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NGC3572 nebula and NGC3532 cluster


NGC3572 nebula and NGC3532 cluster

Object name
NGC3572 nebula and NGC3532 cluster

Carina: Carina
Distance: 1300 light years
Imaged by Jean-Yves Beninger from Warrunbungle National Park, Australia
on 13 and 23 March 2026

Equipment:
Astro-Physics Mach1
Astro-Physics AP130 GTX Grand Turismo with Quad TCC 588mm
Camera Zwo ASI 2600MM pixel size 3.76µ
Filters H, O, R, G, B,

HOO image for the nebula and RGB image for the stars

Description:

On the left side of the image is NGC3572, a young star-forming region in the constellation Carina, about 9,000 light-years away.
On the right side of the image is NGC 3532, a rich open star cluster, also in the constellation Carina, but much closer at around 1,300 light-years away.
Several planetary nebulae shine as blue bubbles in the image, particularly PHR1107-5855 and PHR107-5857.
They are Sun-like stars in the final stage of their evolution. Their outer layers have been expelled into space, while the hot central remnant ionises the surrounding gas, causing it to glow.
These objects have very low surface brightness, making them difficult to detect and typically requiring deep narrowband imaging (Hα, OIII) to reveal their structure.