APOD: NGC 3324 in Carina (2018 Apr 06)

[APOD Robot]

NGC 3324 in Carina

Explanation: This bright cosmic cloud was sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from the hot young stars of open cluster NGC 3324. With dust clouds in silhouette against its glowing atomic gas, the pocket-shaped star-forming region actually spans about 35 light-years. It lies some 7,500 light-years away toward the nebula rich southern constellation Carina. A composite of narrowband image data, the telescopic view captures the characteristic emission from ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms mapped to red, green, and blue hues in the popular Hubble Palette. For some, the celestial landscape of bright ridges of emission bordered by cool, obscuring dust along the right side create a recognizable face in profile. The region's popular name is the Gabriela Mistral Nebula for the Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet.

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[Ann]

Great picture, certainly.

Click to view full size image

NGC 3324 with NGC 3293. Photo: Capella Observatory.

Me being me, I prefer RGB images. And I really like seeing the fine Gabriela Mistral nebula accompanied by the beautiful NGC 3293 cluster.

Ann

[Boomer12k]

The blue is a "face in Profile"...eyes, nose, lips, chin, facing to our right...like the "Man in the Moon"...but turned...hmmmm... maybe it is "Gabriella"...

Lovely image.

:---[===] *

[starsurfer]

Great picture, certainly.

Click to view full size image

NGC 3324 with NGC 3293. Photo: Capella Observatory.

Me being me, I prefer RGB images. And I really like seeing the fine Gabriela Mistral nebula accompanied by the beautiful NGC 3293 cluster.

Ann

I love the Gem Cluster, one of the best southern open clusters!

[snuggs28]

Do we know how deep that nebula is? Is there a 3D model of it?

[Chris Peterson]

Do we know how deep that nebula is? Is there a 3D model of it?

To a first order we assume nebulas like this are spherical. That is, assume a thickness similar to the width. Usually that's the best we can do, since the error bars on distance are usually greater than the size of the nebula. For a few closer nebulas, parallax measurements may provide distance information for interior stars. We generally lack the information to make 3D maps.

[snuggs28]

Do we know how deep that nebula is? Is there a 3D model of it?

To a first order we assume nebulas like this are spherical. That is, assume a thickness similar to the width. Usually that's the best we can do, since the error bars on distance are usually greater than the size of the nebula. For a few closer nebulas, parallax measurements may provide distance information for interior stars. We generally lack the information to make 3D maps.

Thanks! I'm a noob when it comes to this stuff!

[Agent Buchwald]

Looks more like Alfred Hitchcock to me. :ssmile

[heehaw]

There's a hole in the bottom of the sea,
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea,
There's a hole, there's a hole,
There's a hole in the bottom of the sea.

[Ann]

Click to view full size image

NGC 3324. Photo: Hubble.

Click to view full size image

The poet considering her own sharp features (at right). Photo: Joseph M. Drudis.