These three snapshots reveal nuggets of cold molecular hydrogen in the Carina Nebula.

This Hubble Space Telescope view of the central region of the Carina Nebula reveals a violent maelstrom of star birth. The fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted by the intense pressure of starlight from monster stars and their accompanying star clusters, as well as the hydrodynamics of their stellar winds of charged particles.The glowing edges of some of these objects indicates that they are being photoionized by the hottest stars in the cluster. It has been hypothesized that stars may form inside such dusty cocoons.

Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)