Credit: University of Sydney/European Southern Observatory
Image of Apep captured at 8 microns in the thermal infrared with the VISIR camera on the European Southern Observatory's VLT telescope, Mt Paranal, Chile. The system can be seen to be a binary, with a much fainter companion to the North and a bit West of the heart of the system. This companion is not believed to play a role in the sculping of the extended dust plume, about 12 arcseconds across. The origin of this structure comes from the central region, believed itself to contain a binary.