Carina Nebula

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Chandra X-ray
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Carina Nebula: A star-forming region about 7,500 light years from Earth.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/PSU/L.Townsley et al.)

Caption: This new Chandra image is, in fact, 22 separate pointings of the telescope that have been stitched together to look at the famous Carina Nebula like never before. In this image, low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are colored red, green, and blue respectively. Chandra detected over 14,000 stars in this region, revealed a diffuse X-ray glow, and provided strong evidence that massive stars have already self-destructed in this nearby supernova factory. The Carina Nebula is one of the best places in the Milky Way to study how young and massive stars live and die.

Scale: Image is 1.13 deg across (about 148 light years)

Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image

CXC operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory