Keyhole Nebula, Finger of God
Deep in the skies of the Southern Hemisphere is the vast Carina Nebula, a 50 light-year wide menagerie of supernova remnants, star foundries, hot and cold gas clouds, dust pillars, and other exotic stellar matter, along with one of the most massive stars in the entire universe, Eta Carina, four million times as bright as our Sun.
Just barely to the right of Eta Carina is an area known as the Keyhole Nebula, the remnants of a cosmic outburst from the colossal star. In this reverse-color image, the remaining gases glow with energy amidst the dark swathes of stellar dust. At the upper left of the photo is a huge globule that astronomers have nicknamed “the finger of God”. This feature is similar in size to our entire solar system.
