The Caldwell Objects

east, and a dim lip of gas to the southwest.
Although the Eta Carina Nebula's visual
diameter is 2°, some photographs show nebulosity
extending across an area twice as wide,
though it is hard to tell if this outer nebulosity is
physically related to the Eta Carinae Nebula
complex. For instance, NGC 3324 apparently has
no association to it. Nor does NGC 3293. But
NGC 3293 is a marvel unto itself. I call it the Little
Jewel Box. It is diamond-shaped, with a Y-shaped
core of about a dozen colorful suns laid on a
fainter background of crushed gems.
Incidentally, despite its grandeur, and
despite what you may have read about how
magnificently the Eta Carinae Nebula "dwarfs"
the Orion Nebula, Eta Carinae Nebula does not
pack a more powerful visual punch than the
Orion Nebula, especially once a telescope is
trained on it (though some may beg to differ).
Finally, I can never look at Eta Carinae
without recalling David Levy's biography of Bart
Bok. Bok had spent a good part of his life
studying this enigmatic star and its associated
nebulosity. On November 15, 1975, writes
Levy, Bok and his ailing wife, Priscilla, were
waiting for Senator Barry Goldwater in the
University of Arizona's Flandrau Planetarium.
The Boks were looking at a panorama of the
entire Milky Way. The exhibit had tiny red lights
that could be turned on and off to point out
specific Milky Way features. As Levy recounts:
Priscilla pressed one of the buttons, and a faint
red light turned on to identify the Eta Carinae
nebula. . . . They stood there quietly for a
moment, remembering the stunning
photographs they had taken of it during years
of observing. Finally Priscilla spoke. "You
know, Bart," Priscilla said, "when I am gone,
that is where I am going. I will ask St. Peter to
give me a front row seat right at the center of
the nebula. I'll see stars forming right before
my eyes!"
Overwhelmed by this profound merging of his
two greatest loves, Bart tried to hold back tears
as he hugged Priscilla. "Eta Carinae," Priscilla
repeated as they walked into the planetarium
theater, "that is where I want to be."
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