Fig 1.
An infrared image of the Carina Nebula, a huge star-forming cloud.
The image was acquired by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, a sophisticated giant observatory atop Paranal Mountain in Chile. 
Credit: ESO/T. Preibisch

 

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) recently published a detailed image (Fig. 1) of a vast star-forming cloud, known as the Carina Nebula. The image was acquired in infrared light by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), an observatory atop Paranal Mountain in Chile. It reveals many previously undetected features within the magnificent Carina Nebula.

The Carina Nebula, visible among the stars of the southern constellation Carina, is located about 7,500 light years away from Earth. This cloud of glowing gas and cosmic dust is an incubator of giant stars, and harbors several of the brightest and most massive stars known. One of them, the bizarre and energetic star Eta Carinae, is likely to explode as a supernova in the near future, by astronomical standards. The Carina Nebula is an ideal natural laboratory for astronomers studying the birth and evolution of stars.

Although the Carina Nebula is spectacular in visual-light pictures, many of its features are obscured by thick clouds of cosmic dust. Peering into these dusty veils, a European team of astronomers, led by Thomas Preibisch (University Observatory, Munich, Germany) has observed the Carina Nebula with the powerful VLT, applying an infrared camera, termed HAWK-I.

Hundreds of individual images have been combined to produce Fig. 1. It shows not just the luminous massive stars, but hundreds of thousands of much fainter stars that were not detected previously.

Dazzling Eta Carinae itself appears at the lower left of the new picture. It is surrounded by clouds of gas that are induced to glow by intense ultraviolet radiation from stars. Across the image there are also many small clumps of dark material that remain opaque even in infrared. These are the dusty cocoons within which new stars are forming.

Numerous stars have been born, within the carina Nebula, over the last few million years. The bright star cluster near the center of the picture is known as Trumpler 14. Although this cluster is clearly visible in visual light, many more fainter stars can be seen in this infrared view. Towards the left side of the image a small aggregation of yellowish stars can be seen. This grouping was first seen in this new picture from the VLT.

References

ESO Press Release

Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist