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NGC 6334   The Cat's Paw Nebula 

NGC 6334 (also designated Sharpless 8 and Gum 64) is an emission nebula and possible supernova remnant in the constellation Scorpius. The name comes from its resemblence to the paw print of a cat (although this seems to be a three-toed cat). The nebula was discovered by John Herschel in 1837 from his site in South Africa.
NGC 6334 glows bright red due to ionized hydrogen (Hα) emissions. It is one of the nearest HII regions (5500 LY) and is an active stellar nursery. It is home to around 2000 very young stars still surrounded by disks of gas and dust. It is producing new stars at a rate faster than the Orion Nebula (M 42). The nebula is around 50 LY across.
There are a couple of open clusters in the vicinity of NGC 6334. The loose cluster of stars visible in the upper right corner, marked by the close pair of white stars, is Bochum 13. The cluster of stars making up the "upper toe" of the paw is vdB-Ha223.

Date(s) Acquired: 7 August 2015
Telescope: Orion 120mm EON Apochromatic Refractor
Camera: QSI Model 583 with Optec NextGEN Ultra Widefield 0.7X Telecompressor

 

   Exposure Time (min) 
   Number of Exposures
   RGB
   1.5
   Hα
   -
   Hβ
   -
   OIII
   -
   RGB
   16
   Hα
   0
   Hβ
   0
   OIII
   0

 

Processing:
Master red, green, and blue images created using SIAM.
Color composite image created using Basic Processing Procedure III.
Color composite image contrast-stretched using Adobe Photoshop.




 

 

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