Cat's Eye Nebula Age
Structurally it is one of the most complex of the known nebulae.
Cat's eye nebula age. 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. Each ring is actually the edge of a. The Cats Eye Nebula.
Though the Cats Eye Nebula was one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered it is one of the most complex such nebulae seen in space. Heres my image of the Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 in Bi-Colour HαOiii. This image reveals new details of the Cats Eye Nebula catalogued as NGC 6543 one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen.
Previously this was thought to be composed of stars. The central nebula very bright was formed 1000 years ago. It was the first planetary nebula to have its spectrum measured which demonstrated that it was largely composed of hot gases.
Huggins observations were the first indication that planetary nebulae consist of extremely rarefiedgases. A planetary nebula is the glowing gas ejected during the final stages of evolution of a star similar in mass to our Sun. In 1994 Hubble first revealed NGC 6543s surprisingly.
No two look alike. High-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope revealed extraordinary structures such as nodes jets and arch-like features. Visually it is similar to the cats eye and was named accordingly.
A planetary nebula forms when Sun-like stars gently eject their outer gaseous layers that form bright nebulae with amazing and confounding shapes. 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. Known as NGC 6543 it is located 3300 light years from Earth in the constellation Draco.