Carina Nebula, NGC 3372, with Eta Carinae
False-color image taken by NASA's SST shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. The infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted. Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Eta Carina is a behemoth of a star, with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun. It is so massive that it can barely hold itself together. Some astronomers think Eta Carinae might die in a supernova blast within our lifetime. Eta Carina's home, the Carina Nebula, is located in the southern portion of our Milky Way galaxy, 10,000 light-years from Earth. This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of microns (blue), microns (green), microns (orange), and microns (red).
Size: 3628px × 2850px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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