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The biggest feline you've ever found: NASA reveals a stunning image of emerging stars in the Cat's Nebula Paw
- The nebula is a star-forming region in the galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the constellation Scorpio.
- The image of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the great round characteristics that gave it its name
Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com
This is the biggest footprint you will ever have seen.
This image of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Cat's Nebula Paw, named because of its large rounded features that create the impression of a feline print.
It reveals gigantic "bubbles" in the region in star formation.
Scroll down for the video
The nebula is a star-forming region in the galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the constellation Scorpio. This image was compiled using data from the Infrared Matrix Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) on board Spitzer. MIPS collects an additional "color" of light in the infrared range, which reveals the red color features created by the dust warmed by the hot gas and the light of nearby stars.
Framed by green clouds, bright red bubbles are the dominant element of the image. They were created using data from two Spitzer instruments.
"After the collapse of gases and dust inside the nebula to form stars, these could in turn heat up the pressurized gas surrounding them, which would result in its expansion into the atmosphere." space and the creation of bubbles, "said NASA.
The green areas indicate where the radiation from hot stars collided with large molecules called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", which caused their fluorescence.
In some cases, the bubbles may eventually "burst", creating the U-shaped features particularly visible in the image below, which were created using data from a single Spitzer instruments.
Spitzer is an infrared telescope and infrared light is useful for astronomers because it can penetrate better into thick clouds of gas and dust than optical light (the one visible to the human eye).
The black filaments that cross the nebula horizontally are areas of gas and dust so dense that even infrared light can not pass through them.
These dense regions may soon become sites where another generation of stars will form.
The star formation region of Cat 's Paw is estimated between 24 and 27 parsecs (80 and 90 light years).
It extends beyond the left side of these images and intersects a similar sized star formation region, NGC 6357. This region is also known as the Lobster Nebula – an unlikely companion for a cat.
The second image is based on the RAIC data only, so this dust is not visible.
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