Wolf-Rayet star WR 22 (V429 Carinae, HR 4188) at the center of the image is one of the most massive, brightest and hottest stars known. It is 7,500 light years distant in the southern constellation of Carina and is next to Eta Carina (off to the left) within its very colorful neighborhood. Measurements of the mass of WR 22 is complicated by the fact that it is an eclipsing binary. The fine detail in this image comes from H-a, OIII and SII narrowband filters color-mapped to magenta, blue-green and red, respectively. Data from RGB filters were used for star colors. The star cluster in the upper left is Trumpler 14.
The image below uses the same color mapping scheme in the iconic “Pillars of Creation” from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The HST color palette color maps OIII, H-a and SII to blue, green and red, respectively (in order of wavelength). Sometimes, this approach brings out more detail. In this case, the natural color version appears to be just as detailed. It is just another way of using color to differentiate structure and chemistry.
