Carina Nebula

space · stars · nebula · milky way

A cosmic nursery. The Carina Nebula is a giant cloud of gas and dust where new stars are constantly forming. It's one of the brightest and most active star-making regions in our entire galaxy.

Super far away. This nebula is about 8,500 light-years from Earth, which means the light we see from it today started its journey toward us 8,500 years ago. That's longer than humans have been writing history!

Located in Carina. You can find the Carina Nebula in the constellation Carina (the ship) if you look toward the southern sky. It sits in one of the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.

Bright and dark patches. The nebula has both glowing bright regions where stars are being born and dark patches where thick dust blocks out the light behind it. These dark areas are like cosmic shadows in the sky.