NGC 3372 - Eta Carinae Nebula

The Carina Nebula (also known as the Eta Carinae Nebula or with the catalog acronyms NGC 3372 and C 92) is a celestial object located in the heart of the southern Milky Way, in the constellation Carina. It is perfectly visible even with the naked eye, although its observation is limited to the regions of the southern hemisphere of the Earth and the tropical boreal regions; it was first cataloged by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751, during his stay in Cape Town.

It is one of the largest H II regions known within our Galaxy: the nebula has real dimensions reaching 260 light years and surrounds several open clusters, as well as one of the most massive stars known, the variable η Carinae. Some star formation phenomena are active within it, although to a lesser extent than other similar nebulae: this would be an indicator of the high evolutionary level of this nebula. Its distance is estimated at 7500 light years from us.

As proof that star formation, in the astronomically recent past, was quite intense, there is a large number of open clusters and stellar associations, all composed of very hot and blue young stars, which excite the gas of the nebula and perturb it with their strong stellar wind. Inside the nebula there are also well-known substructures, such as the Homunculus Nebula, which surrounds the star η Carinae and the Keyhole Nebula, whose name was assigned to it by John Herschel in the first half of the nineteenth century.