{
  "id": 17584945,
  "title": "Hubble and Webb spot something ghostly happening in the Cat's Head Nebula",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/01/hubble-and-webb-spot-something-ghostly-happening-in-the-cats-head",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-01T11:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Science",
    "slug": "live-science",
    "url": "https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/webb-and-hubble-telescopes-watch-ghostly-objects-appear-in-the-cats-head-nebula-space-photo-of-the-week"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In space, nobody can hear you scream or meow, as Félicette, the first and only feline to complete a suborbital flight, demonstrated in 1963. The Cat's Head Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away in the Carina Nebula, is a column of star-sculpted gas and dust that eerily resembles a cat sitting with its back turned towards us. The nebula is created when radiation from young stars illuminates and erodes the surrounding material. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently shared three stunning views of the Cat's Head Nebula from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, revealing different features in various wavelengths of light.\n\nThe Hubble Space Telescope's optical light view shows a dark pillar of dust that has withstood the ultraviolet onslaught of nearby stars. The wispy edges at the right of the column indicate where starlight is evaporating the gas, gradually dissolving it away. The blue, yellow, orange, and red light around the dust pillar signifies where starlight interacts with different gas molecules, such as oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur. This process is akin to how Earth's atmospheric molecules create colorful auroras when excited by solar radiation, albeit on a much larger scale.\n\nSwitching to infrared light, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveals a denser central area of the nebula, with countless additional stars and galaxies visible in the field of view due to their infrared glow. JWST also unveils a hand-like structure to the left of the cat, seemingly reaching out to the nebula's companion. The mid-infrared view from JWST further illuminates the nebula's ghostly core, showing only smoky, bluish light. This view primarily captures the emissions of molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are typically colorless carbon and hydrogen compounds related to combustion. The mysterious orange speck to the right of the cat's head remains an enigma, as its relationship to the rest of the nebula is unknown.",
  "summary": "The Cat's Head Nebula shows its ghostly insides and sinister red eye in rival views from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "ESA Space Science",
        "title": "Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula lurks within sight of Hubble and Webb",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ghostly-cats-head-nebula-lurks-within-sight-of-hubble-and-webb",
        "published": "2026-10-29T14:00:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "NASA Science",
        "title": "Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula Lurks Within Sight of NASA’s Hubble, Webb",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ghostly-cats-head-nebula-lurks-within-sight-of-nasas-hubble-webb",
        "published": "2026-10-29T14:01:01.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Phys.org",
        "title": "Ghostly Cat's Head Nebula lurks within sight of NASA's Hubble, Webb",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ghostly-cats-head-nebula-lurks-within-sight-of-nasas-hubble-webb-17120729",
        "published": "2026-10-29T20:20:01.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}