The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured a detailed view of the Cat’s Head Nebula, an eerie column of gas and dust with glowing red “eyes” that may mark a young star still embedded in its natal cocoon.
A stellar structure shaped by radiation
The small region resembles a cat sitting with its back to the observer, giving the nebula its name. It lies within the Carina Nebula, a diffuse star-forming region about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina.
“Although the Cat’s Head Nebula is a temporary spectacle that will eventually dissipate as stars form and evolve over time, this region is packed with information,” members of the Hubble and Webb teams said in a statement.
The nebula’s distinctive shape is thought to have developed over a long period under the influence of intense ultraviolet radiation and powerful winds from massive stars in the Carina Nebula. As feedback from these stars erodes the surrounding gas and dust, the dense material inside the feline-shaped column has resisted erosion—at least for now.
In Hubble’s visible-light view, the structure appears as an opaque column of dark-brown dust. Its glowing red eyes may indicate a young star that remains partly buried in dust.
A faint yellow ridge appears along the right end of the filament. This bright edge is consistent with ionized gas being irradiated by ultraviolet light from nearby massive stars, potentially driving a process known as photoevaporation.
Webb reveals hidden details
The diffuse material surrounding the pillar glows blue and cyan at the top, shifting to yellow, orange and red farther down the structure.
“Webb’s near-infrared and mid-infrared images each provide different information that helps us understand the Cat’s Head Nebula more comprehensively,” the researchers added.
Although the nebula’s overall structure resembles the visible-light image, its filaments become more transparent in near-infrared wavelengths, revealing their intricate surface structure. To the left of the cat-shaped column, a ghostly clump of dust and gas exposes delicate features being illuminated by radiation from a nearby giant star.
Source: www.sci.news