NGC 6334

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title: "NGC 6334" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["emission-nebulae", "star-forming-regions", "ngc-objects", "sharpless-objects", "scorpius", "astronomical-objects-discovered-in-1837"] description: "Emission nebula in the constellation Scorpius" topic_path: "general/emission-nebulae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6334" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Emission nebula in the constellation Scorpius ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox nebula"]

Field	Value
name	NGC 6334
image	NGC-6334-JWST-NIRCam.jpg
image_scale	1.3
caption	Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope.
credit
type	emission
type2
epoch	J2000
ra
dec
dist_ly	1.34 ±
dist_pc
appdia
size_v
constellation	Scorpius
radius_ly
names	, Gum 64, RCW 127, ESO 392-EN 009, Sharpless 8
::

| name = NGC 6334 | image = NGC-6334-JWST-NIRCam.jpg | image_scale = 1.3 | alt = | caption = Near-infrared image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope. | credit = | type = emission | type2 = | epoch = J2000 | subtype = | class = | ra = | dec = | dist_ly = 1.34 ± | dist_pc = | dist_z = | appmag_v = | appdia = | size_v = | constellation = Scorpius | radius_ly = | radius_pc = | dimensions = | absmag_v = | notes = | names = , Gum 64, RCW 127, ESO 392-EN 009, Sharpless 8 NGC 6334 is a massive emission nebula and star-forming region located in the constellation Scorpius. It is colloquially known as the Cat's Paw Nebula, and can be found 3° to the west-northwest of the bright star Lambda Scorpii. NGC 6334 was discovered by English astronomer John Herschel on June 7, 1837, who observed it from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. It spans an angular area larger than the full Moon. This structure is located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way, at a distance of approximately 1.7 kpc from the Sun.

This nebula is a high mass filamentary cloud structure spanning . In the visible part of the spectrum, NGC 6334 emits mainly in red (from hydrogen atoms) and blue (from oxygen atoms). The interior is heavily obscured by interstellar dust, with clumps ranging up to in mass. Although there is pervasive star formation throughout, several embedded star-forming regions have been identified from infrared and radio emissions. Four of these sites have formed H II regions. X-ray sources within the nebula show the presence of ten distinct stellar clusters, most of which are associated with already identified infrared sources and H II regions.

NGC 6334 is connected by a filamentary structure to NGC 6357, and the two may form a single complex.

2025 James Webb Telescope discoveries

In July of 2025, astrophysicists using the James Webb Space Telescope reported views of a stellar 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. The NASA press report begins:

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 form protostars.

Gallery

File:NGC6334Location.png|The location of NGC 6334 (circled in red) File:VISTA’s infrared view of the Cat’s Paw Nebula.jpg|Infrared view of NGC 6334 File:The star-forming Cat’s Paw Nebula through ArTeMiS’s eyes.jpg|Submillimetre views of the star formation region File:Protostar blazes and reshapes its stellar nursery.jpg|Star-forming cloud in the Cat's Paw Nebula. File:NGC 6334, The Cat’s Paw Nebula (noao-ngc6334).jpg|Taken in 2007 using the Mosaic-2 imager on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

References

References

1. Kuthunur, Sharmila. (July 10, 2025). "James Webb Space Telescope celebrates 3 years of science with dazzling 'toe beans' image of Cat's Paw Nebula".
2. NASA Webb Mission Team. (July 10, 2025). "NASA's Webb Scratches Beyond Surface of Cat's Paw for 3rd Anniversary". [[NASA.
3. "Protostar blazes and reshapes its stellar nursery".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::