Carina Nebula (NGC 3372)

Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

One of the largest and brightest nebulae in our sky, four times the size of the Orion Nebula, lit by clusters of young giant stars. Eta Carinae and its Homunculus Nebula sit inside it. From Earth’s side it matches the VLT Survey Telescope image; fly round it to see its 3D shape, which is a model.

Type

Giant star-forming nebula

Distance

About 7,500 light-years

Size

About 2° across our sky — some 260 light-years

Lit by

The young clusters Trumpler 14 and 16, home to dozens of the Galaxy’s most massive stars, Eta Carinae among them

Shown here

Its bright central 140 light-years: the VLT Survey Telescope image with its stars removed, as one continuous 3D volume of glowing gas and dust. From Earth it matches the image; from elsewhere the clusters sit in cavities blown into the cloud behind them, its walls glowing where the starlight strikes, the South Pillars pointing back at them and the dark V-shaped lane in front

3D shape

Illustrative, after Smith & Brooks 2008 and Smith et al. 2000; the dark lanes’ depth is a model, their columns read from the image

Image credit

ESO · Acknowledgement: VPHAS+ Consortium/Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit · CC BY 4.0

Explore Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) in 3D

Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.