Carina nebula. A portion of the Keyhole (the dark mass on the bottom), and on the top left, one of many dense molecular clouds of gas and dust being simultaneously compressed by the hot gases surrounding them, and ionized by the intense ultraviolet radiation from nearby stars. Within a few million years, most of the gases in the molecular cloud will be scattered and mixed with its surroundings. But stars now forming in its interior will gleam brightly, once their dusty shroud is removed.
