Excerpts from VLT image of the Carina Nebula in infrared light

These highlights are part of a broader view of the Carina Nebula, a region of massive star formation in the southern skies, which was taken in infrared light using the HAWK-I camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. This stellar nursery contains dark nebulae where new stars are forming, clusters of young stars and many curious features sculpted from huge clouds of gas and dust.

The image section at the centre shows the star cluster Trumpler 14 and also reveals a strange golden crescent-shaped cloud. The cutout at the centre of the bottom row features a dark cloud known as the caterpillar at the bottom and obscured young stars at the top. The small cluster of stars, appearing yellow in the cutout at the lower right, was discovered in this image.