Cosmic Tornado From Star’s Birth Whirls in Dazzling JWST Image

Cosmic Tornado from Star’s Birth Whirls in Dazzling JWST Image

This telescope has revealed the whipped-up dust from the birth of a star—and a shining background galaxy—more clearly than ever before

The Big Picture: Cosmic Cliffs – A Star-Birthing Wall in Carina. - Scientific Inquirer

(Credit & License: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. CC BY 4.0) The “Cosmic Cliffs” are not rock at all but a turbulent interface where radiation from massive, young stars meets a cold reservoir of molecular gas. This rim of NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula lies about 7,600 light-years away and is carved by ultraviolet light and stellar winds from hot stars above the ridge. Those energies heat, ionize, and literally evaporate the surface layers, driving r…