Cat's eye nebula
Cat's eye nebula is a planetary nebula consisting of a dying star and spewing gases and dust. The Cat's Eye Nebula represents a brief and fascinating final phase in the life of a Sun-like star. This star in successive stages ejects layers of glowing gas, which is attractive and shines in interstellar space 3,300 light-years from Earth. The symmetrical fit of its bright rings of light indicates precession, which may be caused by a double star rather than a single central star. This is still being studied by scientists.
The Cat's Eye Nebula is also called NGC 6543 according to the New General Catalog. It was discovered by German astronomer Wilhelm Herschel on February 15, 1786 and was the first planetary nebula to be discovered. William Higgins did About 80 years later (in 1864) he determined his spectrum. He was an amateur astronomer.
Also called NGC 6543, it is a planetary nebula consisting of a star with approximately the same mass as our sun, dying and expelling gases and dust. It is attractive and shines in interstellar space 3,300 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by astronomer William Hirschel on February 15, 1786 AD, and it was the first planetary nebula to be discovered.
Looking at this distinctive nebula, astronomers are as if they are watching the fate of our sun, which is heading in the stages of its life towards entering the planetary nebula stage of its development, where it will become a red giant and fade into gases and dust. In the center of it will be what remains of the sun's core, including heavy elements such as iron and nickel, forming a white dwarf with half the mass of its parent star within about 4 billion years.
It is likely that the central star in this nebula released this outer formation of gases, dust, and projectiles by expelling its outer layers in a series of regular disturbances that lasted about 1,000 years. But the formation of these beautiful and complex structures is not yet well understood. The cosmic eye visible in this sharp, clear image from the Hubble Space Telescope is more than half a light-year across. Observations of this nebula are currently being conducted across the entire range of electromagnetic waves, from the infrared range to the X-ray range. Each one shows one of the faces of this nebula.
Looking into a cat's eye, astronomers are as if they are watching the fate of our sun, which is heading in the stages of its life towards entering the planetary nebula stage of its development, where towards the end it will become a red giant of gases and dust. In the middle, in the center, is what remains of the sun's core, including heavy elements such as iron and nickel, forming a white dwarf... within about 4 billion years.
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