid answer to the tantalising question of their origin. For the astronomers, images like these and the follow-up studies will help to solve some of the fascinating and perplexing questions about the birth and early lives of stars and their planetary systems. This 4-colour composite emphasises the light from the gaseous nebula rather than from the stars, and there is dramatic difference from the infrared view which sees much deeper into the region. VLT ANTU telescope on December 20 - 21, 1999. The full field measures approx.
North is up and East left.
The total integration time for each pixel in the mosaic was 4.5 min in each band. K s -bands, respectively, mainly limited by the bright background emission of the nebula. After removal of instrumental signatures and the bright infrared sky background, all frames in a given band were carefully aligned and adjusted to form a seamless mosaic. The three monochromatic mosaics were then unsharp-masked and scaled logarithmically to reduce the enormous dynamic range and enhance the faint features of the outer nebula. The disk is roughly 2 arcsec or 900 AU in diameter.