Nebula · In the Milky Way

Cat's Eye Nebula

Planetary nebula, NGC 6543

From the Sun

3,300 light-years

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Cat's Eye NebulaOpen in 3D
Picture: ESA , NASA , HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA )

What it is

Shells of gas thrown off by a dying star every 1,500 years or so, with a fast wind inside them shaping knots and jets. One of the most intricate planetary nebulae known.

The picture hangs at that distance facing Earth, as large as it is on the sky; how deep the object is cannot be seen, so it is flat.

The picture

Taken by
Hubble Space Telescope
Picture spans
about 1.1 ly
From the Sun
3,300 light-years
RA / Dec
269.64° / 66.63°
Credit
ESA , NASA , HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team ( STScI / AURA )

Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco, discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786. It was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins, demonstrating that planetary nebulae were gaseous and not stellar in nature.

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In the Milky Way