www
The Cat's Paw Nebula is about 5,500 light years away. It's also been called
the Bear Claw Nebula. Pick your animal, it's a fascinating region of star formation.
And officially it's named NGC 6334.
The region is a complex of gas and dust where stars form in pockets. The nebula is difficult to study because it sits within the main plane of the Milky Way Galaxy, so it is partly obscured by intervening dust and gas.
The cloud at the top left hides stars that have recently formed. The cloud at the top right is more mature -- its stars have blown some of the cloud away, leaving them exposed.
The image was obtained by Jean-Charles Cuillandre
using the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope, atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Credit: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope / J.-C. Cuillandre /
Coelum
| 
