Astronomers extend the search for Neptune-sized and smaller exoplanets to the southern sky with the Next-Generation Transit Survey — a new array of twelve robotic telescopes built by a UK, Swiss and German consortium.
This spectacular image of the brilliant young blue stars and contrasting red giants of open cluster Messier 47 in the southern constellation of Puppis was taken with the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.