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> The Eta Carinae Nebula and Trumpler 14

The Eta Carinae Nebula and Trumpler 14

author: Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

reference: a-neb33-72005

Image Size 300 DPI: 40 * 51 cm

In the small region pictured here are three of the brightest stars known in our Galaxy, each a million times more luminous than the Sun. To the left of the picture is an even more extreme star, Eta Carinae itself, shrouded in a small bright irregular nebula of its own making. In the upper right of the photograph is Trumpler 14, a cluster of very young stars which appears to be associated with a number of bright-edged 'elephant trunk' dust lanes, typical of star-forming regions. All these objects and most of the bright stars scattered across the face of the nebula are together in space at a distance of about 7000 light years. Despite this distance, the Carina nebula is clearly visible to the unaided eye to those of us who live in the southern hemisphere.  

Keywords for this photo:

1985 - AAO - ASTRONOMY - CARINA - DIFFUSE NEBULA - EMISSION NEBULA - ETA CARINAE - MASSIVE STAR - NEBULA - NGC 3372 - OPEN CLUSTER - POSTER - SIDING SPRING - SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE - STAR - STAR CLUSTER - STAR FORMATION - TRUMPLER 14 -