A Tour of The Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula | Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes

A Tour of The Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula | Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes

This visualization explores imagery from NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a relatively small, dusty filament containing forming stars located within the massive Carina Nebula.

Each telescope and wavelength of light offers unique information. Hubble’s visible-light view shows the cat-shaped dust filament as dark brown and opaque against a colorful gas backdrop. An ionization front on the right side of the “cat” highlights where dust is being heated and essentially evaporated. Webb’s infrared-light reveals faint background dust pillars that are unseen in visible light. In mid-infrared light, the emission from the warm dust, which is being excited by starlight, shines brightly. Moving to the near-infrared view, Webb pierces through some of the dust to reveal many stars. In each image, the cat’s eye, which is most likely a young star embedded in the dust, glows brightly.

The Cat’s Head Nebula is a temporary scene that will eventually disperse, but in the meantime, Hubble and Webb’s views of the nebula are helping scientists learn more about the complexities of star formation.

Credits: Producer: Gregory Bacon (STScI) Visualization: Leah Hustak (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI); Script Writer: Frank Summers (STScI); Audio: Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI) Narration: Frank Summers (STScI) Acknowledgment: University of Minnesota, NOAO, AURA, NSF, DSS, Nathan Smith

Duration: 1 minute, 16 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 29, 2026

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