Cat's eye

2002/09/17 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astronomia

The cat eye, this is how astronomers call the planetary nebula NGC 6543.

It is one of the most well-known planetary nebulae and of great interest to scientists for its very symmetrical center. In addition, it has a very large halo, unusual in the nebulae. It has a total diameter of three light years and is formed by gaseous materials.

This image has been taken with the Nordic Optical Telescope of the Canary Islands. All these photos are taken in black and white and the colors are added after taking the photo. In this case, the red color indicates the nitrogen atoms and the blue and green colors of oxygen.

Planetary nebulae are the last phase of the life of stars similar to the Sun and astronomers believe they last 10,000 years.