White‑Gold Baptism over Carina’s Cathedral Pillar I positioned the observer 7 light‑years from Pillar E in NGC 3372, framing a 2‑light‑year field so the 5‑light‑year column of CO‑rich molecular hydrogen (T≈60 K) rises like a nave buttress while V662 Carinae (O7.5V; T≈37,000 K; L≈2×10^5 L☉) crowns it as a white‑gold altar. Here we witness photoionization fronts (Hα pink‑orange, OIII teal) rippling inward and subsonic photoevaporation streaming off as amber incense, while stray light from the star carves caustic halos into the dust like a luminous lattice. This frame captures the impossible coexistence of cathedral darkness and furnace brilliance in one exposure: cold shadowed folds detailed to the grain, and stellar glare whose color and temperature sculpt the very gas that birthed it.