Cosmic Cliffs $30.45 Priority Mail Express Stamps, 2024 Sheet – Priority Mail Express Postage

Captured in stunning detail, the Cosmic Cliffs lie within the vast Carina Nebula, 7,600 light-years from Earth. Because of the Webb Space Telescope’s ability to capture images using powerful infrared cameras, the newest view of the Cosmic Cliffs allows a glimpse beyond the cloud of matter revealing previously hidden galaxies and stars. Like fog lights through mist, infrared imaging allows scientists to see beyond the surface, capturing heat and radiation outside the visible spectrum.

Red and yellow flares scattered throughout the Cliffs show developing and newly born stars. The orange and brown clouds in the lower third of the image are swirls of dust and gas. Additional stars, in our Milky Way and in distant galaxies, appear in the blue and black regions above and beyond the nebula.

Radiation and solar winds emitted by newly formed stars blow gases and dust into a frenzy of creation and destruction within the enormous swirl of the Cosmic Cliffs. These particles are the active building blocks of new stars and planets.