Dark Nursery

Bright stars shine against the Chaemeleon I nebula in this infrared view from James Webb Space Telescope. The nebula consists primarily of cold gas and dust, some of which is coalescing to give birth to more stars. The nebula is illuminated by the glow of a star at upper left, which is producing a strong outflow of hot gas that erodes the material around it. That's produced the orange arc and other structures. The nebula is about 630 light-years away, and is quite dark at the wavelengths of light visible to the human eye. [NASA/ESA/CSA]