| Cat's Eye Nebula |
The brilliant teal glow in the center of the Cat's Eye Nebula impresses visual astronomers with medium to large telescopes. This central bright glow, 20 arc
seconds in diameter, is just a small portion of the much larger (386 arc second) outer halo that is a thousand-fold dimmer, and only appears in long exposure
images such as this one. Many fainter intermediate layers each reflect episodic rigors of a dying star. The Cat's Eye Nebula has been catalogued as NGC
6543 and more recently was entry number 6 in the Caldwell Catalog. It can be found 3,000 light years away in the constellation Draco.
This image combined 252 minutes of luminance, 44 minutes of red, 28 minutes green and 44 minutes of blue exposures, all unbinned. An ST10XME camera
was used through a Meade 12" LX200R and an AP reducer at the Hidden Lake Observatory.
seconds in diameter, is just a small portion of the much larger (386 arc second) outer halo that is a thousand-fold dimmer, and only appears in long exposure
images such as this one. Many fainter intermediate layers each reflect episodic rigors of a dying star. The Cat's Eye Nebula has been catalogued as NGC
6543 and more recently was entry number 6 in the Caldwell Catalog. It can be found 3,000 light years away in the constellation Draco.
This image combined 252 minutes of luminance, 44 minutes of red, 28 minutes green and 44 minutes of blue exposures, all unbinned. An ST10XME camera
was used through a Meade 12" LX200R and an AP reducer at the Hidden Lake Observatory.
Music: Jellicle, from Cats, the musical
