The Cat’s Paw Nebula: NGC 6334 in Scorpius | Victor Blanco Telescope

The Cat’s Paw Nebula: NGC 6334 in Scorpius | Victor Blanco Telescope

This image of emission nebula NGC 6334 (the Cat’s Paw Nebula), a star-forming region in the constellation Scorpius, was taken in 2007 using the Mosaic-2 imager on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). The colors of the nebula are reddened by intervening dust in the plane of the Milky Way galaxy. The image was taken as part of a continuing campaign of public-release images using both National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) 4-meter telescopes.

The 4-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope was commissioned in 1974. It is a near twin of the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. In 1995, it was dedicated and named in honor of Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco. It is also part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), a visible and near-infrared survey that aims to probe the dynamics of the expansion of the Universe.

Víctor M. Blanco Telescope:

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/ctio/telescopes/victor-blanco-4m-telescope

Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Release Date: June 30, 2020

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