carina nebula - astroanderson.com

Carina Nebula

The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), 7,500 light-years distant, one of the largest diffuse nebulae in the sky.

Part 1 of the Carina Gallery focusses on objects within the nebula, including the “Cosmic Cliffs” captured by the James Webb Space Telescope as part of the release of its first official science images in 2022.

Most of the images in the Carina Gallery were captured with the RedCat 71 Astrograph, focal length 350mm. Thus, to demonstrate some of the objects within the nebula, extensive enlargement has been undertaken with Topaz gigapixel and Adobe photoshop, often resulting in rather poor-quality images; other images have been captured with the Celestron EdgeHD 9.25″ telescope, focal length 2350 (the greater the focal length, the greater the ‘magnification’). Image captions indicate which telescope has been used.

In standard astronomical images, with North up, East is conventionally placed to the left. This appears reversed compared to a terrestrial map (where East is right) because one is looking up at the sky from below, rather than down at the ground.

This image shows the whole Eta Carinae complex, (top facing north, left facing east) centred on η (Eta) Carinae, a binary star system at least 120 times the mass of the Sun and five million times as luminous as the Sun, which, along with the dense star-forming region (Carina OB1) of which η Carinae is a part, and along with stars in the Trumpler clusters, shapes and illuminates the Carina Nebula; image captured with RedCat 71, narrowband filters and ASI2600mm camera. — This image shows the whole Eta Carinae complex, (top facing north, left facing east) centred on η (Eta) Carinae, a binary star system at least 120 times the mass of the Sun and five million times as luminous as the Sun, which, along with the dense star-forming region (Carina OB1) of which η Carinae is a part, and along with stars in the Trumpler clusters, shapes and illuminates the Carina Nebula; image captured with RedCat 71.

An enlarged view of the centre of the Carina Nebula; image captured with RedCat 71, narrowband filters and ASI2600mm camera. — An enlarged view of the centre of the Carina Nebula; image captured with RedCat 71.

Seen in this further enlarged view is the Keyhole Nebula, a small dark cloud of cold molecules and dust seen in black to the right (west) of η Carinae. At 45° upwards from the Keyhole Nebula beyond a light-blue space is Trumpler 14, an open cluster of about 2000 stars; image captured with RedCat 71.

This image homes in on η Carinae to demonstrate surrounding it, although difficult to observe in this rather poor image, is the oval-shaped Homunculus Nebula, believed to have been ejected in an enormous outburst that was observed in1841 which briefly made η (Eta) Carinae the second-brightest star(s) in the sky (remember, this happened some 7,500 years before 1841, the light-year distance of the Carina Nebula); also, pointing out from the bottom (south) of the Keyhole Nebula, what is called the Defiant Finger, a small Bok globule in the Keyhole Nebula - Bok globules are small, isolated, and extremely dense cold clouds of interstellar gas and dust that act as cocoons for stellar birth, often containing forming stars; image captured with RedCat 71. — This image homes in on η Carinae to demonstrate surrounding it, although difficult to observe in this rather poor image, is the oval-shaped Homunculus Nebula, believed to have been ejected in an enormous outburst that was observed in1841 which briefly made η (Eta) Carinae the second-brightest star(s) in the sky (remember, this happened some 7,500 years before 1841, the light-year distance of the Carina Nebula); also, pointing out from the bottom (south) of the Keyhole Nebula, what is called the Defiant Finger, a small Bok globule in the Keyhole Nebula – Bok globules are small, isolated, and extremely dense cold clouds of interstellar gas and dust that act as cocoons for stellar birth, often containing forming stars; image captured with RedCat 71.

Eta Carinae (η Carinae, η Car) stars, centre of Carina Nebula captured with Celestron EdgeHD 9.25", Ha, SII and OIII narrowband filters, ASI 2600mm camera. — This is another view of the stellar system, η Carinae, with the Homunculus Nebula in blue, going upwards and to the right, expanding at 670 km/s; keyhole nebula is to the right of η Car, glowing ionized gas, and dense, cold dust clouds appearing silhouetted, with notable bok globules known as the “Defiant Finger”; image captured with Celestron EdgeHD 9.25″.

Eta Carinae (η Carinae, η Car) stars and keyhole nebula, centre of Carina Nebula, captured with Celestron EdgeHD 9.25", Ha, SII and OIII narrowband filters, ASI 2600mm camera. — A closer view of η Carinae, with the keyhole nebula to right; image captured with Celestron EdgeHD 9.25″.

This image is centred on what is called the Mystic Mountain, the blob in grey, a dust–gas pillar measuring three light-years in height, with a lucent triangle, like a hat, above; image captured with RedCat 71.

This image is similar to the “Cosmic Cliffs” captured by the James Webb Space Telescope; it is part of the Gabriela Mistral Nebula (IC 2599); image captured with RedCat 71. [nb: I have found conflicting information as to the exact location of the “Cosmic Cliffs” as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in the Gabriela Mistral nebula – this image is taken at the south part of the Gabriela Mistral nebula and rotated through 180°].

This is another image of what could be the “Cosmic Cliffs” an ionized, glowing wall of material sculpted and eroded by intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from young, massive stars – this time the image is on the face-side (west side) of the Gabriela Mistral Nebula (IC 2599), and rotated anti-clockwise by 90°; image captured with Celestron EdgeHD 9.25″.

Part 2 presents artistic interpretations of astroanderson.com-captured images of the Carina Nebula.

Captions are not provided for the images.

Interpret, imagine and make of them what you will!