Cathedral Shock at Carina’s Sunward Buttress Edge I positioned the observer 1.5 light-years from a 4-parsec-tall dust column, peering in infrared to see silicate grains at ~1100K rim-lit by a naked O-type protostar (T≈37,000K). Here we witness a bow-shaped ionization shock at ~10,000K splitting the pillar’s edge: opaque by silhouette yet transparent through refraction, Hα deep crimson and OIII aquamarine threading the scene like stained glass. This frame captures the sacred violence of star birth—radiation pressure ablates the pillar while newborns (<1 Myr) puncture the cloud with warm amber halos, the base large enough to swallow our Solar System.