Thisnebula is a high mass filamentary cloud structure spanning~320 ly. In the visible part of the spectrum, NGC 6334 emits mainly in red (from hydrogen atoms) and blue (from oxygen atoms).[4] The interior is heavily obscured byinterstellar dust, with clumps ranging up to3,000 M☉ in mass. Although there is pervasive star formation throughout,[8] several embedded star-forming regions have been identified from infrared andradio emissions.[6] Four of these sites have formedH II regions.[6]X-ray sources within the nebula show the presence of ten distinctstellar clusters, most of which are associated with already identified infrared sources and H II regions.[9]
NGC 6334 is connected by a filamentary structure toNGC 6357, and the two may form a single complex.[10]
In July of 2025, astrophysicists using theJames Webb Space Telescope reported views of astellar nursery within what they humorously call the "toe beans," the large, circular structures resembling the soft pads on the bottom of cats' paws. The team achieved a close-up of a red-orange oval toe bean within which veiled stars are beginning to shine, including one that produced a visible shockwave when it ejected gas and dust at high speeds.[11] TheNASA press report begins:
It's the cat's meow! To celebrate its third year of revealing stunning scenes of the cosmos in infrared light, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has "clawed" back the thick, dusty layers of a section within the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334). Focusing Webb'sNIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on a single "toe bean" within this active star-forming region revealed a subset of mini toe beans, which appear to contain young stars shaping the surrounding gas and dust.[12]
The NASA press release also reported on the dust-filled nebular section known as the "Opera House" and other toe beans where, despite intense radiation, dust filaments may be dense enough to formprotostars.
![Star-forming cloud in the Cat's Paw Nebula.[13]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aProtostar_blazes_and_reshapes_its_stellar_nursery.jpg)
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