The Carina Nebula: Western Wall | Gemini South Telescope

The Carina Nebula: Western Wall | Gemini South Telescope

A 50-trillion-km (33-trillion-mile, or 5 light-year) long section of the western wall in the Carina Nebula, as observed with adaptive optics on the Gemini South telescope. This mountainous section of the nebula reveals a number of unusual structures including a long series of parallel ridges that could be produced by a magnetic field, a remarkable almost perfectly smooth wave, and fragments that appear to be in the process of being sheared off the cloud by a strong wind. There is also evidence for a jet of material ejected from a newly-formed star. The exquisite detail seen in the image is in part due to a technology known as adaptive optics, which resulted in a ten-fold improvement in the resolution of the research team’s observations.

The International Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best observing sites on the planet. The Gemini South telescope is located on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro Pachón, where very dry air and negligible cloud cover make this another prime telescope location. Both of the Gemini telescopes have been designed to excel in a wide variety of optical and infrared capabilities. By incorporating technologies such as laser guide star adaptive optics and multi-object spectroscopy, astronomers in the Gemini partnership explore the universe in unprecedented depth and detail.

Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / P. Hartigan (Rice University)

Image Processing: Patrick Hartigan (Rice University), Travis Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin

Release Date: Oct. 5, 2020

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