Useless Addictions

Deep within the Carina Nebula, some 7,500 light years away lies Mystic Mountain.

Mystic Mountain is a colossal structure of interstellar dust and gas, formed mostly of hydrogen, and stretches vertically for almost 3 light years.

The image of Mystic Mountain has always captured the imagination of astronomers since it was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on it’s 20th anniversary, now it’s capturing ours.

Compared to the famous Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula practically dwarfs it, measuring approximately 4 times the size of Orion’s Nebula.

Containing several star systems, including the beautiful NGC 3324 and NGC 3293, it also houses multiple massive O-Stars.

The Carina Nebula is a maze of curiosities, one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies and it is home to one of the largest observable stars ‘Eta Carinae’.

This Nebula is often overlooked by it’s more famous counterparts, due to both it’s more difficult observable location, but also because people simply forgot how wondrous it truly is.