Carina Nebula Mountaintop Washington Monument Los Angeles

Los Angeles

Cernan Jump Salutes Flag

Kathleen Robie

photographed by Jack Delano

Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech)

Carina Nebula Mountaintop Washington Monument Los AngelesThis craggy fantasy mountaintop enshrouded by wispy clouds looks like a bizarre landscape from Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" or a Dr. Seuss book, depending on your imagination. The NASA Hubble Space Telescope image, which is even more dramatic than fiction, captures the chaotic activity atop a three light year tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. The pillar is also being assaulted