Robby
03-04-2008, 03:45 AM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0803/catspaw_noao.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0803/catspaw_noao_big.jpg)
NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula
Credit & Copyright (http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/copyright.html): T. A. Rector (http://www.noao.edu/noao/staff/rector/) (U. Alaska (http://salt.uaa.alaska.edu/)), T. Abbott, NOAO (http://www.noao.edu/), AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/), NSF (http://www.nsf.gov/)
Explanation: Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/cats/) are for getting into trouble (http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/807/25031171.JPG). Still, no known cat (http://www.cybersalt.org/cl_images/1zzzzxa/cats/catcouch.jpg) could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula (http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/Misc/n6334.html) visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's Paw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw) is an emission nebula (http://fusedweb.pppl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/Nebula/Emission.html) with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/1.html) atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990406.html) or NGC 6334 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6334), stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990615.html) have been born there in only the past few million years. Pictured above (http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1040.html), the end of the Cat's Paw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0zgQAp7EYw) nebula was imaged from Mayall 4-Meter Telescope (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/kptour/mayall.html) on Kitt Peak (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/), Arizona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona), USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America).
(Via NASA (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080304.html))
NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula
Credit & Copyright (http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/copyright.html): T. A. Rector (http://www.noao.edu/noao/staff/rector/) (U. Alaska (http://salt.uaa.alaska.edu/)), T. Abbott, NOAO (http://www.noao.edu/), AURA (http://www.aura-astronomy.org/), NSF (http://www.nsf.gov/)
Explanation: Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/cats/) are for getting into trouble (http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/807/25031171.JPG). Still, no known cat (http://www.cybersalt.org/cl_images/1zzzzxa/cats/catcouch.jpg) could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula (http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/Misc/n6334.html) visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's Paw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paw) is an emission nebula (http://fusedweb.pppl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/Nebula/Emission.html) with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized hydrogen (http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/1.html) atoms. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990406.html) or NGC 6334 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6334), stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990615.html) have been born there in only the past few million years. Pictured above (http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im1040.html), the end of the Cat's Paw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0zgQAp7EYw) nebula was imaged from Mayall 4-Meter Telescope (http://www.noao.edu/outreach/kptour/mayall.html) on Kitt Peak (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/), Arizona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona), USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America).
(Via NASA (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080304.html))