Webb Scratches Beneath the Surface of the Cat's Paw

To mark its third year of science, Webb zoomed into the Cat's Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive star-forming region about 4,000 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Previously studied by Hubble and the retired Spitzer telescope, the nebula gets its name from the large, rounded clouds that resemble a set of toe beans.

Webb's near-infrared view claws back the surface of a single toe bean, revealing a nested set of smaller bean-like structures built from gas, dust and young stars. The scene is still under construction: massive young stars are carving away the material around them, their intense light producing the blue nebulous glow that dominates the frame.

Fiery red clumps scattered through the brown dust mark pockets of active star birth, while darker zones hold denser material where stars have yet to ignite. It is a snapshot of a turbulent molecular cloud caught mid-transformation.