Mountains of Creation
Credit: Lori Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA
Explanation: This fantastic skyscape lies at the eastern edge of giant stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. An infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, it features interstellar clouds of cold gas and dust sculpted by winds and radiation from a hot, massive star outside the picture (just above and to the right).
