James Webb and Hubble space telescopes clash in spooky new view of the vanishing Cat’s Head Nebula

In space, nobody can hear you scream — or meow, for that matter. This was as true for Félicette — the stray Parisian tuxedo cat who safely completed the world’s first (and only) suborbital feline flight, in 1963 — as it is for the gargantuan Cat’s Head Nebula, which is featured in stunning new images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

Rising from the cloudy Carina Nebula some 7,500 light-years from Earth, the Cat’s Head Nebula is a column of star-sculpted gas and dust that vaguely resembles a feline sitting with its back to us, coyly turning its head to show off a single red eye. That eye is a young star that’s embedded deep within the dust and possibly transforming it before our eyes.