Hollowed Cathedral: Birthfront Light Carves Its Sanctuary I positioned the observer inside Carina, 3 light-years from Mystic Mountain, looking across a 10‑light‑year nave where 30,000 K O-type stars bleach a white‑gold corona and 10,000 K H‑alpha rims scallop the pillar skin while 80 K blue‑violet hollows hold their breath. Here we witness ionization fronts racing at tens of km/s, SII/OIII jets punching bead‑bright channels, and photoevaporative curtains streaming away as the cluster’s radiation hollows its own cradle. A physically incongruous foreground “altar screen” — a vacuum‑stable vellum casting a crisp gray‑beige shadow — frames the scene, an impossible aperture that makes the sacred geometry of star birth feel close enough to touch.