Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene - The Eta Carinae Nebula and Trumpler 14 -...

Nebula NGC 3372 in the Carene - The Eta Carinae Nebula and Trumpler 14 - The Carene nebula is located about 7000 years from the Earth. It is home to many hot stars, including the star Eta Carinae (lower left, the brightest star in the picture). Top right is a cluster of young stars, Trumpler 14. Image obtained by Siding Spring's 3.9m telescope. In the small region pictured here are three of the brightest stars known in our Galaxy, each a million times more luminous than the Sun. To the left of the picture is an even more extreme star, Eta Carinae itself, shrouded in a small bright irregular nebula of its own making. In the upper right of the photograph is Trumpler 14, a cluster of very young stars which appears to be associated with a number of bright - edged 'elephant trunk' dust lanes, typical of star - forming regions. All these objects and most of the bright stars scattered across the face of the nebula are together in space at a distance of about 7000 light years. Despite this distance, the Carina nebula is clearly visible to the unaided eye to those of us who live in the southern hemisphere