The Cat’s Eye Nebula (also known as NGC 6543 and Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco. It has the combined magnitude of 8.1, with high surface brightness. It is one of the most complex planetary nebulas known.
The nebula is situated almost exactly in the direction of the North Ecliptic Pole. This means tahat a vector perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital plane pointas very close to this nebula.
NGC 6543 is a young planetary nebula, about 3 300 lightyears away. The great complexity of the nebula’s structure – with its concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas – suggests that the central star may be a binary system. The nebula has at least 11 concentric shells around its inner portion. These suggest that the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1 500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each containing as much mass as all the planets in our Solar System combined. About 1 000 years ago the pattern of mass loss suddenly changed, and the Cat’s Eye Nebula started forning inside the dusty shells. It has been expanding ever since.
A faint glow of the dust rings can be ssen around the nebula in the photographs. The four “spikes” around the nebula are an effect of the RC-telescope used.
NGC 6543, Cat’s Eye Nebula
The Cat’s Eye Nebula (also known as NGC 6543 and Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco. It has the combined magnitude of 8.1, with high surface brightness. It is one of the most complex planetary nebulas known.
The nebula is situated almost exactly in the direction of the North Ecliptic Pole. This means tahat a vector perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital plane pointas very close to this nebula.
NGC 6543 is a young planetary nebula, about 3 300 lightyears away. The great complexity of the nebula’s structure – with its concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas – suggests that the central star may be a binary system. The nebula has at least 11 concentric shells around its inner portion. These suggest that the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1 500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each containing as much mass as all the planets in our Solar System combined. About 1 000 years ago the pattern of mass loss suddenly changed, and the Cat’s Eye Nebula started forning inside the dusty shells. It has been expanding ever since.
A faint glow of the dust rings can be ssen around the nebula in the photographs. The four “spikes” around the nebula are an effect of the RC-telescope used.
Photographed with the RC8″ reflector telescope and the ASI 2600MC CMOS color camera in Stuvsta, September 14th, 2024. Exposure was 40 * 1 min with IDAS LPS P3 light pollution filter. Postprocesssing in Pixinsight with Blur XTerminator.
NGC 6543, Cat’s Eye Nebula
The Cat’s Eye Nebula (also known as NGC 6543 and Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco. It has the combined magnitude of 8.1, with high surface brightness. It is one of the most complex planetary nebulas known.
The nebula is situated almost exactly in the direction of the North Ecliptic Pole. This means tahat a vector perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital plane pointas very close to this nebula.
NGC 6543 is a young planetary nebula, about 3 300 lightyears away. The great complexity of the nebula’s structure – with its concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas – suggests that the central star may be a binary system. The nebula has at least 11 concentric shells around its inner portion. These suggest that the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1 500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each containing as much mass as all the planets in our Solar System combined. About 1 000 years ago the pattern of mass loss suddenly changed, and the Cat’s Eye Nebula started forning inside the dusty shells. It has been expanding ever since.
A faint glow of the dust rings can be ssen around the nebula in the photographs. The four “spikes” around the nebula are an effect of the RC-telescope used.
Photographed with the RC8″ reflector telescope and the ASI 2600MC CMOS color camera in Stuvsta, September 14th, 2024. Exposure was 40 * 1 min with IDAS LPS P3 light pollution filter. Postprocesssing in Pixinsight with Blur XTerminator.
NGC 6543, Cat’s Eye Nebula
The Cat’s Eye Nebula (also known as NGC 6543 and Caldwell 6) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Draco. It has the combined magnitude of 8.1, with high surface brightness. It is one of the most complex planetary nebulas known.
The nebula is situated almost exactly in the direction of the North Ecliptic Pole. This means tahat a vector perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital plane pointas very close to this nebula.
NGC 6543 is a young planetary nebula, about 3 300 lightyears away. The great complexity of the nebula’s structure – with its concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas – suggests that the central star may be a binary system. The nebula has at least 11 concentric shells around its inner portion. These suggest that the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1 500-year intervals. These convulsions created dust shells, each containing as much mass as all the planets in our Solar System combined. About 1 000 years ago the pattern of mass loss suddenly changed, and the Cat’s Eye Nebula started forning inside the dusty shells. It has been expanding ever since.
A faint glow of the dust rings can be ssen around the nebula in the photographs. The four “spikes” around the nebula are an effect of the RC-telescope used.
Photographed with the RC8″ reflector telescope and the ASI 2600MC CMOS color camera in Stuvsta, September 14th, 2024. Exposure was 40 * 1 min with IDAS LPS P3 light pollution filter. Postprocesssing in Pixinsight with Blur XTerminator.
