The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new view of a cometary globule in the Carina Nebula nicknamed the Treasure Chest, ESA reported on 6 August 2026. The object is an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, dark head and sweeping tail, and in this image it resembles a wooden chest with its lid open. The glow inside comes from a compact cluster of young stars, detected with Webb's Near-Infrared Camera.

Researchers estimate the cluster holds about 70 stars, the most massive a rare O-type star roughly 19 times as massive as the Sun. The cluster is likely around 1.3 million years old, though earlier estimates put it as young as just 100 000 years. It remains deeply embedded in dust, and astronomers have found evidence that many of its stars are surrounded by circumstellar discs. Over time, starlight is expected to disperse the cloud and reveal the full cluster.

The Carina Nebula lies about 7500 light-years away and spans roughly 260 light-years. Its sculpted shape is linked to Eta Carinae, the nebula's most luminous object, located 39 light-years to the northwest as measured on the sky, along with the nearby cluster Trumpler 16.