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Star-Forming Region in the Carina Nebula
[Left] - A towering "mountain" of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust is the site of new star formation in the Carina Nebula. The great gas pillar is being eroded by the ultraviolet radiation from the hottest newborn stars in the nebula.
[Right] - A close-up look at the peak of one of these "pillars of creation" reveals unequivocal evidence that stars are being born inside the columns. A pencil-like streamer of gas shoots out in both directions from the pillar and plows into surrounding gas like a fire hose hitting a wall of sand. The jet is being launched from a newly forming star hidden inside the column. A similar jet appears near the bottom of the image. These stellar jets are a common signature of the birth of a new star.
This image is from a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen. Color information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.
About the Object
- R.A. PositionR.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.10h 43m 59.99s
- Dec. PositionDec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.-59° 52' 59.99"
- ConstellationConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.Carina
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.Approximately 7,500 light-years (2,300 parsecs)
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.This color image combines many exposures from Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)* and NOAO/AURA/NSF Cerro-Tololo Interamerican Observatory's (CTIO) 4m Blanco Telescope and MOSAIC2 camera.
The ACS data was from the HST proposal 10241 : N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), J. Bally (University of Colorado at Boulder), N. Walborn (STScI), and J. Morse (NASA/GSFC).
*A small area of the Hubble ACS image that was saturated around the brightest star in the field, Eta Carinae, was replaced with images from previous shorter exposures from Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.
The CTIO observing team includes: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), J. Bally (University of Colorado at Boulder), and J. Walawender (Institute for Astronomy/University of Hawaii).
*A small area of the Hubble ACS image that was saturated around the brightest star in the field, Eta Carinae, was replaced with images from previous shorter exposures from Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>ACS, CTIO>4m Blanco Telescope and CTIO>MOSAIC2
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.March - July 2005 (HST), December 2001 - March 2003 (CTIO)
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.ACS: F658N (H-alpha+[N II])CTIO: ([O III] 501nm), (H-alpha+[N II] 658nm) and ([S II] 672+673nm)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Mystic Mountain, HH 901 and HH 902 in the Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Herbig-Haro (HH) object, Stellar Jets, Emission Nebula
- Release DateApril 24, 2007
- Science ReleaseThe Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme
- Credits
This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope along with ground-based observations. In total, three filters were used to sample narrow wavelength emission. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are:Luminosity*: F658N (H-alpha+[N II])Blue: CTIO ([O III] 501nm)Green: CTIO (H-alpha+[N II] 658nm)Red: CTIO ([S II] 672+673nm)*The higher resolution, black & white Hubble image and the lower resolution, color CTIO images were combined using a technique that takes luminosity (brightness) information from the black and white ACS image and color information from the composite CTIO image. This preserves all of the higher-resolution detail from the Hubble data while rendering a color image representing the physical processes in this active region of space.
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
