HUBBLE PHOTOGRAPHS TURBULENT NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR ERUPTIVE STAR
A small portion of the rough-and-tumble neighborhood
of swirling dust and gas near one of the most massive
and eruptive stars in our galaxy is seen in this
NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. This close-up
view shows only a three light-year-wide portion
of the entire Carina Nebula, which has a diameter
of over 200 light-years. Located 8,000 light-years
from Earth, the nebula can be seen in the southern
sky with the naked eye.
Dramatic dark dust knots and complex structures
are sculpted by the high-velocity stellar winds
and high-energy radiation from the ultra-luminous
variable star called Eta Carinae, or Eta Car (located
outside the picture). This image shows a region
in the Carina Nebula between two large clusters
of some of the most massive and hottest known stars.
The filamentary structure is caused by turbulence
in the circumstellar gas, which in turn was caused
by several stars shedding their outer layers. Cold
gas mixes with hot gas, leaving a veil of denser,
opaque material in the foreground. The chemical
elements in the surroundings create a potential
reservoir for new star formation. Areas in the brightest
parts of the image at the top show elephant-trunk
shaped dust clouds that may form into embryonic
solar systems.
This Hubble image was taken in July 2002 as part
of a parallel observing program. The Hubble telescope
has several instruments that can be simultaneously
used to look at slightly different portions of the
sky. In this case, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
was used to study Eta Carinae itself, while the
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 was used to take this
image of the nebulosity near Eta Car. This parallel
observing mode increases Hubble's efficiency and
allows astronomers to probe parts of the sky that
they would not otherwise be able to investigate.
Produced by the Hubble Heritage team, this color
image is a composite of ultraviolet, visible, and
infrared filters that have been assigned the colors
blue, green, and red, respectively.
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team
(AURA/STScI)
Acknowledgment: S. Casertano (STScI)
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