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The Great Nebula in Carina NGC 3372, Terry Hancock

The Great Nebula in Carina NGC 3372

The Great Nebula in Carina NGC 3372, Terry Hancock

The Great Nebula in Carina NGC 3372

Description

Presented here in Hubble Palette, this collaboration by John Mansur and Terry Hancock was captured by John remotely from Siding Spring NSW Australia using a 17.5" Planewave and FLI Proline 16803

Total Integration Time 120 minutes

The Eta Carinae Nebula, as this object is more commonly called, is one of the largest diffuse nebulae visible in the night sky. A veritable honeypot of unique astronomical objects visible only from the southern hemisphere, it contains the the most massive confirmed star in our galaxy; Eta Carinae. Visible as the bright star center-right in this image, this super-luminous hyper-massive star dominates the structure of the nebula providing much of the ionizing radiation which causes the gasses to glow. It also responsible for shaping the dusty lanes with its fierce stellar winds into tendrils that look like pointing fingers hiding nascent young stars within.

The Carina Nebula is also home to two open clusters of stars and some of the most interesting objects in the sky; the Keyhole Nebula (the dark knot of dust right next to Eta Carinae), numerous evaporating gaseous globules, a.k.a. EGG's (the dark fingerlike structures birthing new stars), and "bow shocks" around stars facing Eta Carinae that are probably a result of an unusual eruption documented in the 1840's which saw Eta Carinae increase it's luminosity and shed about 30 solar masses in what may have been a near-death experience as this star is expected to die in a spectacular hypernova in the very near future.

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Histogram

The Great Nebula in Carina NGC 3372, Terry Hancock
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