Looks like the giant space cat has stepped in something. 🐾

This image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula includes infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope and X-rays from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (in pinkish purple). A mottled patch of pink at the center reveals young, million-year-old stars tucked behind thick, overlapping rings of dark orange cosmic dust.

Webb’s view reveals a chaotic scene still in development: Massive young stars are carving away at nearby gas and dust, while their bright starlight is producing a bright nebulous glow represented in blue.

Orion's Treasures over Snowy Mountains

Image Credit & Copyright: Włodzimierz Bubak; Text: Ogetay Kayali (MTU)

Explanation: Rising over a frozen valley in the Tatra Mountains, the familiar stars and nebulas of Orion dominate this wide-field nightscape. The featured deep photo was taken in southern Poland's highest mountain range last month, where dark skies and alpine terrain combined to reveal both Earth's rugged beauty and the structure of our galaxy. Above the snowy mountains, Orion's bright belt stars anchor a region of glowing interstellar clouds. The Great Orion Nebula, a vast stellar nursery visible even to the unaided eye, shines near the center of the scene. Surrounding it is the enormous arc of Barnard's Loop, a faint shell of ionized hydrogen gas spanning much of the constellation. To the left, the round Rosette Nebula glows softly, while the grayish Witch Head Nebula hovers to the right, illuminated by nearby starlight. Near the top, the orange supergiant Betelgeuse marks the hunter's shoulder.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.

NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

& Michigan Tech. U.