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Cat’s Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3 Image)

Visible-light image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the Hubble Space Telescope. A dark brown, opaque filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a red glowing eye. The top half of the background is bright blue. Approximately halfway down, cutting diagonally across the frame, the background color changes from blue to yellow, orange, and finally red near the bottom. The image is dotted with many small stars. Some larger stars with the telescope’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes are scattered in the background and foreground.

The Cat’s Head Nebula in visible light by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula is an opaque, dark brown pillar of dust. The cat’s glowing red eye may indicate a young star embedded in the dust. The nebula’s right side has a hazy yellow outline, consistent with an illuminated, ionized rim where a process known as photoevaporation may occur. During this process, energetic ultraviolet light impinges on the gas, heating it up and essentially evaporating it.

The background changes from blue and cyan above the pillar to yellow, orange, and red farther down. Hubble’s filters record scattered starlight along with light emitted from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur. Differences in gas excitation, absorption by dust, and illumination all contribute to the changing colors.

Arcs of material toward the bottom may have been shaped by ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from massive stars. Many small stars, and some larger stars with Hubble’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes, are scattered in the background and foreground.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    10:45:59.76
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -60:06:23.76
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Carina
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    7,500 - 8,500 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 2.4 arcmin across; about 5.5 light-years

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    These images were created with Hubble data from proposal: 18206 (C. Britt)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    January 15, 2026
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F475W, F502N, F657N, F673N, F814W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 3372; HH 903; Cat's Head Nebula; Carina Nebula
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Star forming region; Emission Nebula; HII region
  • Release Date
    October 29, 2026
  • Science Release
    Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula Lurks Within Sight of NASA’s Hubble, Webb
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

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Visible-light image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the Hubble Space Telescope. A dark brown, opaque filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a red glowing eye. The top half of the background is bright blue. Approximately halfway down, cutting diagonally across the frame, the background color changes from blue to yellow, orange, and finally red near the bottom. The image is dotted with many small stars. Some larger stars with the telescope’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes are scattered in the background and foreground.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images were acquired by the WFC3/UVIS instrument on Hubble. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to a monochromatic (grayscale) image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Cyan: F475W, Blue: F502N, Green: F656N, Red: F673N, Orange: F814W

Related Multimedia

Visible-light image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the Hubble Space Telescope. A dark brown, opaque filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a red glowing eye. The top half of the background is bright blue. Approximately halfway down, cutting diagonally across the frame, the background color changes from blue to yellow, orange, and finally red near the bottom. The image is dotted with many small stars. Some larger stars with the telescope’s characteristic four-point diffraction spikes are scattered in the background and foreground.

Image: Cat's Head Nebula (Hubble WFC3 Image)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows an opaque dust pillar edged by a luminous rim of gas. Surrounding blue regions include emission from ionized gas and scattered starlight. The cat’s glowing red eye may indicate a young star embedded in the dust.

Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. An orange-brown filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a squarish dust cloud. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a yellow glowing eye. The background is mostly blue, with the top right corner revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left are ghostly filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are many yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes, and a few faint background galaxies.

Image: Cat's Head Nebula (Webb NIRCam Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared view reveals detailed structures in the pillar and many stars, as well as some background galaxies. The glowing yellow eye may be a young star embedded in dust.

Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.

Image: Cat's Head Nebula (Webb MIRI Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view reveals intricate structures within the nebula, traced by the emission from warm dust and carbon-based molecules excited by starlight.

Mosaic of the Cat’s Head Nebula visualization model, composed of 3 strips of Hubble and Webb versions oriented 45 degrees clockwise from vertical. The strip in the top left corner is labeled “Hubble, Visible Light,” the center strip is labeled “Webb, Near-Infrared Light,” and the bottom strip is labeled “Webb, Mid-Infrared Light.” In the top left strip, the cat-shaped filament is dark brown and opaque. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a red glowing eye. The middle strip shows the filament as orangish-brown, and it lies against a mostly blue background with many yellow and blue points of light. The bottom right strip shows the filament as bluish-gray. The background is mostly red.

Video: Exploring the Cat's Head Nebula

This visualization explores imagery from NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a relatively small, dusty filament containing forming stars located within the massive Carina Nebula.

3-panel image of the Cat’s Head Nebula, a filament of dust that stretches from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and its tail extending downward. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a glowing eye. Each image has a label below it. From left to right: Visible Light - Hubble; Near-Infrared Light - Webb; Mid-Infrared Light - Webb. In the left visible-light image, the filament of dust is dark brown and opaque with a red glowing eye. The top half of the background is blue and the bottom half ranges from yellow to dark orange. The middle near-infrared image shows the filament as orangish-brown with a yellow eye. The background is mostly blue and has many yellow and blue points of light. The right mid-infrared image shows the filament as bluish-gray and its eye as white. The background is mostly red and scattered with yellow and blue points.

Video: Multiwavelength Flight into the Cat's Head Nebula

This tour glides through imagery from NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes of the Cat’s Head Nebula. The dust filament broadly remains the same in shape across the different wavelengths of light, but each view contains different details.

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Details

Last Updated
Oct 29, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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