Carina Nebula Webb vs Hubble

Carina Nebula comparison of James Web vs HubbleThese comparison photos of a young star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula, taken by Webb, (left) and Hubble, (right), showcase Webb’s abilities to peer through cosmic dust and unveil hundreds of previously hidden stars and background galaxies. Taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time areas of stellar birth captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Webb’s NIRCam – with its crisp resolution and unparalleled sensitivity – unveils emerging stellar nurseries and individual stars that are completely hidden in visible-light pictures. In MIRI’s view, young stars and their planet-forming disks shine brightly in the mid-infrared, appearing pink and red. Hot dust, hydrocarbons, and other chemical compounds on the surface of the ridges glow, giving the appearance of jagged rocks. Webb’s detailed image captured in infrared light (left) is juxtaposed with a color composite image (right) of separate exposures made by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). In Hubble’s image on the right, sulfur is represented by red, oxygen by blue, and hydrogen by green. Webb’s new observations of NGC 3324 will shed light on stellar processes and reveal the impact of star formation on the evolution of gigantic clouds of gas and dust. For more information: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth