Chasing Carina

Explanation: A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula , aka NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years. Near the upper right of this expansive skyscape , it is much larger than the more northerly Orion Nebula . In fact, the Carina Nebula is one of our galaxy's largest star-forming regions and home to young, extremely massive stars, including the still enigmatic variable Eta Carinae , a star with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. Nebulae near the center of the 10 degree wide field include NGC 3576 and NGC 3603 . Near center at the top of the frame is open star cluster NGC 3532 , the Wishing Well Cluster. More compact, NGC 3766 , the Pearl Cluster, can be spotted at the left. Anchoring the lower left of the cosmic canvas is another large star-forming region, IC 2948/2944 with embedded star cluster Collinder 249. That region is popularly known as the Running Chicken Nebula .