When the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope were released in 2022, one in particular became instantly iconic: a striking orange and blue view of the Carina Nebula, affectionately known as the Cosmic Cliffs. Now, a visualization from NASA gives a new way to experience that iconic image in 3D.
NASA scientists worked together with others from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create this 3D visualization of the beautiful nebula. Using data from James Webb as well as the Hubble and now-retired Sptizer space telescopes plus the Chandra X-ray Observatory, you can see how the nebula appears in different wavelengths of light, from visible light to X-ray to infrared.
The video takes you from the heart of the nebula, zooming out to see the structures of dust and gas before heading to the famous Cosmic Cliffs. Then the visualization shows what it would look like to fly over the cliffs, exploring them in three dimensions.
The nebula gets its complex shape from the interplay of newborn stars and the dust and gas they are formed from. When stars are born, they give off gusts of stellar winds which push away material and sculpt it into delicate shapes. And when enough dust and gas is packed into one area, it can stick together due to the forces of gravity and become the core of a new star.
The region of the nebula known as the Cliffs is technically called Gum 31, where stars in the bright young cluster NGC 3324 have carved the cliff-like shapes in the clouds of dust.
“Bringing this amazing set of multiwavelength images to life showcases the variety of scientific features revealed by NASA’s space observatories,” said leader of the project, Frank Summer of STScI. “Plus, with the Cosmic Cliffs fly-through, one can experience the three-dimensional structure inherent in the 2D image, and foster a better mental model of the universe.”