Dust Mountains in the Carina Nebula
Explanation:
Bright young stars sometimes sculpt picturesque dust mountains soon after being born.
Created quite by accident, the energetic light and winds from these massive newborn
stars burn away accumulations of
dark dust and
cool gas in a slow but persistent manner.
Such is the case in
NGC 3324,
a star forming region near the edge of
NGC 3372, the energetic and expansive Carina Nebula.
Pictured above, in
scientifically assigned colors, is only a small part of
NGC 3324.
The
Carina Nebula
itself is one of the largest star forming regions known and home to
Eta Carinae,
one of the most unstable and variable stars known.
The
above image was created from archived Hubble Space Telescope data in honor of
the 10th anniversary of the
Hubble Heritage Project.
The
Hubble Heritage Project has created, so far,
nearly 130 visually stunning images.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
