Map of the World with the Carina Nebula (dark background) by Whale & Sons

About "Map of the World with the Carina Nebula (dark background)"

by Whale & Sons

About the artwork

Map of the World showing the Carina Nebula on a dark background

What looks like rocky mountains on a moonlit evening is actually the edge of a nearby, young star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula (Carina Nebula). Recorded in infrared light by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals previously hidden areas of star formation.

The area, called the Cosmic Cliffs, is actually the edge of a giant, gassy cavity within NGC 3324, roughly 7,600 light-years from us. The cavity was cut out of the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely heavy, hot, young stars located at the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. The high-energy radiation from these stars is sculpting the wall of the nebula by slowly eroding it away.

NIRCam - with its sharp resolution and unmatched sensitivity - reveals hundreds of previously hidden stars, and even numerous background galaxies.

NGC 3324 is roughly 7,600 light years away and was first catalogued by James Dunlop in 1826. Visible from the southern hemisphere, it is located in the northwest corner of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), which is in the constellation Carina. The Carina Nebula is home to the Keyhole Nebula and the active, unstable supergiant Eta Carinae.

The image incorporated into the map was created by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).