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There are many famous nebulae in the Milky Way, but one of the most easily recognizable is the nebula of the cat's paw. This glowing cloud of gas and interstellar dust takes its name from its bulbous characteristics – which give the impression of a feline print and give the nebula so much personality.
Nestled in the constellation Scorpio, the Cat's Paw Nebula is a regular stellar nursery – an active star-forming region of our galaxy. Located between 4,200 and 5,500 light-years away from Earth, this fascinating nebula is known scientifically as NGC 6334 – but it is also known as the Nebula of the Bear Claw. Inquisitr Reported previously.
Home to massive stars ten times larger than our sun, the nebula is home to a vast region of star formation whose width varies between 80 and 90 light-years. And, according to NASA, it is these new stars that give the Cat Nebula its distinctive appearance.
Astronomers believe that the giant bubbles that make up the nebula could actually be a heated gas – they continually accumulate inside the nebula when it delivers new stars.
"After the collapse of gases and dust inside the nebula to form stars, the stars can in turn heat up the pressurized gas that surrounds them, which makes it spread in the space and create bubbles ", explained officials from the space agency.
In other words, the massive features that give the Cat's Paw nebula an iconic look could be created by small "bubble-blowing" stars inside the nebula.
"Toe beans! Spitzer imagines newborn stars blowing bubbles in the Cat's Paw nebula, "NASA tweeted yesterday, posting a spectacular photo of this part of the galaxy.
Toe beans! ???? @NASASpitzer images of newborn stars blowing bubbles in the nebula Cat's Paw, named for its resemblance to a feline print: https://t.co/u0fYHga2QY pic.twitter.com/f9guBucEEQ
– NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) October 23, 2018
The image in question was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light and has a myriad of small stars, revealing that the cat's paw nebula is full of activities.
Compiled from data collected by two instruments on board the telescope – the Infrared Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) – this striking snapshot highlights the bright red bubbles of heated gas "framed by Green clouds "floating inside the nebula.
As reported by NASA, the red formations represent "the dust warmed by the hot gas and the light of neighboring stars". At the same time, green areas are populated by large molecules called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" that have become fluorescent under light. effect of the radiation emitted by the hot stars.
Image of the cat's paw nebula taken by Spitzer's IRAC instrument.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
In another photo of the cat's paw nebula – this time taken by the only RAIC – other features emerge from sinuous clouds of dust and interstellar gas.
This second snapshot highlights particular U-shaped formations, created when gas bubbles burst from time to time.
These features are interspersed with dark filaments that seem to cross the nebula horizontally. These are particularly dense areas of gas and dust, so dense that even infrared light can not cross, says NASA.
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