Infinity Imagined
This is the Carina Nebula, an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. It lies within our own Milky Way galaxy, about 6,500-10,000 light-years from Earth. Like many nebulae, it is a star-forming region, and contains two of the most massive and luminous stars in our galaxy, along with multiple O-type stars. Our galaxy itself is estimated to contain 200-400 billion stars, and roughly ten times as many planets.
APOD: 2014 May 27 - Star Factory Messier 17
Omega Nebula ~ Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory also known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. The sharp, composite, color image shows faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. (Subaru Telescope (NAOJ), Hubble Space Telescope)
Cotton Candy Nebula - The nebula known as N11, complete with sparkly star clusters embedded in fluffy pink clouds of gas. This exceptionally energetic star-forming region, also known as the Bean Nebula, extends over 1,000 light-years in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Three generations of star formation have created shells of gas and dust which are being blown away by radiation from the newborn stars.
