Shine a light

A new infrared imager cuts through cosmic dust clouds to reveal the star cluster RCW 38, 5,500 light years away, in stunning detail. Astronomers were only testing the HAWK-I (High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager) camera after attaching it to the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert, but were amazed by the results.

The success of the experiment means that other shrouded areas of the galaxy could now emerge from the gloom to be revealed with unprecedented clarity.