Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2022

56 MARCH-APRIL 2022 ASTRO PUBLISHING G emini South at sunset, Cerro Pachón, Chile. [International Gemini Ob- servatory/NOIRLab/NSF/ AURA/M. Paredes] T his video zooms in to the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, located in the constellation Chamaeleon. [International Gemini Observa- tory/NOIRLab/NSF /AURA/E. Slawik, D. De Martin/ Kwon O Chul] gram of NSF’s NOIRLab. GMOS has imaging capabilities in addition to being a spectrograph, which makes it a very versatile instrument. “GMOS-South is the perfect instru- ment to make this observation, be- cause of its field of view, which can nicely capture the whole nebula, within the disk. The background nebulosity, appearing in blue in this image, is reflecting light from a nearby star located outside the frame. The Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula resides within the larger Chamaeleon I dark cloud, which is neighbored by the Chamaeleon II and Chamaeleon III dark clouds. These three dark clouds collectively comprise the Chamaeleon Complex, a large area of star formation that occupies almost the entirety of the constellation Chamaeleon in the southern sky. The gorgeous detail in this image is thanks to the southern edition of the twin Gemini Multi- Object Spectrographs (GMOS), lo- cated atop Cerro Pachón in Chile at Gemini South, part of the interna- tional Gemini Observatory, a Pro- and because of its ability to capture the emission from the nebula’s ion- ized gas,” said NOIRLab instrument scientist German Gimeno. The image was produced by NOIRLab’s Commu- nication, Education & Engagement team as part of the NOIRLab Legacy Imaging Program. !