A stunning new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals a comet-shaped cloud in the Carina Nebula hiding a cluster of about 70 young stars, including a rare giant of O-type nearly 19 times as massive as the Sun.
This Webb image shows the Treasure Chest, a cometary globule located within the famous Carina Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / M. Reiter / M.H. Özsaraç.
The Carina Nebula is located approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina.
Also known as NGC 3372 and Caldwell 92, the nebula was discovered in the 1750s by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.
The Carina Nebula is a dynamic, evolving cloud of thinly spread interstellar gas and dust.
Spanning roughly 260 light-years, it is one of the Milky Way Galaxy’s largest star-forming regions and is easily visible to the unaided eye under dark skies.
“The Carina Nebula houses some of the most massive stars in our Galaxy as well as tens of thousands of protostars, offering a valuable opportunity to understand how stars shape their neighborhoods,” the Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“The feature highlighted in the new image, aptly called the Treasure Chest, looks right at home in this celestial sculpture garden.”
“The Treasure Chest is what’s known as a cometary globule, an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, dark head and a sweeping tail.”
“The object contains a compact cluster of young stars, which are responsible for the otherworldly glow coming from within it.”
The astronomers captured the image of the Treasure Chest using Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
“The Treasure Chest’s cluster contains about 70 stars, the most massive of which is a rare O-type star roughly 19 times as massive as the Sun,” they said.
“The star cluster is likely around 1.3 million years old, though earlier estimates found it to be as young as just 100,000 years old.”
“Because of its youth, the cluster is still deeply embedded within the dusty clouds of the Treasure Chest.”
“The individual stars in the cluster are wrapped up in dust as well; astronomers have found evidence that many of these stars are surrounded by circumstellar disks.”
“Over time, the brilliant starlight from these young stars will dissipate the surrounding cloud and reveal the entire cluster.”
“The key to the Treasure Chest’s sculptural shape lies outside this image: just 39 light-years to the northwest, as measured on the sky, sits Eta Carinae, the most luminous object in the entire Carina Nebula.”
“Eta Carinae is a star system containing at least two stars, one of which is 100 times as massive as the Sun. This star alone is about 5 million times as luminous as the Sun.”
“Adding to this intense radiation is the nearby star cluster Trumpler 16, which also contains several extremely hot massive stars.”
