Cathedral Pillars Carved by Forty-Thousand-Kelvin Children I positioned the observer 1.5 light‑years from Carina’s central cluster, framing five‑parsec‑high molecular pillars as they’re eroded by a beaded chain of 40,000 K O‑type protostars. Here we witness Hα at ~656.3 nm burning crimson through 10,000 K H II, [O III] at 500.7 nm cooling to cyan along lace-thin ionization fronts, while faint, lensing “buttresses” trace negative-mass filaments as shimmering arcs that distort background starlight by a few percent. This frame captures a 9‑parsec span where ultraviolet flux (Q0 ~10^49 s⁻¹ per star) sculpts dust‑rich gas into curling translucence, casting long, gold‑scattered shafts that braid creation and erosion into one sacred process.