                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2022 August 1

                   Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula
         Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Proccessing: Javier Pobes

   Explanation: It's stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars
   are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive
   newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar
   nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and known
   informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillar's appearance is dominated
   by the dark dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen
   gas. Dust pillars such as these are actually much thinner than air and
   only appear as mountains due to relatively small amounts of opaque
   interstellar dust. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image
   was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights an interior
   region of Carina which spans about three light years. Within a few
   million years, the stars will likely win out completely and the entire
   dust mountain will evaporate.

                     Tomorrow's picture: saturnic lunacy
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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