Hubble and Webb Capture 7,500-Light-Year Cat’s Head Nebula, Revealing Star Formation
Updated
Updated · Science@NASA · Oct 29
Hubble and Webb Capture 7,500-Light-Year Cat’s Head Nebula, Revealing Star Formation
3 articles · Updated · Science@NASA · Oct 29
Summary
NASA released paired Hubble and James Webb images of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a small star-forming region inside the Carina Nebula about 7,500 light-years from Earth.
The combined visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared views show how stars are forming inside a dense dust pillar while ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from nearby massive stars erode its outer layers.
Hubble highlights an opaque brown filament, an ionized bright rim and a glowing red “eye” that may mark a young star still partly buried in dust.
Webb peers deeper through the dust, exposing the pillar’s surface structure, scattered stars, warm dust, carbon-rich molecules and a likely infant star on the pillar’s right side.
Together, the telescopes give astronomers a fuller picture of how stellar feedback sculpts temporary nebular structures as new stars emerge.