Carina Nebula: Close-up Details in a Cosmic Pinnacle | Hubble

Carina Nebula: Close-up Details in a Cosmic Pinnacle | Hubble

This is a series of close-up views of the complex gas structures in a small portion of the Carina Nebula. The nebula is a cold cloud of predominantly hydrogen gas. It is laced with dust, which makes the cloud opaque. The cloud is being eroded by a gusher of ultraviolet light from young stars in the region. They sculpt a variety of fantasy shapes, many forming tadpole-like structures. In some frames, smaller pieces of nebulosity can be seen freely drifting, such as the  structure, four trillion kilometers long, at upper right. The most striking feature is a horizontal jet 5.5 trillion kilometers long in the upper left frame. It is being blasted into space by a young star hidden in the tip of the pillar-like structure. A bowshock has formed near the tip of the jet.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) 

Release Date: April 23, 2010

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Pinnacles #Pillars #Gas #CarinaNebula #Carina #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #Infographic #STEM #Education