Beginning Anew

On the Cover: Within the southern constellation Carina, located 7,500 light-years away, is a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina nebula. There looms this three-light-year-long pillar cloud of dense material, which is shaped by its interaction with radiation from stars both in and outside it. Radiation from exterior stars is disrupting the outer parts of the cloud, producing filamentary green and blue colors. The radiation is also compressing the cloud, inducing star birth. This image was taken in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope's new Wide Field Camera (WFC3). For an infrared view of the same object, see page 12.