Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (Univ. of Colorado at Boulder)

All Pillars Point to Eta

This false-color image taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the "South Pillar" region of the star-forming region called the Carina Nebula. Like cracking open a watermelon and finding its seeds, the infrared telescope "busted open" this murky cloud to reveal star embryos (yellow or white) tucked inside finger-like pillars of thick dust (pink). Hot gases are green and foreground stars are blue. Not all of the newfound star embryos can be easily spotted.

Though the nebula's most famous and massive star, Eta Carinae, is too bright to be observed by infrared telescopes, the downward-streaming rays hint at its presence above the picture frame. Ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from Eta Carinae and its siblings have shredded the cloud to pieces, leaving a mess of tendrils and pillars. This shredding process triggered the birth of the new stars uncovered by Spitzer.

The inset visible-light picture of the Carina Nebula shows quite a different view. Dust pillars are fewer and appear dark because the dust is soaking up visible light. Spitzer's infrared detectors cut through this dust, allowing it to see the heat from warm, embedded star embryos, as well as deeper, more buried pillars.

Eta Carinae is a behemoth of a star, with more than 100 times the mass of our Sun. It is so massive that it can barely hold itself together. Over the years, it has brightened and faded as material has shot away from its surface. Some astronomers think Eta Carinae might die in a supernova blast within our lifetime.

Eta Carinae's home, the Carina Nebula, is located in the southern portion of our Milky Way galaxy, 10,000 light-years from Earth. This colossal cloud of gas and dust stretches across 200 light-years of space. Though it is dominated by Eta Carinae, it also houses the star's slightly less massive siblings, in addition to the younger generations of stars.

This image was taken by the infrared array camera on Spitzer. It is a three-color composite of invisible light, showing emissions from wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red).

The visible-light picture is from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

About the Object	Object Name: South Pillar region, Carina Nebula Object Type: Variable star; star formation region Position (J2000): RA: 10:45:03.591 Dec: -59:41:04.26 Distance: 3,000 pc; 10,000 light-years Constellation: Carina (the Keel)
About the Data	Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (University of Arizona) Instrument: IRAC Wavelength: 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (green), 5.8 microns (orange), and 8.0 microns (red) Exposure Date: 2005 January 22 Exposure Time: 1.2 seconds Image Scale: 66 x 52 arcmin Orientation: North is 44 deg CCW from up Release Date: May 30, 2005
Observers	N. Smith (University of Colorado) E. B. Churchwell (University of Wisconsin) B. Whitney (Space Science Institute) M. Meade (University of Wisconsin) B. Babler (University of Wisconsin) J. Bally (University of Colorado) K. G. Stassun (Vanderbilt University) J. A. Morse (ASU) R. D. Gehrz (University of Minnesota)

Individual Images

	Spitzer Image Screen-Resolution (450x354): JPEG High-Resolution (6614x5196): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/N. Smith (Univ. of Colorado at Boulder)
	Visible-Light Comparison Image Screen-Resolution (450x354): JPEG High-Resolution (1715x1349): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NOAO

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