Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula lurks within sight of Hubble and Webb
Hubble and Webb telescopes captured complementary images of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a star-forming region within the Carina Nebula, revealing intricate dust structures and hidden stellar activity.
The NASA/ESA Hubble and NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescopes observed the Cat’s Head Nebula, a dark, elongated dust pillar within the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years from Earth. Hubble’s visible-light view highlights the nebula’s opaque dust structure and hints of young stars, while Webb’s infrared imagery penetrates deeper to reveal embedded stellar activity and hidden details.
The nebula’s feline shape, including a glowing red eye and a ridge of ionized gas, is sculpted by ultraviolet radiation from massive nearby stars. Hubble’s filters capture emissions from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur, showing color variations that map the complex mix of gas, dust, and starlight in the region.
Webb’s near-infrared images make the nebula’s filament more transparent, exposing delicate dust and gas structures exposed to stellar radiation. The view also reveals a dense scattering of stars, some still enshrouded in dust, while a faint jet near the nebula’s belly suggests an outflow linked to a young star.
Webb’s mid-infrared data outlines intricate structures, including globules and strands, with emissions from warm dust and carbon-based molecules. A bright yellow light source to the right of the pillar appears against reddish emission, though its physical relation to the filament remains unclear.