Hubble's 17th anniversary -- extreme star birth in the Carina Nebula
Tue Apr 24, 2007 at 19:05 UTC
Hubble's new view of the Carina Nebula shows the process of star birth at a new level of detail. The bizarre landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the action of outflowing winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. These stars are shredding the surrounding material that is the last vestige of the giant cloud from which the stars were born.
This immense nebula contains a dozen or more brilliant stars that are estimated to be at least 50 to 100 times the mass of our Sun. The most opulent is the star eta Carinae, seen at far left. Eta Carinae is in the final stages of its brief eruptive lifespan, as shown by two billowing lobes of gas and dust that presage its upcoming explosion as a titanic supernova.
The fireworks in the Carina region started three million years ago when the nebula's first generation of newborn stars condensed and ignited in the middle of a huge cloud of cold molecular hydrogen. Radiation from these stars carved out an expanding bubble of hot gas. The island-like clumps of dark clouds scattered across the nebula are nodules of dust and gas that have so far resisted being eaten away by photoionisation.
The hurricane-strength blast of stellar winds and blistering ultraviolet radiation within the cavity is now compressing the surrounding walls of cold hydrogen. This is triggering a second stage of new star formation.
Our Sun and Solar System may have been born inside such a cosmic crucible 4.6 billion years ago. In looking at the Carina Nebula we are seeing star formation as it commonly occurs along the dense spiral arms of a galaxy.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (UC Berkeley) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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On of the most panoramic views ever, this Hubble image shows the tumultuous central region of the Carina Nebula where star birth - and death - is taking place.
The Carina Nebula is situated an estimated 7 500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, that lies at the keel of the ship Argo Navis. This fifty light-year-wide view gives us a peek into star formation as it commonly occurs along the dense spiral arms of a galaxy.
It is a mosaic of 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken at the wavelength of ionised hydrogen to which colour information obtained by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile was added. Red corresponds to sulphur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (UC Berkeley) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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This 'mountain' of cold, dust-laced hydrogen gas is a site of new star formation in the Carina Nebula. The great gas pillar is being eroded by ultraviolet radiation from the hottest newborn stars.
The close-up in the right panel, shows evidence for stars being born inside the columns. A jet of gas from a newborn star inside the column shoots out in both directions into the surrounding gas. A similar jet can be seen at the bottom of the image. The stellar jets are a signature for the birth of a star.
It is a mosaic of 48 frames taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken at the wavelength of ionised hydrogen to which colour information obtained by the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile was added. Red corresponds to sulphur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (UC Berkeley) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
High resolution image (1.6 MB)
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The landscape of the Carina nebula is sculpted by intense radiation pressure from giant stars, their accompanying star clusters and stellar containing charged particles.
The glowing edges of some of these objects indicate that they are being 'photoionized' by the hottest stars in the cluster. Photoionisation is a process in which electromagnetic radiation (photons) rips away electrons from neutral atoms and molecules. It has been hypothesized that stars may form inside such dusty cocoons.
This immense nebula is an estimated 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina, the Keel of the old southern constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts from Greek mythology.
This image is an immense (29,566 x 14,321 pixels) 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. Colour information was added with data taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulphur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen emission.
ESA/Hubble Information Centre News Release
