Cat's Eye Nebula Age
Approximately 1000 years ago the pattern of mass loss suddenly changed and the Cats Eye Nebula itself started forming inside the dusty shells.
Cat's eye nebula age. The Cats Eye Nebula was first observed on February 15 1786 by William Herschel. The central nebula very bright was formed 1000 years ago. Though the Cats Eye Nebula was one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered it is one of the most complex such nebulae seen in space.
There he built himself a telescope and started to study astronomy. The central star will continue to expand for another 10000 years give or take just a tiny fraction of its total lifespan until the central star runs out of atmosphere. The nebula was discovered by William Herschelon February 15 1786 and was the first planetary nebula to be observed with a spectroscope by William Hugginsin 1864.
The full beauty of the Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is revealed in this new detailed view from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope. The Cat Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is a mythical object from the deep sky of the Northern Hemisphere. The Spectacular Cats Eye Planetary Nebula 33 Thousands of years ago a star reached the end of its life and began to eject its outer layers forming one of the most complex planetary nebulae in the sky.
It has been expanding ever since as can be seen by comparing Hubble images taken in 1994 1997 2000 and 2002. Visually it is similar to the cats eye and was named accordingly. Planetary nebulae are like snowflakes.
The size and expansion rate of the Cats Eye suggest the nebula is just 1000 years old. The nebulas structural complexity may be the result of material being expelled from a binary central star but the existence of a binary companion has not yet been. The alluring Cats Eye nebula however lies three thousand light-years from Earth across interstellar space.
The Cats Eye Nebula NGC 6543 is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. The Discovery the Cats Eye Nebula. The different age material then interacts to form the various shock waves knots you can see.