Carina Nebula
NGC 3372Our nearest large galactic neighbour, 2.5 million light-years away.
Captured 5 June 2026
Raw → Processed
The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) - a stellar nursery so large it makes the Orion Nebula look like a puddle. Spanning over 300 light-years across, this is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky - and from the southern hemisphere, it’s practically overhead.
Buried inside is Eta Carinae (Bright star middle right), a hypergiant star so unstable it could go supernova virtually any time on a cosmic timescale. The pillars of gas and dust you see are being actively sculpted by the ferocious radiation of thousands of newborn stars - some of the most massive in the Milky Way.