The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme

Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372 Object Description: Emission Nebula in the Milky Way Galaxy Position (J2000): R.A. 10h 44m Dec. -59° 53' Constellation: Carina Distance: Approximately 7,500 light-years (2,300 parsecs) Dimensions: This image is roughy 25 arcminutes (53 light-years or 16 parsecs) wide. About the Data Data Description: 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). 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. Instrument: HST/ACS CTIO 4m Blanco Telescope and MOSAIC2 camera Exposure Date(s): HST data: March/July 2005 CTIO data: December 2001/March 2003 Filters: HST: ACS F658N (H-alpha+[N II]) CTIO: ([O III] 501nm), (H-alpha+[N II] 658nm) and ([S II] 672+673nm) About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: April 24 , 2007 Color: 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: CTIO: ([O III] 501nm) blue CTIO: (H-alpha+[N II] 658nm) green CTIO: ([S II] 672+673nm) red HST/ACS: F656N (H-alpha+[N II]) luminosity* *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. Orientation: The Carina Nebula: Star Birth in the Extreme [ http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2007/16/images/b/formats/compass_large_web.jpg ] What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. In celebration of the 17th anniversary of the launch and deployment of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers is releasing one of the largest panoramic images ever taken with Hubble's cameras. READ: Junior version of this article Amazing Space Learn about this story in the Star Witness, a science newspaper available on our sister site, Amazing Space. [ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/news/archive/2007/02/ ] It is a 50-light-year-wide view of the central region of the Carina Nebula where a maelstrom of star birth and death is taking place. This image is a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of neutral hydrogen during March and July 2005. Color information was added with data taken in December 2001 and March 2003 at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulfur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission. *News Release Number:*: STScI-2007-16q
NASA Identifier: SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-2007-16q