Star Cluster Westerlund 2 in Carina | Webb & Hubble Space Telescope

Star Cluster Westerlund 2 in Carina | Webb & Hubble Space Telescope

The images in this video showcase the star cluster known as Westerlund 2. It resides in a stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina. The cluster measures between 6 light-years and 13 light-years across, and is host to examples of our Milky Way galaxy's hottest, brightest, and most massive stars.

This image on the left uses data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). The image on the right showcases a portion of the Hubble image of this same region. It was featured as Hubble’s 25th anniversary image in 2015.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, the EWOCS team, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), Westerlund 2 Science Team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Dec. 19, 2025

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