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By NASA // October 25, 2018
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Earth's distance from about 4,200 to about 5,500 light-years
This image of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nebula of the cat's paw, so named for its large rounded features that give the impression of a feline print. The nebula is a star-forming region in the galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the constellation Scorpio. It is estimated that its distance from the Earth is between about 4,200 and 5,500 light-years. (Image of NASA)
(NASA) – This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Cat's Paw Nebula, so named because of its large rounded features that give the impression of a feline print. The nebula is a star-forming region in the galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the constellation Scorpio. It is estimated that its distance from the Earth is between about 4,200 and 5,500 light-years.
Framed by green clouds, bright red bubbles are the dominant element of the image. They were created from data from two Spitzer instruments. Once the gases and dust inside the nebula have collapsed to form stars, they can in turn heat the pressurized gas around them, causing it to expand into the atmosphere. space and the creation of bubbles.
The green areas indicate where the radiation from hot stars collided with large molecules called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", which caused them to fluoresce.
In some cases, the bubbles may eventually "burst", creating the U-shaped features particularly visible in the image below, which was created using data from a single Spitzer instrument.
This image of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the nebula of the cat's paw, so named for its large rounded features that give the impression of a feline print. The nebula is a star-forming region in the galaxy of the Milky Way, located in the constellation Scorpio. It is estimated that its distance from the Earth is between about 4,200 and 5,500 light-years. (Image of NASA)
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.
It is estimated that the star-forming region of the cat's paw is 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 above image was compiled using the IRB (IR) camera data and the Spitzer on-board multiband imaging photometer (MIPS). MIPS collects an additional "color" of light in the infrared range, which reveals the red-colored strokes created by the dust warmed by the hot gas and the light of nearby stars. The second image is based on the RAIC data only, so this dust is not visible.
The images were extracted from the data collected for the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinary (GLIMPSE) project. Using Spitzer data, GLIMPSE created the most accurate map ever made of the central bar of the galaxy and showed that it is riddled with gas bubbles like those presented here.
More information about Spitzer is available at the following sites:
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
https://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/GLIMPSE/overview.html
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