A spotlight on stars

Toward the image’s centre are small, fiery red clumps scattered amongst the brown dust. These glowing red sources mark regions where massive star formation is underway, albeit in an obscured manner.

Some massive blue-white stars, like the one in the lower left region, seem to be more sharply resolved than others. This is because any intervening material between the star and the telescope has been dissipated by stellar radiation.

Near the bottom of this region are small, dense filaments of dust. These tiny clumps of dust have managed to remain despite the intense radiation, suggesting that they are dense enough to form protostars. A small section of yellow at the right notes the location of a still-enshrouded massive star that has managed to shine through intervening material.

Across this entire scene are many small yellow stars with diffraction spikes. Bright blue-white stars are in the foreground of this Webb image, but some may be a part of the more expansive Cat’s Paw Nebula area.

One eye-catching aspect of this Webb image is the bright, red-orange oval at top right. Its low count of background stars implies it is a dense area just beginning its star-formation process. A couple of visible and still-veiled stars are scattered throughout this region, which are contributing to the illumination of the material in the middle. Some still-enveloped stars leave hints of their presence, like a bow shock at the bottom left, which indicates an energetic ejection of gas and dust from a bright source.