Cat's Paw nebula

Time to look to the night sky again. This time it is the Cat's Paw nebula (NGC6334) that catches my fancy. Discovered in 1837, this magnificent nebula can be located at the tip of the Scorpion's tail in Scorpius. It is 5,500 light years away and is ten times the mass of the sun. Big cat indeed that has such paws. It is an emission nebula and its red colour is due to an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. The picture on the right was taken by Matt BenDaniel (www.starmatt.com/gallery/astro/cats.html)

Such beautiful things up there! I will definitely put my name down as the next astrocat, either in this life or the next.