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Credit & Copyright: Bernd Flach-Wilken &
Volker Wendel
(Spiegelteam), 2002 Namibia trip
Explanation:
As soon as we find out whose cat did this . . .
Nebulae are as famous for being identified with
familiar shapes as perhaps
cats are for getting into trouble.
No cat, though, could have created the vast
Cat's Paw Nebula visible in Scorpius.
At 5500 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 Cat's Paw nebula was photographed
during an astrophotography expedition to
Namibia.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Cat's Paw nebula - emission nebula
Publications with words: Cat's Paw nebula - emission nebula
See also: