--- title: Infrared Image of Nebula Messier 78 Reveals Hidden Stars description: ESO's VISTA telescope peers through layers of cosmic dust to reveal supergiant and fledgling stars. canonical: https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/ author: Marisa Gertz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-04T10:00:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:27.134Z article:section: Science og:title: Hidden Stars Are Revealed in Images of a Dusty Nebula og:description: A new image of the Messier 78 nebula reveals supergiant and fledgling stars. og:url: https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbf0eeddddd024eb/6988a873fb4eac73ad88f577/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: VISTA views Messier 78 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hidden Stars Are Revealed in Images of a Dusty Nebula twitter:description: A new image of the Messier 78 nebula reveals supergiant and fledgling stars. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbf0eeddddd024eb/6988a873fb4eac73ad88f577/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hidden Stars Are Revealed in Images of a Dusty Nebula by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Oct 4, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  The star formation region, Messier 78, in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and released on Oct. 5, 2016. The star formation region, Messier 78, in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and released on Oct. 5, 2016.ESO by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Oct 4, 2016 10:00 AM UTC A new image of Messier 78, a nebula located about 1,600 light-years away in the constellation of [Orion](http://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/), reveals stars and other features that in previous observations, had been hidden by cosmic dust. Messier 78 is what’s known as a reflection nebula. In visible light, images of the formation, like those taken by the [ESO’s Wide Field Imager](https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1105/), look like a swirling, luminous, blue cloud, streaked with dark ribbons. Light from the stars at its center reflect off the dust and scatter the light. The new image from [ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy](https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1635/?lang) (VISTA), sees [near-infrared light](http://time.com/4379755/july-4th-space-photography/), which passes through the dust, allowing the stars within to shine through. (See comparison images below.) “The telescope”, writes ESO, “is like a giant dustbuster that lets astronomers probe deep into the heart of the stellar environment.”  This comparison gif shows how differently parts of a rich star-forming complex in Orion appear at different wavelengths. Igor Chekalin—ESO; Gif by Marisa Gertz for TIME  In the infrared images from the VISTA telescope the dust is much more transparent than in the visible light pictures from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. Igor Chekalin—ESO; Gif by Marisa Gertz for TIME VISTA is able to see the two blue supergiant stars at the center of the nebula as well as many fledgling stars surrounding them, glowing red and yellow. While bright, they will not become true stars for “several tens of millions of years”, says [ESO](https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1635/?lang), once they become “hot enough for nuclear fusion reactions to have commenced in their cores.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/"},"headline":"Hidden Stars Are Revealed in Images of a Dusty Nebula","datePublished":"2016-10-04T10:00:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:27.134Z","description":"By the VISTA telescope in Chile","url":"https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/","keywords":["Space","Science topic","nebula"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbf0eeddddd024eb/6988a873fb4eac73ad88f577/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marisa Gertz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbf0eeddddd024eb/6988a873fb4eac73ad88f577/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"VISTA views Messier 78","caption":"The star formation region, Messier 78, in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and released on Oct. 5, 2016.","creditText":"ESO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4516712/infrared-telescope-nebula-space/","name":"Hidden Stars Are Revealed in Images of a Dusty Nebula"}}]}] ```