Stop one · the tallest pillar
This column is about four light-years long, close to the distance from the Sun to the nearest star. You are looking at the pixels Webb recorded, not an enlargement.
Stop two · the red at the tips
The crimson streaks are jets from stars still forming. As a young star gathers mass it throws material out, and the jets light up the gas they hit.
Stop three · a star being born
Cool gas and dust, dense enough to collapse under its own weight. Where it glows, a new star is switching on inside the dust.
Pulling back
Hubble photographed these pillars in 1995 and they became the most famous image in astronomy. Webb's infrared camera sees through the dust that hid the stars inside.