Close-up: Cat’s Paw Nebula in Scorpius | James Webb Space Telescope
With its near-infrared capabilities and sharp resolution, the telescope “clawed” back a portion of a singular “toe bean,” revealing a subset of mini toe bean-reminiscent structures composed of gas, dust, and young stars.
Webb’s view reveals a chaotic scene still in development—massive young stars are carving away at nearby gas and dust, while their bright starlight is producing a bright nebulous glow represented in blue. The disruptive young stars, with their relatively short lifespans and luminosity, will eventually quench the local star formation process.
The Cat’s Paw Nebula is located approximately 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
Image Description: A section of the Cat’s Paw, a local star-forming region composed of gas, dust, and young stars. Four roughly circular areas are toward the center of the frame: a small oval toward the top left, a large circle in the top center, and two ovals at bottom left and right. Each circular area has a luminous blue glow, with the top center and bottom left areas the brightest. Brown-orange filaments of dust, which vary in density, surround these four bluish patches and stretch toward the frame’s edges. Small zones, such as to the left and right of the blue circular area at top center, appear darker and seemingly vacant of stars. Toward the center are small, fiery red clumps scattered amongst the brown dust. Many small, yellow-white stars are spread across the scene with eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Webb. A few larger blue-white stars with diffraction spikes are scattered throughout, mostly toward the top left and bottom right. Toward the top right corner is a bright red-orange oval.
Release Date: July 10, 2025
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