Deep Astronomy - The Magnificent Carina Nebula in 4K

0:00It's the 365 days of Astronomy PodGam, coming in 3, 2, 1. High in the southern night sky, some 7,500 light years away lies one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the southern hemisphere. Even brighter than parts of the famous Orion Nebula. The Carina Nebula is a giant stellar nursery, a place where tens of thousands of stars are currently forming. When viewed in visible light, it is magnificent. But to see its true scale, we need to look in the infrared, a wavelength central to the web space telescope. This is Discoveries of the web space telescope, I'm Coney Darnell.

1:01There is a lot going on in this region of space, and it is intensely being studied by astronomers. This is one of the most active areas of star formation in our galaxy, and within these clouds lies a treasure trove of knowledge regarding how stars are formed. Our first stop is a young star cluster, Trumpler 14, a raging stellar nursery thought to be only 1 to 2 million years old. These ultra-hot stars, along with the nearby cluster Trumpor 15, create a radiation field so strong that surrounding gas and dust are blown away by intense UV radiation. When viewed in X-rays, this region reveals clear boundaries, where high energy is being transmitted along Bowshocks. The true grandeur of the Karina Nebula is seen in the infrared. The Nebula expelled by the double star system Ada Karine shines exceedingly bright at this

2:02wavelength. The result of a greater eruption in 1837 that lasted for several years, becoming the second brightest star in the night sky at the time, is now an infrared beacon. This entire nebula is inexorably condensing into stars. When viewed in visible light, we can see some of the multitude of young hot stars. The stellar winds from these stars move massive amounts of dust and gas around, forcing more pockets of material together, creating ever more stars. Off to one side is what appears to be a separate nebula. Known as Gum 31, it is home to NGC 3324, a star cluster whose members have carved out a cavity in the cloud. The energetic stars are easily seen in X-rays, and coupled with infrared data, the ionization fronts are clear. Heavy dust particles are heated and torn apart to create ionized gas, where boundaries form

3:05between the hot gas and the cold surrounding dust. These are known as ionization fronts, and they are everywhere in the Karina complex. Recently, the Webb Space Telescope took a close look at the ionization fronts inside Gum 31. Ionization fronts are associated with regions where the massive stars are interacting with and pushing against the dense molecular material. This interaction, specifically the pressure exerted by the expanding ionized gas and stellar winds, can compress the dense material ahead of the ionization front. This compression is thought to be able to trigger the collapse of these dense pockets of gas and dust, leading to the formation of new stars. When observed by Webb, ionization fronts look like mountains, and this one in Gum 31 nicknamed the Cosmic Clips by astronomers, we enter a realm sculpted by strong stellar

4:06winds from the myriad of newborn stars. Here is a new star forming, condensing from its cocoon and expelling long jets of energetic particles. The radiation here is staggering. The Cosmic Clips appear to have mist rising from their tops, but this is no mist. Heavy ionizing winds are blasting these structures, clearing out material from the thin. The powerful winds constantly blowing off these massive stars play a crucial role. As the stars shine and their winds collide, they create shock waves that sculpt material around them. This interaction is part of the ongoing shaping process of this stellar nursery. This covers a web space telescope that is made possible by members of this neat astronomy

5:08YouTube channel. You can help become a member of the oldest astronomy channel on YouTube. You are listening to the 365 days of astronomy podcast. The 365 days of astronomy podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. Audio post-production is by me, Richard Drum. Project management is by Aviva Yamani, and hosting is donated by Libsyn.com. This content is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License. Please share what you love, but don't sell what's free. This show is made possible thanks to the generous donations of people like you. Please consider supporting our show on patreon.com, forward slash CosmoQuestX, and get access

6:12to bonus content. Without your passion and contribution, we won't be able to share the stories and inspire the worlds. We invite you to join our community of storytellers and share your voice with the listeners worldwide. As we wrap up today's episode, we're looking forward to unraveling more stories from the universe. With every new discovery from ground-based and space-based observatories, and each milestone and space exploration, we come closer to understanding the cosmos and our place within it. Until next time, let the stars guide your curiosity.