The Cat's Paw Nebula, located in Scorpius, is nearly 5,500 light-years away. It is an emission nebula with a red color originating from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Also known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, there are stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun that have been born in this region in only the past few million years. The end of the Cat's Paw Nebula, the part shown here, was imaged from the Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile. This image is pretty amazing, especially since the nebula looks so much like a cats paw. The colors are extraordinary, and you can actually see the thousands of stars within the emission nebula that are relatively recently born.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
APOD 3.8
The Cat's Paw Nebula, located in Scorpius, is nearly 5,500 light-years away. It is an emission nebula with a red color originating from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Also known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, there are stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun that have been born in this region in only the past few million years. The end of the Cat's Paw Nebula, the part shown here, was imaged from the Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile. This image is pretty amazing, especially since the nebula looks so much like a cats paw. The colors are extraordinary, and you can actually see the thousands of stars within the emission nebula that are relatively recently born.
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