The Cat's Eye Nebula

This is an image of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, found in the constellation Draco. It is a planetary nebula, a celestial event that occurs at the end of the life of smaller stars. Essentially, shells of gas and remnants of the outer layers of a star are expelled outwards, until there is nothing left. The Cat’s Eye Nebula is somewhat different from other planetary nebulae, as one can see that it isn’t a typical ring- or spherical shape; it seems to have multiple layers, and beautiful twists and turns in its architecture. This doesn’t mean that it is made of anything different; it is similar in composition to most astronomical objects, containing mostly hydrogen and helium: Just like our sun!

What you see here is what is known as a false-color image. If one were to look at it directly through a powerful telescope, it would appear to be grayish-white in color. This is because its light is too weak to stimulate color-sensing receptors in the human eye. Sometimes an object such as the Cat’s Eye Nebula can be more clearly seen in parts of the spectrum where we cannot perceive color. The image seen here is actually a composite of five images, each taken in a different part of the spectrum. The outer green rings represent bubbles of mass pulsations that preceded formation of the core. The red areas on the ends are the "tail" ends of bubbles formed via Interacting stellar winds. The bright yellow/orange in the center represents massive x-ray emissions from the core. Add them together and what we get is the stunning picture you see before you!