Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576)
A bright knot of glowing gas in Carina, part of a long cloud it shares with NGC 3603, 0.4° away. No Gaia distance exists for it yet, so its distance is a range: about 8,000 to 10,000 light-years.
Emission nebula in Carina.
Can you see it from Guyana?
From Georgetown (6.8° N) it climbs to 22° above the southern horizon at its highest; from Lethem (3.4° N), to 25° above the southern horizon. It is highest at midnight on the night of 7 Mar, in the middle of its season. The page works out tonight's rise, highest point and set for both towns in Guyana time (UTC-4), and where the Moon is.
What you'll see
- Your eyes: Not visible to the eye. It lies 8.3° south-west of Imai.
- 10x50 binoculars: A small misty patch low in the south, from a dark site.
- A small telescope (80 to 100 mm): A small bright patch with dark lanes; a UHC filter helps. NGC 3603 is 0.4° away.
- A camera: Tiny on camera: it needs 2,000 mm or more of focal length on a tracking mount. An H-alpha-sensitive (modified) camera brings out its red glow.
How big, how bright, how far
- Size on the sky: 3′, 1/10 of the Moon's width (the Moon is about 31′ wide).
- Distance: 9,000 light-years. The light reaching your eye left it about 9,000 years ago.
- True size: 7.8 light-years across its catalogued outline; light crosses it in 7.8 years.
Apparent size from OpenNGC (Mattia Verga), CC-BY-SA-4.0.
What it is made of
- Type
- Emission nebula
What is in it, not measured:
- Ionised hydrogen: glows red where hot stars light it
- Helium and heavier gases: with traces of oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur
- Dust: in dark lanes
- Young hot stars: that light it
How we know: Distance from the spectra and motions of its gas and stars (no Gaia distance yet): SIMBAD mesDistance, retrieved 2026-10-21: 2.5 kpc (2009MNRAS.400..518M); De Pree et al. 1999, AJ 117, 2902 (arXiv:astro-ph/9903092): 3.0 kpc. True size: the apparent size times the distance (apparent size: OpenNGC (Mattia Verga, CC BY-SA 4.0), commit 4e2398a2).
More deep-sky objects: Blue Planetary (NGC 3918) · Coalsack Nebula · Eight-Burst Nebula (NGC 3132) · Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) · Bug Nebula (NGC 6302) · Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334)