NGC 3324 in Carina

NGC 3324 in Carina

Gabriela Mistral Nebula

Constellation: Carina
Ra: 10h 37m
Dec: -58d 38m
Distance: 10,200 light years
Image Size: 42' x 42'
North: Left

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Description

NGC 3324 lies in the northwest corner of the southern constellation of Carina. It is a giant, cavernous gas cavity carved out by intense UV radiaiton and stellar winds from young hot white stars. Actually, NGC 3324 refers to the open cluster of 20 O- and B-type stars. The nebular HII region is referred to as G 31. It is located at RA 10 hrs 37.3 min and DEC -58 deg 38 min with an apparent magnitude of 6.7, an apparent diameter of the cavity of ~ 16′ and is about 10,200 light years distant. It is also known as the Gabriela Mistral Nebula, because of the upper rim portion of the cavity shown above has a likeness to the profile of a Nobel award-winning Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral (see animation). NGC 3324 was the subject of a Hubble Space Telescope image, showing a portion of the upper "rim" of the cavity shown in the image above. Narrowband emissions mapped to B= OIII, G = H-a and R = SII (Hubble Palette).

Exposure: 11.5 hrs Total: 3:4:4 H-a/SII/OIII, 30 min RGB
Telescope: 14.5
Mount: Software Bisque Paramount ME
Oag: Astrodon MonsterMOAG
Acquisition: CCD AutoPilot3
Calibration: CCDStack
Observatory Site: Riverland Dingo Observatory, Moorook, S. Australia
Camera: Apogee U16M
Filters: Astrodon 5 nm H-a & SII, 3nm OIII, Gen 2 RGB
Guider: SBIG ST-402
Camera Operation: MaximDL4.62
Processing: Photoshop CS3
Image Date: 01/13/2009

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