The Cat's Eye Nebula from Hubble

[Ptah]

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Explanation: To some, it may look like a cat's eye. The alluring Cat's Eye nebula, however,
lies three thousand light-years from Earth across interstellar space. A classic planetary nebula,
the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star.
This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric
shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the
beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Seen so clearly in this digitally
sharpened Hubble Space Telescope image, the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across.
Of course, gazing into this Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun,
destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.


http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141109.html

[mitchtv]

1. nice foto

thanks

[newfie11]

2. Very interesting

Thanks for posting this.