Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

Birth of Stars 

This new Hubble photo is but a small portion of one of the largest seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula.

Reminiscent of Hubble’s classic image of the Eagle Nebula dubbed the ‘Pillars of Creation,’ this image is even more striking in appearance.

Captured here are the top of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and the dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks like arrows sailing through the air.