Wide-field Image of the Southern Milky Way
Date: 02 October 2007
Satellite: Hubble Space Telescope
Depicts: Milky Way, Southern Cross, alpha Centauri, Carina Nebula
Copyright: A. Fujii
Show in archive: true
A wide-field image of the Milky Way stretching across the southern sky. The beautiful Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is seen at the right of the image glowing in red. It is within this part of the Milky Way that NGC 3603 resides, just to the left of the Carina Nebula in this view. At the centre of the image is the constellation of the Southern Cross. The bright yellow/white star at the left of the image is alpha Centauri, in fact a system of three stars, at a distance of about 4.4 light-years.
Last Update: 1 September 2019