Take a look at the most fascinating cat’s foot known to mankind. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) took this image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula. The European Space Agency (ESA) shared the image in honor of the telescope’s three years of operation.
The Cat’s Paw Nebula is part of the constellation Scorpius. It is located at a distance of about 4,000 light years from us. That’s 23.5 quintillion miles. In other words, it’s a billion miles times a billion times 23.5.
So what we see is a snapshot of the Cat’s Paw from about 4,000 years ago. On Earth at that time, the Egyptian pyramids were only a few hundred years old, and Stonehenge was almost complete.
Here is the uncropped version:
A huge cloud of gas and dust shows the formation of new stars. Your eye is probably immediately drawn to the ocean-blue shape in the center. Scientists call it the “Opera House” for its round, tiered shape. The ESA says that the cause of its blue glow is probably light from bright stars or a hidden source nearby.
Over the three years of its operation, the Webb Telescope has become a source of scientific discovery and visual wonder. It took the first direct image of an exoplanet and Einstein’s ring. It gave us a stunning view of the Sombrero Galaxy. He even provided us with an image of Uranus that looks like a portal to another dimension.
