This large Chandra image shows the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region in the Sagittarius-Carina arm of the Milky Way a mere 7,500 light years from Earth. Chandra's sharp X-ray vision has detected over 14,000 stars in this region, revealed a diffuse X-ray glow, and provided strong evidence that massive stars have already self-destructed in this nearby supernova factory. Several pieces of evidence support the idea that supernova production has already begun in this star-forming region. Firstly, there is an observed deficit of bright X-ray sources in Trumpler 15, suggesting that some of the massive stars in this cluster were already destroyed in supernova explosions.
The latest ESO image reveals amazing detail in the intricate structures of one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), where strong winds and powerful radiation from an armada of massive stars are creating havoc in the large cloud of dust and gas from which the stars were born. The large and beautiful image displays the full variety of this impressive skyscape, spattered with clusters of young stars, large nebulae of dust and gas, dust pillars, globules, and adorned by one of the Universe's most impressive binary stars. It was produced by combining exposures through six different filters from the Wide Field Imager (WFI), attached to the 2.2 m ESO/MPG telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory, in Chile.
This zoom into the Carina Nebula starts from a photograph from the Akira Fujii collection then transitions to a Digitised Sky Survey image. A picture taken by amateur astronomer Brad Moore in Australia precedes a final image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Panning across this star-forming region, dramatic dark towers of cool gas and dust are seen rising above a glowing wall of gas. The high-energy radiation blazing out from the hot, young stars in NGC 3324 is sculpting the wall of the nebula by slowly eroding it away.
Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have figured out a massive star that's helping to erode a giant glob of gas in the Carina Nebula is actually a set of triplets. The star, known as , resides in a cluster in the Carina Nebula, a region rich with gas and dust located about 7,500 light-years from Earth. The nebula is home to some of the youngest, hottest stars in the universe, including Eta Carinae, a massive blue star that is one of the brightest and most luminous stars ever discovered. Astronomers imaged Tr16-244, along with neighbour star WR 25, as part of a series of studies on star-forming nebulae. They are rare and powerful stars that live relatively short lives, burning through their hydrogen fuel faster than most stars. They radiate brilliantly in ultraviolet wavelengths and appear blue in colour.
The landmark 10th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's Hubble Heritage Project is being celebrated with a 'landscape' image from the cosmos. Cutting across a nearby star-forming region, called NGC 3324, are the "hills and valleys" of gas and dust displayed in intricate detail. Set amid a backdrop of soft, glowing blue light are wispy tendrils of gas as well as dark trunks of dust that are light-years in height. NGC 3324 is located in the constellation Carina, about 7,200 light-years away from Earth.
A new composite image of the Eta Carinae from NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope shows the remnants of a massive eruption from the star during the 1840s. Eta Carinae is a mysterious, extremely bright and unstable star located a mere stone's throw - astronomically speaking - from Earth at a distance of only about 7500 light years.
Expand (49kb, 1024 x 768) Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/M.Corcoran et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
Title: Superluminous supernovae: No threat from Eta Carinae Authors: Brian C. Thomas (Washburn Univ.), Adrian L. Melott (Univ. of Kansas), Brian D. Fields (Univ. of Illinois), Barbara J. Anthony-Twarog (Univ. of Kansas)
Recently Supernova 2006gy was noted as the most luminous ever recorded, with a total radiated energy of ~10^44 Joules. It was proposed that the progenitor may have been a massive evolved star similar to Eta Carinae, which resides in our own galaxy at a (poorly determined) distance of ~2.5 kpc. Eta Carinae appears ready to detonate, and in fact had an outburst in 1843. Although it is too distant to pose a serious threat as a normal supernova, and given its rotation axis is unlikely to produce a Gamma Ray Burst oriented toward the Earth, Eta Carinae is about 30,000 times nearer than 2006gy, and we re-evaluate it as a potential superluminous supernova. We find that given the large ratio of emission in the optical to the X-ray, atmospheric effects are negligible. Ionisation of the atmosphere and concomitant ozone depletion are unlikely to be important. Any cosmic ray effects should be spread out over ~10^4 y, and similarly unlikely to produce any serious perturbation to the biosphere. We also discuss a new possible effect of supernovae, endocrine disruption induced by blue light near the peak of the optical spectrum. This is a possibility for nearby supernovae at distances too large to be considered "dangerous" for other reasons. However, due to reddening and extinction by the interstellar medium, Eta Carinae is unlikely to trigger such effects to any significant degree.
A Dazzlingly detailed image released by NASA scientists today shows the chaotic conditions in which stars are born and die - in this case in a huge nebula in another neighbourhood of our Milky Way galaxy. The image, made from a series of 48 shots taken by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in 2005, depicts star birth in a new level of detail. It provides a view spanning a distance of 50 light years across the Carina Nebula. A nebula is an immense cloud of hot interstellar gas and dust.
Expand (244k, 1024 x 768) Credits: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (UC Berkeley) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
A star is born ... this photo, taken with Hubble Space Telescope's cameras, shows a portion of the Carina Nebula - a towering "mountain" of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust which is the site of new star formation
A 50 light-year-wide view of the Carina Nebula has been released to celebrate the 17th anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Carina is an immense nebula situated at an estimated 7 500 light years away in the southern constellation Carina, at the keel of the ship Argo Navis. This panoramic image of the nebula gives us a peek into star formation as it commonly occurs along the dense spiral arms of a galaxy. A mosaic of 48 images taken by Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys, it is overlaid with information in colour obtained from the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. It shows the process of star birth at a new level of detail.
Expand (277kb, 1024 x 768) Credits: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (UC Berkeley) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit it. These stars are now acting on the surrounding material leftover after their birth to produce a second generation of stars.
Title: Eta Car and Its Surroundings: the X-ray Diagnosis Authors: M. F. Corcoran, K. Hamaguchi
X-ray emission from the supermassive star Eta Carinae originates from hot shocked gas produced by current stellar mass loss as well as ejecta from prior eruptive events. Absorption of this emission by cool material allows the determination of the spatial and temporal distribution of this material. Emission from the shocked gas can provide important information about abundances through the study of thermal X-ray line emission. We discuss how studies of the X-ray emission from Eta Car at a variety of temporal, spatial and spectral scales and resolutions have helped refine our knowledge of both the continuous and discrete mass loss from the system, and its interactions with more extended material around the star.