STScI: Cosmic Ice Sculptures

[orin stepanek]

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 29/image/a

[neufer]

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 29/image/a

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[bystander]

Scooped, again! This is starting to be annoying.

Cosmic Ice Sculptures: Dust Pillars in the Carina Nebula
Space Telescope Science Institute | Hubble Site | 16 Sept 2010

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Enjoying a frozen treat on a hot summer day can leave a sticky mess as it melts in the Sun and deforms. In the cold vacuum of space, there is no edible ice cream, but there is radiation from massive stars that is carving away at cold molecular clouds, creating bizarre, fantasy-like structures.

These one-light-year-tall pillars of cold hydrogen and dust, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, are located in the Carina Nebula. Violent stellar winds and powerful radiation from massive stars are sculpting the surrounding nebula. Inside the dense structures, new stars may be born.

This image of dust pillars in the Carina Nebula is a composite of 2005 observations taken of the region in hydrogen light (light emitted by hydrogen atoms) along with 2010 observations taken in oxygen light (light emitted by oxygen atoms), both times with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The immense Carina Nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina.

Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Project (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: M. Livio (STScI)/N. Smith (UC, Berkeley)

Zoomable Image

[bystander]

The Pillars of Carina
Sky & Telescope | 16 Sept 2010

This past summer I was lucky to make not one but two trips to dark-sky locations in the Southern Hemisphere. I was all set to reacquaint myself with many southern-sky treasures, among them the beautiful Carina Nebula (NGC 3372).

Usually when this nebula is mentioned, thoughts immediately turn to its headliner, Eta Carinae, a massive and wildly unstable star that might just become the next supernova in our cosmic neighborhood. But the broader nebula in which Eta Carinae lies is a big draw all by itself. Brighter and larger than its better-known sibling in Orion, NGC 3372 is a riot of colorful gas whorls shaped by powerful ionizing radiation and outflowing winds from its brash young stars.
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Roughly 2° across, the stunning Carina Nebula has a declination of -60° — making it unobservable for most northern stargazers. [i]Chesnok/Wikipedia (left): ESO (right)[/i]

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Fortunately, a new view released today from the Hubble Heritage team reminds us of this star factory's stunning beauty. It's a closeup of a section located about 6 arcminutes northwest of Eta Carinae.

These dramatic plumes, roughly 1 light-year tall, are towering columns of cold hydrogen gas and dust backlit by the bright nebula. They're reminiscent of the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) made famous by the Hubble telescope 15 years ago.

This new view is actually a combination of images taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in July 2005 and (after astronauts repaired it last year) in February 2010. The images isolate emission from twice-ionized oxygen atoms (O III), ionized nitrogen (N II), and excited hydrogen atoms (Hα).

Carina's pillars aren't a new find — for example, you can spot them easily in ground-based images. But they remind us that the Milky Way's star-forming cauldrons are among the most beautiful and arresting sights in the night sky.

[orin stepanek]

I saved the photo for a wallpaper! it is really beautiful when it is blown up.

[Ann]

You mean Nessie and her friends are really made of ice???

Ann