Carina nebula facts for kids

An amazing picture of the Carina Nebula, taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.

The Carina Nebula (also known as NGC 3372 or the Great Nebula in Carina) is a huge, bright cloud of gas and dust in space. It's a place where new stars are born! This amazing nebula is about 7,500 light years away from Earth. A light-year is how far light travels in one year, which is a super long distance!

The Carina Nebula is home to more than 14,000 stars. You can find it in the Carina constellation, which is a group of stars that form a pattern in the sky. It's part of the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. A French astronomer named Nicolas Louis de Lacaille discovered this nebula in 1751. He was on a special trip to explore and record objects in the southern sky.

Exploring the Carina Nebula

The Carina Nebula is a giant stellar nursery. This means it's a region where many new stars are forming from clouds of gas and dust. It's one of the largest and brightest nebulae we can see in the night sky.

Star Clusters Inside

The Carina Nebula contains several groups of stars called star clusters. Two very important ones are Trumpler 16 and Trumpler 14. These clusters are filled with some of the biggest and brightest stars known.

The Mighty Eta Carinae

Inside the Trumpler 16 cluster, there's a truly enormous star called Eta Carinae. This star is one of the brightest in our entire galaxy! It's possibly 120 times bigger than our Sun. Imagine, it shines with the light of 4 million Suns! Eta Carinae is nearing the end of its life. It's surrounded by a huge cloud of gas that it has thrown off in big bursts over many years. Scientists think it might explode into a supernova at any time. A supernova is a super powerful explosion of a star, making it incredibly bright for a short time.

The Brilliant HD 93129 A/B

Another amazing star system is found in the Trumpler 14 cluster. It's a double star called HD 93129 A/B. One of these stars, HD 93129 A, is an O3 class star. This means it's extremely hot and bright. It's one of the brightest stars in the galaxy that is still in its main life stage. This star shines with the light of 3 million Suns! It's almost as bright as Eta Carinae. However, it doesn't look as bright in photos because there's a lot of dust and gas blocking its light.