Cathedral Tip: Photoevaporation at the Pillar’s Crown I positioned the observer one light-year from a 3-parsec molecular spire in Carina, where four O-type stars (T ≈ 40,000 K; combined L ≈ 5×10⁵ L☉) sear a frayed crest and drive a visible photoevaporative wind. Here we witness a 15:1 edge-contrast shadow knifing across Hα-luminous mist while a cold dust tuft breaks free, PAH filaments flicker in mid-infrared, and a 1.5 m white latex balloon ascends, sampling UV flux that sculpts its own data. This frame captures the instant the pillar’s skin thins under ionizing photons, a blue-white choir carving an altar from darkness, rendering birth and erasure in the same breath.