Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
The Carina Nebula in Infrared
Explanation:
About three million years ago, the stars in the Keyhole Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] began to form. The above picture [ http://www.ipac.cal…] of the Keyhole Nebula [ http://www.seds.org…], also known as the Carina Nebula or NGC 3372, shows in infrared light [ http://www.ipac.cal…] many facets of this dramatic stellar nursery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] which lies only 9,000 light-years away. Fine dust [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] reflects starlight while being heated and emitting light of its own. Open clusters [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] Trumpler 14 and Trumpler [ http://www.treasure…] 16 are visible in the lower left and upper right of the nebula. The bright star near Trumpler 14 [ http://www.aao.gov.…] is called Eta Carinae [ http://www.seds.org…] and is one of the most unusual [ http://www.bris.ac.…] stars known. A candidate for a supernova [ http://msgc.engin.u…] in the next few thousand years, Eta Carinae [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] faded from being one of the brightest stars in the sky during the 1800s. Despite intensive study [ http://adsabs.harva…], astronomers remain unsure whether Eta Carinae [ http://heasarc.gsfc…] is part of a binary star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] system.
Credit and Copyright:
2MASS Collaboration [ mailto:2mass@ipac.ca ltech.edu ], U. Mass. [ http://pegasus.phas…], IPAC [ http://www.ipac.cal…]
keyword:
infrared
keyword:
Keyhole Nebula
keyword:
NGC 3372
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_what:
Carina
facet_what:
Pegasus
facet_what:
nebula
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap000613

The Carina Nebula in Infrared
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