Astronomy Picture of the Week – Carina Nebula
This is a picture of the Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372. It is a huge nebula spanning over 300 light years. The dark shapes you can see in this image are actually clouds of molecular gas and dust so thick they appear opaque. In comparison, however, these clouds are much less dense than the Earth’s atmosphere. The nebula lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina.
Below is a zoom on a region of the nebula that features some dark shapes:
See also: “Mystic Mountain” in the Carina Nebula – Astronomy Picture of the Week
Images credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).
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Paul Tomaszewski
Paul Tomaszewski is a science & tech writer as well as a programmer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CosmoBC. He has a degree in computer science from John Abbott College, a bachelor's degree in technology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and completed some business and economics classes at Concordia University in Montreal. While in college he was the vice-president of the Astronomy Club. In his spare time he is an amateur astronomer and enjoys reading or watching science-fiction. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
One Comment
pushkartyagi
well, i really like these lovely pictures..these awesome pics of Carina Nebula, are unbelievable,
thanks a lot for sharing and please keep on updating such stuff in future,