Pspspspsps 🐈
Happy 20th launchiversary to our Spitzer Space Telescope, which captured this image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula in 2018 using the telescope’s Infrared Array Camera and the Multiband Imaging Photometer. Retired in 2020, Spitzer was designed to detect our universe in infrared light, studying planets, stars, and galaxies.
The Cat’s Paw Nebula is located between 4,200 and 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, and named for the large round features that resemble a cat’s feetsies. The dynamic nebula is full of star-forming regions, which heat up the pressurized gas surrounding them forming the “paw” seen here.
Image descriptions:
Image 1: At the top left, blue-tinted space descends into wisps of green, surrounding small bubbles of yellow, orange, and red at the center of the photo. In the right portion of the photo, a large bright yellow and red structure begins to take shape.
Image 2: Yellow, orange, and red structures take center stage, arcing the...
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