APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

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APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by APOD Robot » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:05 am

Image Carina Nebula Close Up

Explanation: A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. Like the smaller, more northerly Great Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is easily visible to the unaided eye, though at a distance of 7,500 light-years it is some 5 times farther away. This gorgeous telescopic close-up reveals remarkable details of the region's central glowing filaments of interstellar gas and obscuring cosmic dust clouds in a field of view nearly 20 light-years across. The Carina Nebula is home to young, extremely massive stars, including the still enigmatic and violently variable Eta Carinae, a star system with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. In the processed composite of space and ground-based image data a dusty, two-lobed Homunculus Nebula appears to surround Eta Carinae itself just below and left of center. While Eta Carinae is likely on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.

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neufer
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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:09 am


Art Neuendorffer

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Ann
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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by Ann » Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:21 am

Wow wow wow, what a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous APOD! :D

I know, It's a composite, composite, composite image, and the Carina Nebula could never look the way it does in the APOD. For one thing, details in the surrounding nebula have been very very much brightened, while Eta Carina itself has been dimmed by many magnitudes - or at least it looks that way! Hey, we can see the Homunculus Nebula! But, dimming and brightening aside, the details are gorgeous and the colors are to die for! ❤️

But let's compare the APOD to something a little more "normal-looking" to see what we are dealing with here:


















As you can see, Johannes Schedler's image is more widefield than today's APOD. You can clearly see the main components of the Carina Nebula in Schedler's picture. Eta Carina itself is the bright yellow star at lower left of center in Schedler's image, and the large red round Keyhole Nebula, near center in the picture, clearly stands out. And while it is absolutely impossible to see the Homunculus Nebula in Johannes Schedler's image, many of the details in the surrounding field of nebulosities, like the Finger of God, stand out clearly in Johannes Schedler's image.

Ah, but the APOD is so gorgeous! You knew I would love it. :wink:

Ann
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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by GeoXXX » Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:00 am

These processed photos are beautiful but looking at them through a telescope a lot are faint with a greenish Luminescence that is beautiful as well.
It would be wonderful if our eyes could see the entire spectrum.

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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by starsurfer » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:20 am

neufer wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:09 am

Looks pretty well preserved to me. :D :lol2:

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orin stepanek
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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:39 pm

Eta-HST-ESO-New-LL1024.jpg

Nicely done photo
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

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Re: APOD: Carina Nebula Close Up (2020 Feb 15)

Post by DL MARTIN » Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:30 pm

A day late - eh!

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