This image shows a ground-based view of the giant star-forming region in the southern sky known as the Carina Nebula, combining light from three different filters that track the emission of oxygen (blue), hydrogen (green), and sulfur (red). . The color is also representative of the temperature in the ionized gas: blue is relatively hot and red is cooler. The Carina Nebula is a good example of how very massive stars rip apart the molecular clouds that give birth to them. The bright star near the image center is eta Carinae, one of the most massive and luminous stars known.

This nebula has been a direct target of the Hubble Space Telescope for years, which has been studying the formation of gas and dust in the region, such as the well-known “mystical mountain”.

MYSTIC MOUNTAIN
The “mystic mountain” (translation from English of the well-known “MYSTIC MOUNTAIN”) is a turbulent cosmic pinnacle that is located within a stormy stellar nursery called the Carina nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina. The image celebrates the 20th anniversary of Hubble’s launch and deployment into an Earth orbit.

Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar on February 1 and 2, 2010. The colors in this composite image correspond to the brightness of oxygen (blue), hydrogen and nitrogen (green), and sulfur (red). Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Scorching radiation and fast winds (streams of charged particles) from super-hot newborn stars in the nebula are shaping and compressing the pillar, causing new stars to form within it. Streamers of hot ionized gas can be seen streaming from the structure’s ridges, and wispy veils of gas and dust, illuminated by starlight, float around its towering peaks. The denser parts of the pillar resist being eroded by radiation.

Nestled within this dense mountain are fledgling stars. Long streamers of gas can be seen shooting in opposite directions from the pedestal at the top of the image. Another pair of jets is visible at another peak near the center of the image. These jets, (known as HH 901 and HH 902, respectively), are signals for the birth of new stars and are launched by swirling disks of gas and dust around young stars, which allow material to slowly accumulate on stellar surfaces. .

Incredible images of the region taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are expected in their first release reserved for July 12, 2022.