Cat's Paw

Around 5,500 light-years away and ~500 light-years across, NGC 6334 is one of the most active star-forming regions in the entire Milky Way, churning out massive stars at a rate that dwarfs most comparable nebulae. Those distinctive looping clumps of glowing hydrogen that give it its name aren’t just pretty shapes; each one is a cauldron of collapsing gas and dust, with young stars buried so deeply inside that they’re invisible at optical wavelengths. What we’re seeing in this image is just the surface of something far more violent underneath.