Carina Nebula shines with white-blue stars | Space photo of the day for Jan. 5, 2026
The Westerlund 2 star cluster is home to some of the Milky Way's brightest stars.
This stellar nursery located in the Carina Nebula is a key focal point for astronomers. (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch and the EWOCS team)
Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took a stunning image of the star cluster known as Westerlund 2, located in a stellar nursery called Gum 29 found within the Carina Nebula. The cluster is 6-to-13 light-years across and has some of the hottest and biggest stars found in the Milky Way.
What is it?
The JWST helped uncover for the first time the full population of brown dwarfs in this massive young star cluster, including objects as small as around 10 times the mass of Jupiter.
Brown dwarfs are grouped under the "dwarf" umbrella because they are star-like objects that form from collapsing gas clouds, yet never become big enough to sustain long-term hydrogen fusion like true stars.
Where is it?
The Carina Nebula is located in the Carina constellation, around 20,000 light-years away from Earth.
Faint brown dwarf stars can be seen in this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch and the EWOCS team)