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Credit & Copyright: Carlos Kiko Fairbairn
Explanation:
You need to be in the south, looking south, to see such a sky.
And only then if you're lucky.
Just above the picturesque tree is the impressive
Carina Nebula,
one of the few nebulas in the sky that is visible to the unaided eye.
The featured image had to be taken from a very dark location to capture the
Carina Nebula
with such perspective and so near the horizon.
The Great Nebula in Carina,
cataloged as NGC 3372, is home to the wildly variable star
Eta Carinae
that sometimes flares to become one of the brightest
stars in the sky.
Above Carina is
IC 2944, the
Running Chicken Nebula, a nebula
that not only looks like a chicken, but contains
impressive dark knots of dust.
Above
these red-glowing
emission nebulas are the bright stars of the
Southern Cross,
while on the upper left of the image is the dark
Coalsack Nebula.
This image was composed from six consecutive exposures
taken last summer from
Padre Bernardo,
Goiös,
Brazil.
Even with careful planning,
the astrophotographer
felt lucky to get this shot because clouds --
some still visible near the horizon -- kept getting in the way.
Almost Hyperspace:
Random APOD Generator
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: carina nebula - Carina
Publications with words: carina nebula - Carina
See also: