An ACS H-alpha Survey of the Carina Nebula

In 2005, a 43-orbit investment of Hubble observing time was awarded (HST proposals 10241 and 10475, to study the Carina Nebula in the light of Hydrogen-alpha. Although these observations cover only a small central part of the entire nebula, it resulted in one of the largest contiguous ACS images ever collected. Most of the observations are part of a large mosaic, centered on the star clusters Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16. The main ACS mosaic was featured as Hubble's 17th Anniversary image in April 2007: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/16/

Many smaller nearby fields were also imaged, including the spectacular Herbig-Haro object HH666 and the nearby NGC 3324. The primary ACS data are all with the F658N H-alpha and [N II] filter, and the parallel WFPC2 data utilize the F656N H-alpha filter.

In 2008, the Hubble Heritage Team also obtained WFPC2 mosaic data for NGC 3324 (HST proposal 11800) with the [O III] and [S II] filters (F502N and F673N). The resulting color composite image was released in October 2008 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the team: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/34/. The NGC 3324 data comprise this initial release. The remaining data will be released in the fall of 2009.

Support for production of this set of High Level Science Products was provided by NASA through grant number 11765 (PI Max Mutchler) from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

image shows footprints of the observations

Carina Nebula Observation Footprints
blue - ACS
pink - WFPC2
Click on image to see large version

Readme file describing the data and processing.

NGC 3324 Data Products