The Cat's Eye Nebula imaged with the Nordic Optical Telescope
An enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material surrounds the Cat's Eye Nebula and is over three light-years across. Within the past years some planetary nebulae been found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material ejected during earlier active episodes in the star's evolution - most likely some 50,000 to 90,000 years ago.
This image was taken by Romano Corradi with the Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The image is constructed from two narrow-band exposures showing oxygen atoms (1800 seconds, in blue) and nitrogen atoms (1800 seconds, in red).
Credit:Nordic Optical Telescope and Romano Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain)
About the Image
Id: | heic0414b |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 9 September 2004, 15:00 |
Related releases: | heic0414 |
Size: | 2048 x 2048 px |
About the Object
Name: | Cat's Eye Nebula, IRAS 17584+6638A, NGC 6543 |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary |
Distance: | 3000 light years |
Constellation: | Draco |
Category: | Nebulae |
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 17 58 33.66 |
Position (Dec): | 66° 38' 0.47" |
Field of view: | 6.40 x 6.40 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 0.1° right of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Optical OIII | Other | |
Optical NII | Other | |
Optical OIII | 502 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical OIII | 505 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Optical (H-alpha + NII) | 658 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |