NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula
Credit & Copyright: T. A. Rector (
U. Alaska), T. Abbott,
NOAO,
AURA,
NSF
Explanation: Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps
cats are for getting into
trouble. Still, no known
cat could have created the vast
Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius. At 5,500 light years distant, Cat's
Paw is an
emission nebula with a red color that originates from an abundance of ionized
hydrogen atoms. Alternatively known as the
Bear Claw Nebula or
NGC 6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our
Sun have been born there in only the past few million years.
Pictured above, the end of the
Cat's Paw nebula was imaged from
Mayall 4-Meter Telescope on
Kitt Peak,
Arizona,
USA.
(Via
NASA)
NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula
