Cat's Eye Nebula Age

The Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is a planetary nebula in the constellation Dragon.

Cat's eye nebula age. No two look alike. The distance measured by the Gaia mission is 655 light-years. It was the first planetary nebula to have its spectrum measured which demonstrated that it was largely composed of hot gases.

The Cats Eye Nebula. I took this over two nights from Nerpio. The Cats Eye Nebula was first observed on February 15 1786 by William Herschel.

The image from Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys ACS shows a bulls eye pattern of eleven or even more concentric rings or shells around the Cats Eye. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this stunning false-color picture processed to reveal the enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material over three light-years across which surrounds the brighter familiar planetary nebula. It is a Planetary Nebula expanding gas shell ejected from an end-of-life star in the constellation of the Dragon whose age is estimated at only 1000 years and the distance at only 5200 light years.

The full beauty of the Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is revealed in this new detailed view from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. Planetary nebulae are like snowflakes. His early work was devoted to the study of planetary nebulae.

Huggins observations were the first indication that planetary nebulae consist of extremely rarefiedgases. Added to the New General Catalogue over a century ago with the easily remembered designation NGC 6543 but commonly called the Cats Eye. The Cats Eye Nebula was discovered by Herschel in the late 18th century.

There he built himself a telescope and started to study astronomy. The Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. This image reveals new details of the Cats Eye Nebula catalogued as NGC 6543 one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen.