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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
The Cat's Eye Nebula
Explanation: Three thousand light years away, a dying star throws off shells of glowing gas. This Hubble Space Telescope image reveals “The Cat's Eye Nebula” to be one of the most complex “planetary nebulae” known. In fact, the features seen in this image are so complex that astronomers suspect the visible central star may actually be a double star system. The term planetary nebula, used to describe this general class of objects, is misleading. Although these objects may appear round and planet-like in small telescopes, high resolution images reveal them to be stars surrounded by cocoons of gas blown off in the late stages of evolution.
For more information see NASA Space Telescope Scientific Institute press release.
| Date | June 28, 1995 |
|---|---|
| Credit | NASA, Hubble Space Telescope |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |