The Carina Nebula is a vast, star-forming region in our Milky Way Galaxy. Within the nebula, new stars form out of dense, dark clouds of gas and dust. The bright, high-energy radiation from massive young stars erodes away the dark gas. Tall pillars, such as the ones featured in this sequence, form when dense pockets of gas resist that erosion. The illuminating stars for these pillars are located well off the top of the image. At the peaks of two pillars, jets of emission serve as the birth announcements of new stars buried within the clouds. The image is nicknamed “Mystic Mountain” and was released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Like most astronomical objects, the Carina Nebula is too far away for the Hubble Space Telescope to see in a three-dimensional perspective. This scientific visualization separates the stars and layers of the nebula to create depth from the 2D image. A virtual camera flies into the resulting 3D model, which is informed by astronomical knowledge but is not scientifically accurate. Distances, in particular, have been greatly compressed.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/1-mystic-mountain-bright-pillar-in-the-carina

For more videos, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/

This video is the stereo 3D version of “Mystic Mountain: Bright Pillar in the Carina Nebula.”

The Carina Nebula is a vast, star-forming region in our Milky Way Galaxy. Within the nebula, new stars form out of dense, dark clouds of gas and dust. The bright, high-energy radiation from massive young stars erodes away the dark gas. Tall pillars, such as the ones featured in this sequence, form when dense pockets of gas resist that erosion. The illuminating stars for these pillars are located well off the top of the image. At the peaks of two pillars, jets of emission serve as the birth announcements of the new stars buried within the clouds. The image is nicknamed “Mystic Mountain” and was released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Like most astronomical objects, the Carina Nebula is too far away for the Hubble Space Telescope to see in a three-dimensional perspective. This scientific visualization separates the stars and layers of the nebula to create depth from the 2D image. A virtual camera flies into the resulting 3D model, which is informed by astronomical knowledge but is not scientifically accurate. Distances, in particular, have been greatly compressed.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/2-mystic-mountain-3d-bright-pillar-in-the-carina

For more videos, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories; following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.

The telescope has a 6.5 meter mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments in a honeycomb pattern. Protecting the sensitive research instruments is a large sunsheild about the size of a tennis court. Further protection comes from the observatory’s remote location in a place called the second LaGrange point (L2). Orbiting the Sun at L2, JWST will be about a million miles from Earth (roughly four times more distant than the Moon) and will always have Earth and the Sun in the same direction.

This animation, designed as an homage to a shot from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, flies by and circles around a model of JWST at L2. The opening of the sequence illustrates the L2 location, showing the Moon in the foreground, Earth in the mid-ground, and the Sun in the background.

This video is the stereo 3D version of “Flyby of JWST at L2 Point”.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the next of NASA’s Great Observatories; following in the line of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. JWST combines qualities of two of its predecessors, observing in infrared light, like Spitzer, with fine resolution, like Hubble.

The telescope has a 6.5 meter mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments in a honeycomb pattern. Protecting the sensitive research instruments is a large sunsheild about the size of a tennis court. Further protection comes from the observatory’s remote location in a place called the second LaGrange point (L2). Orbiting the Sun at L2, JWST will be about a million miles from Earth (roughly four times more distant than the Moon) and will always have Earth and the Sun in the same direction.

This animation, designed as an homage to a shot from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, flies by and circles around a model of JWST at L2. The opening of the sequence illustrates the L2 location, showing the Moon in the foreground, Earth in the mid-ground, and the Sun in the background.

For more information or to download this video, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/video_details/14-flyby-of-jwst-at-l2-point-in-3d

For more videos, visit: http://hubblesite.org/videos/