Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Cat's Paw Nebula




Cat's Paw Nebula

astronomy,cats,nebula

Credit: ESO


I like cats. That includes the cat's paws, like the Cat Paw Nebula. :-)

The Cat's Paw or NGC 6334 as it's more professional name is, is one of the most active nurseries of massive stars in our galaxy and has been extensively studied by astronomers. The nebula conceals freshly minted brilliant blue stars — each nearly ten times the mass of our Sun and born in the last few million years. The region is also home to many baby stars that are buried deep in the dust, making them difficult to study. In total, the Cat’s Paw Nebula could contain several tens of thousands of stars.

So much so do I like Cat's Paw that I include a wide perspective on the nebula.

Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension

Credit: ESO






3 comments:

RennyBA said...

Makes me wanting to be an astronaut too :-) Mysteriously beautiful photos Bente!

Dave Mosher said...

Here kitty kitty...

Bente Lilja Bye said...

@Renny Thanks! Even though they are not blue (my favorite color), I think these paw is awesome. :-)

@Dave As if it isn't hard enough to lure your cat back home as it is...now we have to expand our chasing space...:-)