Images of the Silhouette Disc and the Bipolar Reflection Nebula

Collection of images of the silhouette disc and, perpendicular to that, the bipolar reflection nebula of a young, massive star in M 17. These images were obtained in different optical and near-infrared wavebands with different instruments: EMMI at the ESO New Technology Telescope on La Silla (top row; wavelengths 0.45 [B-band], 0.55 [V-band], 0.8 ��m [I-band], respectively) and ISAAC at the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal (bottom row; 1.25 [J], 1.65 [H] and 2.2 ��m [K]). All images are centred on the central massive protostar and cover an area of 30 x 30 square arcsec, corresponding to 1.0 x 1.0 square light-years at the distance of M 17 (about 7,000 light-years). The obscuration diminishes with increasing wavelength and the background emission of the H II region becomes more and more evident (represented by entirely black colours at K).