The southern sky with the Dorado constellation (ground-based image): A wide field image showing the Southern Milky-Way patch and the area where NGC 1672 is in the constellation of Dorado (on the right part of the image).

Name: NGC 1672
Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : BarredLocal Universe : Galaxy : Type : SpiralSolar System : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Milky Way
Category: Galaxies
Distance: 60 million light years
Release date: 3 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: A. Fujii

Star-forming regions in the Carina Nebula: [Left] -- A towering "mountain" of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust is the site of new star formation in the Carina Nebula. The great gas pillar is being eroded by the ultraviolet radiation from the hottest newborn stars in the nebula. [Right] -- A close-up look at the peak of one of these "pillars of creation" reveals unequivocal evidence that stars are being born inside the columns. A pencil-like streamer of gas shoots out in both directions from the pillar and ploughs into surrounding gas like a fire hose hitting a wall of sand. The jet is being launched from a newly forming star hidden inside the column. A similar jet appears near the bottom of the image. These stellar jets are a common signature of the birth of a new star. This image is from a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized 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.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
Type: Milky Way : NebulaMilky Way : Nebula : Type : Jet
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Carina Nebula Details: A series of so-called Bok globules from a mosaic of the Carina Nebula assembled from 48 frames taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. 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. One globule nicknamed the "caterpillar" is shown in the central image. Its glowing edge indicates that it is being photoionized by the hottest stars in the cluster. It has been hypothesized that stars may form inside such dusty cocoons. The Hubble images were taken in the light of ionized 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.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
Type: Milky Way : NebulaMilky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Dark : Bok Globule
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Carina Nebula Details: These three snapshots reveal nuggets of cold molecular hydrogen in the Carina Nebula. This Hubble Space Telescope view of the central region of the Carina Nebula reveals a violent maelstrom of star birth. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the intense pressure of starlight from monster stars and their accompanying star clusters, as well as the hydrodynamics of their stellar winds of charged particles.The glowing edges of some of these objects indicates that they are being photoionized by the hottest stars in the cluster. It has been hypothesized that stars may form inside such dusty cocoons.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
Type: Milky Way : NebulaMilky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Carina Nebula landscapes: [top] - An approximately one-light-year tall "pillar" of cold hydrogen towers above the wall of the molecular cloud. The 2.5-million-year-old star cluster called Trumpler 14 appears at the right side of the image. A small nugget of cold molecular hydrogen, called a Bok globule, is silhouetted against the star cluster. [middle] - Detailed view of the central portion of the Carina Nebula near the so-called Keyhole Nebula. [bottom] - These great clouds of cold hydrogen resemble summer afternoon thunderheads. They tower above the surface of a molecular cloud on the edge of the nebula. So-called "elephant trunk" pillars resist being heated and eaten away by blistering ultraviolet radiation from the nebula's brightest stars.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
Type: Milky Way : Nebula
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Wide-field image of the Southern Milky-Way (ground-based image): A wide-field, ground-based image showing the southern Milky Way from Centaurus at the bottom to Carina on the top. The Carina Nebula is seen as a reddish patch on the top.

Name: Carina Nebula
Type: Solar System : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Milky WayMilky Way : Nebula
Category: Nebulae
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: A. Fujii

The Carina Nebula from the ground: This image shows a ground-based view of the giant star-forming region in the southern sky known as the Carina Nebula, combining the light from three different filters tracing emission from oxygen (blue), hydrogen (green), and sulphur (red). The colour is also representative of the temperature in the ionised gas: blue is relatively hot and red is cooler. The Carina Nebula is a good example of how very massive stars rip apart the molecular clouds that give birth to them. The bright star near the centre of the image is eta Carinae, one of the most massive and luminous stars known.

Name: Carina Nebula, NGC 3372
Type: Milky Way : Nebula
Category: Nebulae
Constellation: Carina
Distance: 7500 light years
Release date: 24 April 2007, 15:00
Credit: N. Smith and NOAO/AURA/NSF

Multiple generations of stars in a globular cluster: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of a dense swarm of stars shows the central region of the globular cluster NGC 2808. Astronomers were surprised when Hubble spied three generations of cluster stars. The discovery is far different from the standard picture of a globular cluster. For decades, astronomers thought that cluster stars formed at the same time, in the same place, and from the same material, and have co-evolved for billions of years. Globular clusters are among the earliest settlers of our Milky Way Galaxy, born during our galaxy's formation. They are compact swarms of typically hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity. All the stars in NGC 2808 were born within 200 million years very early in the life of the 12.5-billion-year-old massive cluster. Of the about 150 known globular clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 2808 is one of the most massive, containing more than 1 million stars. The sharp resolution of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys measured the brightness and colours of the cluster stars to find the three stellar populations. The Hubble images were taken in May 2005 and in August and November 2006.

Name: NGC 2808
Type: Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Globular
Category: Star Clusters
Constellation: Carina
Distance: 30000 light years
Release date: 2 May 2007, 15:00
Credit: European Space Agency, NASA, G. Piotto (University of Padua, Italy) and A. Sarajedini (University of Florida, USA). Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin (ESA/Hubble)