¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 May 2 [2]A picture of the gas and dust clouds that appear in the center of the Carina Nebula. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Clouds of the Carina Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: [3]John Ebersole Explanation: What forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? The dark ominous figures are actually [4]molecular clouds, knots of molecular gas and [5]dust so thick they have become [6]opaque. In comparison, however, [7]these clouds are typically much less dense than [8]Earth's atmosphere. Featured here is a detailed image of the core of the [9]Carina Nebula, a part where both dark and colorful [10]clouds of gas and dust are particularly prominent. The image was captured in mid-2016 from [11]Siding Spring Observatory in [12]Australia. Although the nebula is predominantly composed of [13]hydrogen gas -- here colored green, the image was assigned colors so that light emitted by trace amounts of [14]sulfur and [15]oxygen appear red and blue, respectively. The entire [16]Carina Nebula, cataloged as NGC 3372, spans over 300 [17]light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the [18]constellation of Carina. [19]Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then [20]faded dramatically. Tomorrow's picture: all humans but one __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2105/EtaCore_Ebersole_960.jpg 3. mailto:%20j.s.ebersole%20@at@%20gmail%20.dot.%20com 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_clouds 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030706.html 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201122.html 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDNiYGuzZPM 8. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190623.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050110.html 11. https://rsaa.anu.edu.au/observatories/siding-spring-observatory 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia 13. https://periodic.lanl.gov/1.shtml 14. https://periodic.lanl.gov/16.shtml 15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGES-MrIFo 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carina_Nebula 17. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 18. http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/startales3.htm 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eta_Carinae 20. https://www.aavso.org/vsots_etacar 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210501.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210502 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210503.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. http://www.mtu.edu/