* Acquisition: iTelescope-Portugal.
* Processing: Ruben Barbosa.
See also:
*
NGC 3324, Gabriela Mistral, animated GIF.
In its most recent photographic work, the iTelescope-Portugal group pointed the T32 telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, to the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), a place of conflicting feelings, located relatively close to us, at approximately 7,500 Light years.
Its enormous size and mesmerizing beauty have popularized this nebula making it a fascinating object; however, before we become enveloped by emotion, we must bear in mind that we are facing a very violent place, consisting of gas, dust and star clusters, where massive stars (type O and Wolf-Rayet) are born, evolve rapidly by carving the landscape through action Of its powerful winds and UV radiation, and end their life in supernova explosions.
This immense nebula, estimated at ~3 million years old at the time the first generation of stars was formed, contains at least 12 bright stars estimated to be 50 to 100 times the mass of the Sun. The most notable is Eta Carinae, not only for the estimation that points to a size similar to that of the Earth's orbit, but also for being in the final phase of life, exhibiting already two gas lobes and accentuated variations of luminosity, which indicate the eminence of collapse In the form of a titanic supernova.
Comments