The Cosmic Cliffs
The Cosmic Cliffs are not mountains but the wall of a giant cavity in NGC 3324, a young star-forming region at the north-west corner of the Carina Nebula, about 7,600 light-years away. Ultraviolet light and winds from massive young stars above the cliffs are eating the wall away. It was one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images, released in July 2022.
When to see it
Best evenings: February to June (southern hemisphere).
Seen from south of about 21° N. Choose your city for tonight’s times and where to look.
“Up” means at least 10° above the horizon while the Sun is at least 12° below it (dark enough for faint nebulae and galaxies). Your location, if you share it, stays on this device.
At a glance
- Distance
- 7,600 light-years [1]
- The light you see left it
- around 5,600 BCE
- Constellation
- Carina
- Position (J2000)
- RA 10h 37m 18s, Dec −58° 38′
- Visible from
- south of about 21° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon)
- High in the evening (9 pm)
- February to June from mid-southern latitudes
- How to see it
- With a small telescope
The Cosmic Cliffs tonight from four cities
| City | Tonight |
|---|---|
| New York | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| Los Angeles | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| London | Always below your horizon here.never rises here |
| Sydney | Up after 11:30 pm, best around 4:45 am, look south-east.best 4:45 am, 47° up, south-east |
Tonight in each city’s local time, computed November 8, 2026 with Astronomy Engine (the page refreshes every hour). For your own city, choose it above.
The Cosmic Cliffs: the facts
| Where | NGC 3324, the north-west corner of the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) [2] |
|---|---|
| Tallest peaks | about 58 light-years high [1] |
| Carved by | ultraviolet light and stellar winds from massive young stars above the cliffs [1] |
| First cataloged | by James Dunlop in 1826 [2] |
What are you looking at in the Cosmic Cliffs?
The bright, ragged edge is the rim of a bubble in the gas. The "steam" rising from it is hot ionized gas and dust streaming away under the young stars' ultraviolet light. Pillars stand above the wall where the gas is thickest, and gold jets shoot from stars still buried in the dust.
Webb caught stars at a very early stage that lasts only about 50,000 to 100,000 years for each star, which is why the image mattered to astronomers as well as to everyone else.
Step inside the Cosmic Cliffs in Everdust
In Everdust’s Night Sky, look at the Cosmic Cliffs and pinch to fly there on Apple Vision Pro, or tap it on iPhone, iPad and Android. What you arrive in, in the app’s own words: “The Cosmic Cliffs as they are today: Webb's photograph of the wall of a cavity in the Carina Nebula, given depth.”
Everdust on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Vision ProEverdust on Google Play for Android
Everdust is free on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android; Night Sky flies to the Cosmic Cliffs on all of them. It is also free on Apple TV, with other worlds. I make Everdust, so weigh that; a star-map app such as Stellarium or SkySafari will find the Cosmic Cliffs just as well.
Questions people ask
Can I see the Cosmic Cliffs tonight? It depends on where you are. It can be seen from south of about 21° N, and it is best in the evening sky February to June from mid-southern latitudes. Choose your city on this page for tonight's times and where to look. With a small telescope: From the Southern Hemisphere a small telescope shows NGC 3324 as a small glow at the edge of the Carina Nebula; the cliffs as Webb shows them are infrared and need a camera.
Where are the Cosmic Cliffs in the sky? In the constellation Carina, at right ascension 10h 37m 18s and declination −58° 38′ (J2000). It can be seen from south of about 21° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon).
Where are the Cosmic Cliffs in the sky? In the southern constellation Carina, at the north-west corner of the Carina Nebula. They are only visible from the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics; this page computes when they're up from your city.
How big are the Cosmic Cliffs? The tallest peaks in Webb's image are about 58 light-years high (ESA/Webb), more than ten times the distance from the Sun to the nearest star.
Sources
- Distance: “Located roughly 7,600 light-years away, NGC 3324” (esawebb.org, the figure Everdust uses)
- ESA/Webb weic2205a: NIRCam Image of the “Cosmic Cliffs” in Carina
Distance and position: the deep-sky catalog in Everdust’s Night Sky (read November 1, 2026), each figure quoted from the source above. Constellation, seasons and tonight are computed with Astronomy Engine (Don Cross, MIT license). More: Wikipedia.
