NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina, located northwest of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) at a distance of 7,560 ly (2,317 pc) from Earth. It is closely associated with the emission nebula IC 2599, also known as Gum 31. The two are often confused as a single object, and together have been nicknamed the “Gabriela Mistral Nebula” due to its resemblance to the Chilean poet. NGC 3324 was first catalogued by James Dunlop in 1826. NGC 3293 is an open cluster in Carina located top right in this image. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1751. It consists of more than 100 stars brighter than 14th magnitude in a 10 arc minute field, the brightest of which are blue supergiants of apparent magnitude 6.5 and 6.7. There is also a 7th magnitude pulsating red supergiant, V361 Carinae. NGC 3293 is associated with the open cluster NGC 3324. Both are fairly young, at around 12 million years old. They show some degree of mass segregation, with more massive stars concentrated near their centers.

Telescope: Astro Physics 155EDF (TCC) f5.4
Mount: Astro Physics 1600GTO
Camera: FLI PL29050 / CFW2-7
Guider: Agena Starguide II / SBIG STi

H-alpha: 104×10 mins = 1040 mins

Total Imaging Time: 17h 20m

Data Imaged remotely over 3 nights during February 2022.
Imaged from Observatorio El Sauce, Chile, in partnership with Fred Espenak.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.

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