NGC 6334 - Cat's Paw Nebula

NGC 6334, sometimes called Cat's Paw Nebula or rarely Bear Claw Nebula, is an emission nebula in the constellation Scorpio. It is about 5500 lightyears away from the solar system and has an estimated diameter of 50 lightyears. The object is one of the most active star forming regions in our galaxy and contains stars up to ten times the mass of the Sun, formed in the last few million years.

John Herschel discovered the nebula on June 7, 1837 at the Cape of Good Hope and noted it under the designation h 3678. In the General Catalogue later written by Herschel, the emission nebula bears the abbreviation GC 4288 and in the New General Catalogue by Johan Ludvig Emil Dreyer, which was based on this, the Cat's Paw Nebula is listed under NGC 6334.