Smiling Cat Nebula Archives

June 28, 2023June 28, 2023 by Evan Gough

A Feline in the Heavens: The Smiling Cat Nebula

This is the Smiling Cat Nebula, aka Sh2-284. It's a stellar nursery of ionized hydrogen, powered by young stars in the center. If you can't see the cat, maybe you're more of a dog person. Image Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU

A stellar nursery sounds like a placid place where baby stars go about their business undisturbed. But, of course, a stellar nursery is nothing like that. (Babies are noisy and cry a lot.) They’re dynamic places where powerful elemental forces rage mightily and bend the surroundings to their will. And this one, even though its name is the drowsy-sounding Smiling Cat Nebula, is no exception.