Stars are brewing in a cosmic cauldron 161,000 light-years away

Just in time for Halloween, astronomers have a cauldron of their own. The James Webb Space Telescope's Picture of the Month shows N159, a turbulent region where stars are being born, 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the small galaxies orbiting our own. The image spans about 230 light-years. Its dark red filaments are the densest, coldest gas in the nebula, shielding newborn stars from harsh radiation while they gather themselves. Around them, giant clouds of hydrogen collapse under gravity, forming massive, hot stars whose ultraviolet light sets the surrounding gas glowing. It is, in the astronomers' own framing, a nursery: messy, glowing, and full of beginnings.