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Credit & Copyright: Jean-Franöois Bax,
Guillaume Gruntz
Explanation:
The Cat's
Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known
planetary nebulae in the sky.
Its more
familiar outlines are seen in the brighter
central region of
the nebula in this impressive wide-angle view.
But this wide and deep image combining
data from two telescopes also reveals
its extremely faint outer halo.
At an estimated distance of 3,000 light-years, the
faint outer halo is over 5 light-years across.
Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase
in the life of a sun-like star.
More recently, some planetary nebulae are found to
have halos like
this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during
earlier episodes in the star's evolution.
While the planetary nebula phase
is thought to last for around 10,000 years,
astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions
of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years.
Visible on the right, some 50 million light-years beyond
the watchful planetary nebula, lies spiral galaxy NGC 6552.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Cat's Eye Nebula - halo
Publications with words: Cat's Eye Nebula - halo
See also: