APOD 2.2

Located in the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) spans over 300 million light-years, which is one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. It is very easily visible to the naked eye, similar to the smaller Orion Nebula, but at a distance of over 7500 light-years, it is about 5 times farther away. As seen through a telescopic view, this picture shows details of the glowing filaments of interstellar gas and dark cosmic dust clouds. In this nebula, there are many young, very massive stars, including Eta Carniae, a star with a mass over 100 times that of the sun. Eta Carinae is the bright star located left of the central dark notch and just below the dusty Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324). Eta Carinae is also one of the most massive and luminous stars in our Milky Way Galaxy and perhaps even the universe. I find this picture very amazing, the bright colors and shapes of the interstellar gas regions are amazing. It appears to be like there are many bright stars intermixed with the interstellar gas, probably too many to count. Its incredible how this nebula is over 7500 light-years away, but is still visible to the naked eye.